Nassau Peace Event: Why This One Is Different

We are Taking Family Federation into the 21st Century!

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You probably heard about the Peace Starts with Me event with True Mother coming up on November 12. I know we are all event veterans, but I feel there are a few significant differences about this one that I would like to share with you directly.

This Began in Prayer

We were not told to do this. The origin of this event began in prayer. At a leaders workshop in Korea this February I heard from WonJu McDevitt that our True Mother’s pillow is usually wet in the morning. After hearing this I couldn’t sleep, so I climbed the mountain at 2AM to pray. It was the simplest prayer I’d ever prayed. I just imagined True Mother alone in her bedroom and asked God, “What keeps True Mother up at night?” The answer was simple. Obvious, yet not quite what I expected. From where I stood I could easily imagine how many things would cause our True Mother concern. We all know about the various challenges facing True Parents and our movement. There are so many things that might cause her stress and concern, but God told me that those things were very small in comparison to what she is really thinking about. The answer was, “7.6 billion.”

True Mother’s heart is aching for her children. All of her children. Imagine a mother reacting to her child that has just cut a finger, and not be able to run over to hold, heal, and love the child! That mother’s heart would be desperate. How much more desperate must our True Mother be for all 7.6 billion of us?

Knowing that True Mother has an impossible task to reach everyone in the shortest possible time I could more personally understand the significance of the rallies. In my conversation I asked more questions, like when, and where etc. Later when I shared my experience with Dr. Kim, he responded with one simple comment, “great revelation.”

Last year Madison Sq. Garden was a great success. However, it was directed by True Mother. She directed the time and place and reason. This time we started in our own prayer and it was offered up with a heart of filial piety. This is not top down. It is Hyojeong.

This is a Public Event

This is not a private party, it is public. We are going totally public. We often do events, and perhaps even invite several guests, but many times the world doesn’t hear about it or know about it. At Madison Square Garden last year it was literally a private party. That was our contract. We held all the tickets for the seats and distributed them. However, it also restricted our ability to market the event publicly. It was a private party.

This year, Peace Starts with Me at Nassau Coliseum, is a public event. In fact, the tickets are now live and open to the public for purchase. There are print ads and radio ads live right now promoting the event and drumming up a buzz about joining the 5000 Voice Choir. I heard yesterday from A. Curtis Farrow that we are already up to 2500 singers for the choir and they are coming from all over the world! We only announced the choir one week ago.

We are entering into a new era. From now, it won’t just be the occasional oddball attack on our church from an ex-member, or an ill-researched article that labels us as a cult. We are going to increase our positive standing with the public, we are going to respond strongly to our adversaries, and we are going to continue to grow as individuals and families.

We Are Communicating

We now have a Communications Department led by Nancy Jubb, our Communications Director. She has been reaching out to media, sending out press releases and media alerts, fielding requests from journalists and mapping out a new communications strategy. We also hired a PR agency who is assisting us in press relations and strategies, expanding our network of allies and friends, and reclaiming a foundation of trust and confidence in the public arena.

New Partners

One of the great successes of MSG last year was our relationship with new partners like A. Curtis Farrow and the choir, Hezekiah Walker, Yolanda Adams and several prominent clergy who stood with us. We are building on that momentum from last year and gaining new ground. We are expanding our network into both the Christian and Entertainment communities, and we will also be reaching out to veterans and political leaders. True Parents are unique in their ability bring all these people together and unite for a message of peace.

We Now Have Subregions

Although this is a national, or even an international event, it is being hosted by Subregion 1. The five of us Subregional Directors have a great relationship and we are working in harmony for the sake of the nation, while paying better attention to the needs of the field. I look forward to supporting the other Subregions as they unveil their plans to hold events or rallies in the future. And for now we are all working as one to bring our nation together to welcome True Mother this November in New York.

We Gave it Some Time

Unlike most events we are used to, we didn’t just stop everything we are doing to do this rally. We spent a lot of time in prayer and preparation, both internally and externally. We lined up how this can be both successful as a rally and beneficial to the community and ministry. Of course, doing large expensive events like this always require some change and adjustment, but the planning happened over a 9-month process, including communication, reporting and offering up to True Mother. This is in direct support of our own Tribal Messiahship efforts, whether you are in New York or Hawaii, your Tribal Messiahship activities will benefit from this event and the attention it brings.

You Are Invited

You are invited to come. Okay, this is the same as always perhaps, but there is a difference. As members we can sometimes slide into the rather shallow, if sometimes justified mentality of a mobilization and just think about butts in seats. But I loved what Curtis said to me the other day. He said, “Make sure the house is at least half full of members, you guys need to be there, not because we aren’t going to sell out, because we will, but you need to be there because you are the message, you bring the spirit, and you are the fruit of True Parents. The other people feel that. Sense that. So you need to be there to set the tone.” Personally I was very inspired by that perspective.

The Big Picture

Guys, this is real. True Mother really does want and expect national restoration. She is not just running a church and praying for the people in her prayer room, she is truly taking on the total challenge of reaching every single person alive today, and she wants to bless them and turn their hearts to God. There is no solution to our problems without God, and there is no way to truly understand and rejoin to God without True Parents. True Mother feels totally responsible, but she cannot personally reach everyone without us. I cannot even imagine what 7.6 billion people looks like, but I know that every person that comes to Nassau Coliseum this November 12 will testify to at least 100 people, and we will change the heart and minds of those around us, and change the media narrative along the way. This is a million dollar commercial for True Peace because we have the answer.

Yes, we have our problems too. But I don’t want to sit back and complain. Or worse, wait for others to solve my problems. Peace starts with me. And this is so much bigger than our own families or our church. As Americans, we are tired of being angry, bitter, and divided. We want to start treating each other like family. So, this November 12, through prayer, music, and divine inspiration and love from our True Mother, we will begin a new season of healing for America. That is how we can help the world.

For more on the event and how it came to be, click here.

For more logistical information including tickets etc., click here.