Culture of Heart: Unificationists Share Their Passions

As unique and varied as the world at large, Unificationists have a wide range of passions and talents that express the many facets of our Heavenly Parent. This summer, Unificationists around the nation shared their passions with others in creating community events where they could experience friendship, care and creativity together.

Summer Fest in Ohio

To commemorate the third anniversary of True Father’s Seonghwa, the community at UC Columbus decided to stage a large Summer Fest for the whole neighborhood. The festival boasted games and attractions for all ages, international food, magic, music, and arts and culture breakout sessions.

On Sunday, August 16, preparations started already before Sunday Service. Almost as many people were outside, setting up the stage and decorating the grounds.

The purpose of the Summer Fest was to experience love between friends, unity among generations, and the energy created when we work together.

As soon as Sunday Service finished, the congregation flocked to the parking lot, which had been turned into an “International Food Fest” with delicacies from ten countries prepared by friends of the church who had volunteered to provide food in honor of the event and True Father’s life and legacy.

After lunch, children young and old took part in the many games offered on the lawn surrounding the church. To encourage full participation, the children were given a map detailing the different activities, including a Bouncy House and face painting, creative outlets like potato stamping and gardening, and scientific experiments with giant soap bubbles.

Many locals joined in the festivities, responding to flyers that had been distributed and posters put up at the local library and recreation centers. Participants enjoyed a delightful magic show, and the magician himself had such a great time that he stayed to enjoy the festivities, even volunteering to participate in the Dunk Tank. Participants also enjoyed dunking Pastor Frank Sanchez and Young Adult Pastor Noah Trimble.

The crowd got a chance to snag four different raffle prizes, and was serenaded by two bands, Soul Monsters of UC Columbus and Brothers of Completion from Cincinnati.

With such a wonderful response and experience, the community didn’t stop at one day, but held another festival the following Saturday. While the first part of the festival was geared toward children, the second part on Saturday offered a multitude of activities for the more seasoned. Six classes were available: Japanese Ramen Making; Painting; Marriage Enrichment Sessions based on Susan Page; Gardening and Wood Working outdoors; a Music Master Class; and a new way to get into religions and the Unification Church in particular: JeoparDP.

The kitchen filled fast for the demonstration and hands-­on class on Japanese Ramen. Both parts of the Summer Fest were a great success, and hopefully this will become a yearly tradition as a tribute to True Father’s life as well as a service to the community.

Experiencing God in New Hampshire

The Faith Fusion community in New Hampshire have a commitment to offer quarterly seminars for their longtime members, new members and guests. This year Faith Fusion hosted a variety of speakers on the Divine Principle, Unification Thought, practical guidance on fulfilling the First Blessing with Pastor David Young, and most recently a seminar on understanding our spiritual nature and experiencing God. The community were excited to welcome Ron and Connie Pappalardo to offer this one-day workshop on August 22, 2015. “Having guest speakers visit our church really helps keep the energy for witnessing going,” said Pastor Heather Thalheimer. “It is important for a vibrant life of faith to keep learning and growing.”

The community advertised the program on their Meet-Up group page, at local libraries and other public places. They posted the program on all of their social media and created invite cards to hand out in person. As a result, 50 people attended the program. Five were new Unificationists and 11 were new guests. The program provided a great introduction to Faith Fusion and the Unification movement, and its focus on the spirit world was an ideal topic for witnessing as people are naturally curious about this topic. 

“Ron’s workshop was a practical introduction to understanding that we are all spiritual beings with the potential to communicate with God,” said Heather. “It was wonderful to have someone visit our church community who was not just wanting to deliver a message, but rather bring hope and healing. Ron’s workshop helps to evoke that culture of heart, which has to be at the core of our community if we are to grow.”

Service and Sharing in Pennsylvania

On May 16, 2015 some members of the Philadelphia Family Church set up a canopy at the Uhuru Flea Market in Philadelphia. The flea market occurs once a month at a city park located near the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and a handful of other colleges and universities. The flea market attracts a mix of young and old, students and professors, religious and non-religious, wealthy and underprivileged and everyone in between. The group’s focus was not on selling goods, but on sharing its talents and passion.

Eddie Kaady, an incredibly gifted palm reader, read the palms of 16 persons. He met students, doctors, an astrophysicist and many others and described their past and future life from their hands. He read personality traits and events so accurately that people could not help but speak from their heart sincerely and deeply. They sought advice for their struggles in marriage, career and life direction.

Baochu Shimizu and Fumiyo Mulbah are trained practitioners of massage therapy and healing. While on the massage table, like those having their palm read, many people began to share their stories and inner struggles. As people felt their physical aches and pains leave their body, they also unloaded many emotional stories from their hearts.

“Everyone was born with a special anointing of a talent or ability,” said one of the event organizers. “Everyone is called to find their talent, create passion and find opportunities to share it with others. If we are passionate, people around us will feel our enthusiasm and we will begin to positively influence people around us and our tribal messiahship will begin.”