2014 Year End Report

Is this thing on? I just flew all the way in from Springfield, and boy, are my arms tired…

(wait for applause)

(Keep waiting)

(Stare them down)

(Keep waiting…)

So, anyway 2014 Year in Review…

Well, I started this back in December, where did I put it? :lol:...

Ah well, wasnt meant to be…

So, I hope everyone has had a pretty good year… Remember, it can always be worse… Might not feel like it, but it can…

And, life has it’s “ebbs and flows”, it’s “ups and downs”...

Sometimes they are “minute to minute”, sometimes, “hour to hour”, “week to week”, “month to month” or even “year to year”...

It will get better… It might get worse before that however…

Only remember all of this is temporary, lol…

And brighter days are in the future as well…

We (TOTJO) are now in our tenth year, and still going strong…

TOTJO was incorporated on December 25th, 2005, and we just celebrated our 9th birthday, last Christmas…

There are always things to talk about, mostly, this report is just to share the highlights (because who wants to hear the low points, lol) of things that have happened in the Temple…

We (humans as a rule) do not like dwelling on sore spots, often we just prefer they are left alone, and they will heal faster… Whether physical, mental, or emotional…

So, if you have something you want us to remember, high point or low point, please mention it in this thread…

Thanks…

Anyway, here are this years numbers…


Membership Affairs:
So, this year, site member 16048, Phoenyx, was our first new account to join us in 2014… Unfortunately, she didnt stay, but maybe she will return… Who knows…

Ive seen it happen… ..

Our last member of the year, member number 19520 , QueridaUla was our last account for the year…

Meaning that 3472 accounts were made last year…

Previous years, 3,363 in 2013, and 3842 in 2012, so it looks like we are getting around 3400-3500 people each year to make accounts…

I am not smart enough to know how many unique ID’s come to the site, but, Im sure that exceeds that count, lol…

Of the 3472 accounts last year, 685 filled out applications…

Of that, 495 made it to membership…

Of that, 111 started the IP, and are working their way through it….

Of those, 8 have completed the IP….

And, finally, of those eight, four have made it to apprenticeship,
Jamie Stick, Apprenticed to Alan
Cabur Senaar, Apprenticed to Alexandre Orion
redlearder97, Apprenticed to Arcade
and
carlos.martinez3, Apprenticed to Wescli Wardest

When you look at these numbers, it shows how quickly people eliminate themselves from the path… At least as we see it…

Our path here is not for everyone…

Some are beyond our training, having done it before, and not really wanting to rehash it…

Some do not want to face the level of self scrutiny that it takes… That it should take, anyway, lol… And even then, the self scrutiny should not stop at Knighthood, the first thing a Knight should realize is how much work there still is for himself/herself… Well, my thoughts anyway…

Segueing off that, we had seven Knightings in 2014…

- Leandros Von, January 6th
- Alan, March 2nd
- MCSH, March 6th
- Arcade, August 23rd
- tzb, August 29th
- Darren, September 27th
- Proteus, November 15th

There were a few Apprenticeships as well…

Apprentice tzb, to Senior Knight V-Tog on 13 Jan
Apprentice Steamboat, to Knight Reliah on 9 Mar
Apprentice Alethea Thompson, to Grand Master Br. John on 17 Mar
Apprentice Kamizu, to Knight Wescli Wardest on 14 Mar
Apprentice Zenchi, to Senior Knight Ryujin on 1 Apr
Apprentice Llama Su, to Knight MCSH on 15 Apr
Apprentice Aviator, to Knight Adhara on 30 Apr
Apprentice Luthien, to Knight Alan on 24 Apr
Apprentice J.K Barger, to Knight Alan on 4 May
Apprentice Brian, to Knight Karn on 2 Jun
Apprentice Nicole Judge, to Senior Knight V-Tog 2 Jun
Apprentice Vesha, to Knight MCSH on 16 Jun
Apprentice Discorder, to Senior Knight Akkarin on 23 Jun
Apprentice Edan, to Master Jestor on 15 Jul
Apprentice Psyddattha, to Knight LTK on 6 Aug
Apprentice Jamie Stick, to Knight Alan on 7 Aug
Apprentice Mathew Erickson, to Knight Phortis Nespin on 17 Aug
Apprentice Nicole Judge, to Knight tzb on 30 Aug
Apprentice Lightstrider, to Knight tzb on 30 Sep
Apprentice jedi_roz, to Knight Phortis Nespin on 13 Oct
Apprentice Redlearder97, to Knight Arcade on 27 Sep
Apprentice carlos.martinez3, to Knight Wescli Wardest on 24 Oct
Apprentice Silvermane, to Knight Arcade on 23 Oct
Apprentice Cabur Senaar, to Master Alexandre Orion on 11 Nov
Apprentice SenseiMitPen, to Master Alexandre Orion on 11 Nov
Apprentice Revan Falton, to Knight Desolous on 8 Nov
Apprentice Peace, to Knight Karn on 5 Dec
Apprentice Elemental Harmony, to Knight Arcade on 9 Dec


As I said, a few lol...

Some other notable promotions were:

Knight Adhara was promoted to Forum Mod on February 11...

Then, she did such a great job there, and in the organization of the Knight meetings, that we ask her to join the Council in November… Filling the vacancy left by Reliah when she stepped down due to personal reasons… Reliah will be missed in that capacity, but as she is still hanging around, we dont have to miss her...

Phortis Nespin also stepped down from his position of Forum Moderator, and Adder was ask to step in as a new moderator… As something of a side note, Adder used to notify me of double posts, and issues in the forum, my inbox got a bit lighter when he was made a moderator, LOL….

Joining the Moderator Crew, once Adhara joined Council, Desolous was handed the Forum Mod powers, and has also been very busy, and doing great!…

Edan also joined the Moderator staff as a Youth Officer as of November 20th… Edan is quite the busy bee… She was ask to take that position, due of her self motivation… She began messaging new members via PM, and her statistics were she sent 1122 PMs in about 6 months, from July 26th, to years end… She has also began several conversations in the Youth Forum, something that I have meant to do, but she has taken the bull by the horns, lol… She is also the first person to reach the PM limit for the day, that I am aware of, so, for your information, the PM limit for the day is 150....... Thanks Edan…

And thank you to all of the new Mods and folks joining our ‘work forces', regardless of me mentioning you or not… I have some memory issues, so I miss things, lol...

And, of course, there is each and everyone of you who come here, some every day, and take a little time to greet people, making the new folks feel welcome, helping answer questions, steering them to the person they need to speak to, or the FAQ (Have you read the FAQ?)... This type of help, is the nuts and bolts of TOTJO… Thank you all to all you 'nuts' that makes this happen... (see what I did there? its funny cause... Oh wait, Im supposed to be serious? dangit!).. So thanks to you all for being the 'you' that you are...

Yea, we have training, yea, we talk all philosophical and hand-wavy sometimes ( I really talk like this away from here too, imagine a bald, fat, Jack Sparrow, lol), but the community, helping one another by offering an ear, helping to see things from a different light, these things are really what happen here…

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Clergy

This year, Alexandre Orion was promoted to Bishop and pastor, and has provided a little End of Year report for me to include for you guys…

Alex…?

”Alexandre Orion” wrote: The Clerical "year" actually began 17 December, 2013 (when they elected me Pastor, pending Bishop ordination ; Akkarin joined me as Associate Pastor)

Clerical promotions :

MCSH, Deacon : 6 March, 2014
tzb, Licenced Minister, Deacon : 21 April, 29 August 2014
Darren, Deacon : 27 September 2014
Alexandre Orion, Bishop : 12 January 2014

Synod :

http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/136-Announcements/108231-announcement-synod-of-the-totjo-new-seminary-programme

This has been a while getting the Synod up and running, and we are still not complete. This should ensue shortly after the first of the year .... There were several people aside from Akkarin and me who have contributed extensively to the putting in place of an administrative, guiding body for the clergy ; the gratitude list would be extensive.

There have been two wonderful Assistant Pastors, V-Tog and tzb respectively.
Connor, MCSH and tzb have held the clerical secretarial positions brilliantly.
Jamie Stick has been replacing Sajjad as the Secretary for the Clergy since mid-November.
We have been accepting candidacies to the office of Secretary for the Synod since mid-October.

Seminary :

The new Seminary programme went into effect at the same time as the ratification of the Synod - 15 October 2014. We have begun interviewing Initiates interested in joining the Seminary in order to determine how applicants can best enter into collaboration with the Clergy. There have been 13 people join the Seminary this year. Two have "graduated", tzb (former programme) and with the Live Service of Tuesday, 9 December 2014, Jamie Stick has also finished her Seminary (new programme) and is thus eligible for promotion to Licensed Minister.

Clergy meetings :

The Clergy of the TotJO has met together in General Session 10 times over the year, with various attendance and various levels of quarrelling ... :laugh: I am pleased at the enthusiasm and dedication of our Seminarians who have exhibited very earnest interest and a hearty motivation for the development of the Ministry. Thank you all !



Sermons and Services :

Beginning in August, the Clergy inaugurated a cycle of 12 monthly Reflections to encourage people to consider them in a variety of interesting and unique ways to help people in understanding the human condition.

We have had 70 Sermons in all this year, 26 of which were delivered as Live Services in the chat. This is nearly the double (not quite though) of 2013 : 48 sermons, 14 live.

Thanks Alex, and Jamie, Akkarin, tzb, V-Tog, MCSH and everyone else… I am sure I forgot someone, and expect to be called out, lol… I am doing this from memory and in front of the word processor, not consulting the site for names…

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Public Relations and the Library

Well, if you read the announcements, Darren was just promoted to Assistant Librarian, hopefully the extra manpower will get the library back under control…

Not much has been done with the library since Ren stepped down, Akkarin had many duties and a full time student career going on, so Darren should be a great asset to that department…

The PR Department, and more specifically Akkarin has had a busy year…

We (TOTJO) had ten (10) requests for interview.. Most were students who were contacting us for information on Jediism…

Some interviews were just a couple of questions done through email, others were done through Skype, G+, or in some other manner...

Specific instances in which TOTJO has been mentioned/interviewed in published media:

March 15th: Alexandre Orion was interviewed for Tryangle (France)
http://www.tryangle.fr/jai-rencontre-un-vrai-jedi-francais-et-on-a-parle-de-la-force

August 25th: Akkarin was interviewed on Mormon Discussion Podcast
http://www.mormondiscussionpodcast.org/2014/08/jediism-temple-of-the-jedi-order/

October 25th: TOTJO on the BBC, “Have Jedis Created a New Religion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29753530

November 4th: Akkarin was on Newstalk Radio Ireland
http://www.newstalk.ie/player/listen_back/8/14014/04th_November_2014_-_Moncrieff_Part_2

What a year!

Thank you Akkarin, and everyone behind the scenes…

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The Internationalization Team

Currently headed by Adhara has gotten our German and Spanish versions of the Doctrine and Homepage up and running… The French versions are having some issues, but hopefully they will be operational soon…

Speaking of Adhara, she has been tasked with as the “Secretary of the Knights”, I dont think that is a real title (yet?), but, she has arranged for 10 meetings in 2014 for the Knights to get together and discuss topics… She has set up the times and dates, record the minutes, and chaired them… Mostly, that means keeping the Knights in line, and if you know how we are, that can be a full time job, lol…

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Finances

Always a topic I avoid...

On December 31st, 2012, we ended our year with a positive balance of $64.48 USD…

In 2013, our balances were $174.94 USD in PayPal, and $210.68 USD in our bank account on the 17th of January 2014…

This year, as we neared the end of 2014, in the middle of December, we had $747.24 USD in our PayPal, and $695.68 USD in our bank account…

We are moving forward….

It keeps growing… This is how we might (gasp!) have a physical location someday… lol, ..

First, we need to be able to buy better software, not use the free stuff… :lol:...

Then, continue to move and grow…

Thank you for your donations, both past, and future…

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Gatherings

We had a few gatherings, both TOTJO, and non-TOTJO posted about in the forums…

There was a small gathering in Milton Keys, in August… Akkarin, his girlfriend Keka, Edan, and the Mighty Ren hooked up for a meal and some pints… Very cool!


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Non-TOTJO Centric

Kitsu Tails, and the Gathered Force Community also had a gathering… I am aware that some TOJTO members were in attendance, although I am not positive who.... I do not think any pictures were posted on the TOTJO site, and I will not ‘borrow’ from other sites… Permission and manners and all that, lol...

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Site Changes/Updates


TOTJO Member Map…

Back in June, a troll logged in and messed up our TOTJO Member Map…

Knight tzb (a Apprentice then I believe) worked to get a new one back up, and is now making backups so that information is not lost, and if it happens again, we might only lose a few days…

http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/Offline-activities/107146-new-official-totjo-member-map


Forum Access Changes

http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/114-Announcements/108263-forum-access-changes

We actually started discussing them in September, after ( more than a years worth of) members complaining that guests were making things difficult, and expressed a desire to have a “member only” forum for members to be able to discuss things with members, as opposed to those who are not…

Our (read that Jestor) first attempt had some flaws... After a very energized (lol) discussion in the forums, the first round set of changes were scrapped...

The second set of changes met with some resistance, but was an improvement over our (Jestor's) first attempt... :lol:...

It has caused some issues, but, it is still to early to tell how effective this is going to be…

There is no perfect answer….


TOTJO Jedi Oath

We announced changes to the member requirements, and enacted these changes on January of this year...

http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/114-Announcements/108993-changes-to-the-simple-oath

Concern was expressed that this change made becoming a Jedi at TOTJO too easy...

I dont know about too easy… However, people do not seem to not take due consideration when taking the Oath, or filling out the application sometimes, so, by relocating it, we hope that the the serious nature of it will be considered more fully….

All Oaths taken are still valid, any new Oaths, are still valid… But it is just not a requirement for membership… It will be looked at when, and if, further training is desired by the Novice...

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TOTJO Google Hangouts….

http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/114-Announcements/104955-saturdays-jedi-hangouts-on-google

I dont know much about these, as I am usually unable to participate in them…

But I know there was one just last Saturday, January 10th, 2015, so I am going to guess that they still are going on…


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And finally, the IP

http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/114-Announcements/106108-important-announcement-initiate-programme-update

The IP does change periodically, stay tuned to this thread for changes and updates, as well as askiing any questions you might have…


As well as any and all announcements, here, in this forum: http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/114-Announcements


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I started typing this two weeks ago, and I am sure I am missing stuff, or repeating myself… If you are my apprentice, this is a familiar scenario, :lol:...

Please feel free to post your thoughts or memories from the last year in this thread…

Thank you for another wonderful year, and we expect 2015 to be even better...

...The TOTJO Council...

Wooo Hoo!!!! Good job! I'll send you a link Jestor once I get some of this on GFC *Claps*

Kitsu Tails, and the Gathered Force Community also had a gathering… I am aware that some TOJTO members were in attendance, although I am not positive who.... I do not think any pictures were posted on the TOTJO site, and I will not ‘borrow’ from other sites… Permission and manners and all that, lol...

Permission Granted *bows*

Pictures


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Attendance List

1 Aimee Becker
2 Jen
3 Charles
4 Crystal Neuman
5 Daniel McCann
6 David Bird Totjo Member
7 Eli Neuman
8 Gabe Calderon
9 Hannigan
10 Jendra
11 Jeremy Cowen
12 Katherin Mock
13 Kevin Trout
14 Kitsu See comments
15 Laurent (Media)
16 Li-san
17 Lui
18 Mindas
19 Rosalyn Johnson Totjo Member
20 Ross Greenberg
21 Talon
22 Talon's Wife Nikki
23 Tom Christie
24 Matt David
25 Jedi Karen
26 Vishwa Jay
27 Perris Cartwright
28 Audrey Escalante
29 Andy Spalding
30 Chris Langer (Photographer)

I....believe those two in red were the only Totjo.....I think. I hope this year doubles and triples that!

lol Kit, YOU are in fact a TOTJO member.

haha True..But I get to be the color...PURPLE!!! Because I like purple haha

Just a side note -

I know that there were several members who got together with others during the course of the year (myself included) , though I certainly wouldn't call them "gatherings" really.

Connectivity is important and it does not need to be done on an formalised scale, if you have the opportunity to meet others in your area or when travelling, do so, its great fun.

*that said, I've been unexpectedly stuck in LA (twice!) and San fran for more than 8 hours each time over the last year and didn't get a chance to catch up with anyone which was sad. Be warned, I may well start sending our last minutes "im stuck in the airport come hang out" messages!!

Brenna wrote: Be warned, I may well start sending our last minutes "im stuck in the airport come hang out" messages!!

I am VERY familiar with LAX. Especially the TSA agents who like to become VERY familiar with me in the security line :blink:
Feel free to hit me up next time your stuck. One of the buildings I work out of is right down the street.

Senan wrote:

Brenna wrote: Be warned, I may well start sending our last minutes "im stuck in the airport come hang out" messages!!

I am VERY familiar with LAX. Especially the TSA agents who like to become VERY familiar with me in the security line :blink:
Feel free to hit me up next time your stuck. One of the buildings I work out of is right down the street.

Cool! Im travelling again in a couple months, Ill make sure I have your details before then

I had forgotten about the member map. It's really cool.

Fixed links found by Arcade...

Thanks Arcade....