District 8 Pastors Retreat in Omaha
Contributed by Rev. Hyungtae Ha
The 3rd Annual District 8 Pastors’ Retreat was held in Omaha, NE on October 14 and 15, with state pastors, representatives, and their spouses from all over the district gathering to learn about the progress and future of every local community.
Among the special guests was Rev. David Rendel, an Itinerary Worker (IW) for Districts 6, 7 and 8, attended along with his wife. The retreat was organized by our District Pastor, Rev. Hyung Tae Ha, who attended together with his wife and his four children. The chairman of the National Council, Alan Jessen, also attended together with his wife.
We began after a light lunch on Saturday with the first presentation on financial status and development. Pastor Michael Hentrich, Jr. from Colorado joined us via Zoom conference to share about his success with financial development in the Denver Family Church.
The second topic involved developing the next generation of ministry leaders. Mark Lincoln, the Nebraska state pastor, spoke about the efforts the Omaha Family Church has made to add more youth to their ministry. Rev. Hyungtae Ha led an open discussion on the practical development of future ministry leadership in district 8 through a bi-vocational pastoral team.
True father’s life and marriage was next with a special, well-documented presentation by Cindy Pfeiffer, the witnessing and education coordinator of North Dakota.
We ended our day with a delicious, savory sushi dinner at Sakurabana, a restaurant owned by a Unificationist.
On Sunday, before Sunday Service, we had a final presentation from each state on the status of Vision 2020 based on their 2017 Goals.
Rev. Rendel then brought the message for Sunday Service with an in-depth, behind-the-scenes report about the about Madison Square Garden Rally. “We are in a new era,” said Rev. Rendel.
“It is the time of the building of Cheon Il Guk, where heaven and earth are one.”
The day concluded with a barbecue lunch and lots of good fellowship with over 60 people in attendance. This was the largest gathering at the Omaha Family Church since 2001.
Stay tuned on familyfed.org for more updates on local communities throughout America!