This article in the Clearwater edition of Freedom Magazine caught my eye, and I thought I'd share it.

David Miscavige, Master of Ceremonies - Annual Tribute Draws Record Numbers

As an overflow crowd of more than 4,000 Scientologists and friends were greeted by a striking and innovative laser light show and an audio-visual overview of the past year’s accomplishments, Clearwater was again the literal center of the Scientology world for the 1998 celebration of L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday on March 13 at the Fort Harrison.


Many of those in attendance are visitors from places as far away as Australia and Sweden. This year’s celebration was also seen by satellite and video relay in more than 100 countries, in 39 languages. But why is L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday celebrated in such a spectacular fashion?

As the evening’s first speaker and master of ceremonies, Mr. David Miscavige, addressed the audience, the answer was apparent: “Welcome to the night we gather in greater numbers than on any night of the year. For when we speak of L. Ron Hubbard, we honor a name transcending every language, every border, every culture... a name of truly universal proportions and, on one level or another, a man whom everyone recognizes.”

While perhaps best-known as the founder of the most vital and rapidly growing religious movement on Earth, L. Ron Hubbard also lived a diverse, multifaceted and exciting life, and ultimately delineated solutions for all he found wrong in the world around him. He still defies any simple categorization. And the results of his work are today benefiting more people than ever before.

Thus it was fitting to the occasion that Mr. David Miscavige, who knew and worked with Mr. Hubbard, offered the audience a sense of what continues to flow from Mr. Hubbard’s works — increased abilities and spiritual freedom, more harmonious relationships, and bettered conditions throughout society.

In the past 12 months alone, he said, more than 200 awards, proclamations and keys to cities have been presented in honor of L. Ron Hubbard — an unparalleled number — from across the United States and Canada, and from countries as diverse as the United Kingdom and Japan, Norway and Taiwan, Italy and Russia.

To fully appreciate what those recognitions signify, said Mr. David Miscavige, you have to look at Mr. Hubbard through the eyes of those who bestow those awards. “In other words,” he noted, “you have to place yourself in those lands where his technology is utterly new. You have to walk among people who never imagined one could conquer immorality, ignorance, drug addiction and illiteracy.”

The rest of the article can be seen here