National Ministry Team Monthly Meeting
The National Ministry Team met at the New Yorker Hotel
The FFWPU USA National Ministry Team met today during their monthly progress meeting and heard from their Continental Director, Dr. Ki Hoon Kim, about the significance of the Cham Bumo Gyeong, which is True Parents’ scriptures in their own words which is now available to order at hsabooks.com. He read a passage from the moment in True Parents’ life when they first fully gained self-awareness of their identity and purpose as the Messiah, and demonstrated how these passages can help us develop our own self-awareness as Tribal Messiahs.
Dr. Ki Hoon Kim reads a selection of the Cham Bumo Gyeong
“I’m not sure everyone is aware of their identity as Tribal Messiahs,” he said. “Everything starts from our self-awareness, an understanding of True Parents and an understanding our Heavenly Parent. This is a matter of how we can personally commit to our Tribal Messiahship with True Parents and our Heavenly Parent. To help us understand, we have this precious book, the Cham Bumo Gyeong, a great gift left by True Parents to us. When you’re not sure, come back here and reconnect with True Parents’ heart and love.”
Order Your Copy of the Cham Bumo Gyeong
Miilhan Stephens emceed the program
Miilhan Stephens, FFWPU USA Vice President, emceed the meeting and to open he invited local New York City Family Church pastor, Rev. Tanya Edwards, to pray. Afterward, the team heard updates and goals from the Generation Peace Academy (GPA), local district reports, the Blessing & Family Ministry, the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP), the Korean Evangelical Association (KEA) and the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC). Highlights of these reports are available below.
Generation Peace Academy
Roland Platt, GPA Director
Roland Platt, Director of GPA, described this year’s activities both old and new for this youth leadership program. So far they have taken up Bible studies and are now divided into teams for their overseas missions in countries around the world. By True Mother’s suggestion, one special team of seven Cheon Il Guk missionaries from GPA are currently at the Global Top Gun workshop in Korea, after which they will do mission work in the Philippines for three months. Roland also described GPA’s goals for the year 2020 which he honed with his staff during a goal-setting activity. They came out with three main goals for GPA: to have participation equally from American second generation Unificationists, international second generation Unificationists, and young first generation Unificationists; for the leadership team to be professionally trained in areas such as counseling; and for GPA to be a well-established and publicly recognized training program around the world.
New York Region
Rev. Edner Pierre-Louis, New York District Pastor
Rev. Edner Pierre-Louis, District Pastor of the New York region, shared the recent activities coming from the 12 churches in the district. With 352 active members, local pastors have much support to work closely with interfaith organizations such as ACLC and the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), as well as to organize regular outreach activities. He shared about a recent gathering in Peekskill, New York, to which pastors and assistants came from around the region. Their primary concern was to discuss how they would carry out celebrations for upcoming Holy Days. They decided to celebrate Heavenly Parent’s Day locally, True Parents’ Birthday as a big event to be held at East Garden on Saturday, Feb. 13, and the Foundation Day Blessing at 43rd street where 5 couples are registered to participate so far.
More Information About Holy Days
New Jersey Region
Pastor Manoj Jacob, Clifton Family Church
Pastor Manoj Jacob of the Clifton Family Church gave an overview of their 2015 goals and activities, and transitioned into the community’s 2016 outlook. In 2015, their key focus included reaching out to lapses members, strengthening their ministries, and strengthening outreach efforts. This year, they hope to stimulate interaction among membership so that no one feels left behind. Many Unificationists started coming back to church as a result of 2015 efforts, and Pastor Manoj plans to keep up with the increasingly active ministries. In 2016, they also want to increase their presence in politics, expand interfaith activities, work with the local media and businesses, and tap into the arts. A step in that direction, they recently held an Ambassadors for Peace program sponsored by UPF, which attracted over 100 people included 30 guests. Six new Ambassadors for Peace were recognized, and the community plans to follow up with these leaders with education and support.
New England Area
Rev. Chris Hempowicz, New England District Pastor
Rev. Chris Hempowicz is the new District Pastor for the New England region. He highlighted changes in his region including a new young pastor couple in Boston, the Deshotels. Rev. Hempowicz described the welcoming ceremony for the Deshotels, which with a special prayer ceremony let them know that they have the whole community’s support. Lately he also has been seeing an increasing youthful energy in his community, particularly in the music ministry, and sees this as a healthy sign of community growth and enthusiasm.
Blessing & Family Ministry
Crescentia DeGoede, BFM Director
BFM Director, Crescentia DeGoede, talked about the Matching Advisor training and Parents’ Matching Convocation programs. These are designed to provide education for parents in the matching engagement process. In Seattle, BFM co-hosted a convocation, working with the community to put on this event.
WFWP
Angelika Selle, WFWP USA President, and Kiyomi Schmidt
Angelika Selle, WFWP USA President, and Kiyomi Schmidt showcased their latest monthly newsletter which featured a message from the president, impact reports, local news, project updates, upcoming events and educational resources. To subscribe to this newsletter, click on the link below.
KEA
Rev. Ki Yeal Lee, KEA Pastor
Rev. Ki Yeal Lee of the KEA described the recent 2016 National KEA Conference. Eleven pastors met with Dr. Kim to hone the purpose and vision of KEA: to inherit True Parents’ tradition, create a devotional culture of heart, teach the Korean language and support the reunification of North and South Korea.
ACLC
Rev. George Augustus Stallings, ACLC Co-Chair
Rev. George Augustus Stallings talked about his recent trip to England where he helped reactivate the Association of British Clergy, ACLC’s counterpart in the UK. He received an energetic response in reaching out to clergy, and spoke with first generation Unificationists about the importance to tell their story of what brought them to True Parents. He encouraged them to share the fire, energy and excitement that brought them here, which will inspire second generation Unificationists to go out and tell others about True Parents, too. We look forward to hearing more about the development of this new ministry in England.