From October 3 to 10, a seven-Day Divine Principle lecture training workshop was held in Las Vegas at the International Peace Education Center (IPEC). A total of 19 participants from Generation Peace Academy‘s (GPA) special missionary team took part in the workshop, all of whom were in either their second or third year of the leadership training program.

The workshop, led by Rev. Andrew Compton, Director of Education at IPEC, began with orientation at the Cheon Hwa Gung. The students were in high spirits, having just fundraised their way from New York, and were looking forward to teaching the Divine Principle.

The lecture training began with welcoming remarks from workshop coordinator, Gregg Smith, and lecturing guidance from Rev. Compton before diving into lecturing one on one. On Saturday morning, Naokimi Ushiroda, National Director of Youth and Students Ministry, spoke to the students through a Zoom conference call, giving lecture advice along with examples and exercises for impromptu speaking.

After the workshop they were assigned to the Las Vegas and Los Angeles chapters of Collegiate Association for Research of Principles (CARP) to help with witnessing before proceeding to their overseas mission countries for five months starting in January 2019.

Report contributed by Gregg Smith and Rev. Andrew Compton.

“This Divine Principle lecture training workshop has been an amazing experience for me. One of the reasons why I decided to do GPA and become a Cheon Il Guk missionary was to expand my understanding of the Principle. The practice of giving lectures has been a great growing opportunity for me. I’ve always had a love for studying the Divine Principle. I was able to understand a lot as a kid and it gave me a solid foundation for the future. This workshop was entirely different from the many I’ve experienced because it is entirely focused on lecturing. We spent many hours each day lecturing, and I felt like I learned so much just from giving the same lecture over and over again. I remember a time when the thought of giving a seven-minute lecture was intimidating, but after attending this workshop, 40 minutes doesn’t seem like enough time. My confidence in speaking, as well as understanding the heart behind the content has increased as well. I see that my peers around me have grown a lot. Many of them struggled in the beginning. Slowly the quality of their lectures improved drastically over the last few days. Even though I was intimidated before coming to this workshop, I really felt it was an opportunity to take ownership over my life of faith.” – Elijah Maddox

“In 2017, before True Mother’s rally at Madison Square Garden, I attended a weekend Divine Principle workshop at Camp Kohoe. This is where I decided to become a Cheon Il Guk missionary. What touched my heart the most about the workshop was the testimonies from the first-generation Unificationists. That was the first time I understood from my heart that the Divine Principle really transforms people’s lives for the better. From there, I decided that I wanted to help make CARP Chicago a reality. To make a great contribution to the community, I knew that GPA would help me develop my leadership skills as well as the characteristics needed to become a leader. I was really excited when I heard that we would be going to Las Vegas for a seven-day Divine Principle workshop. But it was completely different from what I expected. In my mind, I thought we would be receiving lectures from Rev. Compton, but in reality we practiced giving lectures to each other. Giving Divine Principle lectures constantly required a lot of focus. Initially, we were given lecture notes created by Rev. Compton, then gradually started giving lectures without notes. I learned a lot about the content by using the lecture notes, but when we got rid of the notes it made me focus more on my word choices as well as on my level of sincerity. When you are thinking about how ”good” your lecture is, you are already focusing more on external effort rather than internal effort. In addition, we learned that we should focus on being God’s mediator for the audience.” – Munekazu Nakamura

“This is my second year as a Cheon Il Guk missionary, and I’m so grateful that we have this opportunity to practice giving Divine Principle lectures because last year we didn’t practice that much. I was reminded how important it is for us to gain this knowledge about the Divine Principle because we are about to become missionaries in another country. Going into this workshop, I was really surprised that we were the ones giving the lectures for the entire day. I especially felt challenged because I don’t see myself as a good lecturer. I saw this as an opportunity to nourish and strengthen my original mind as well. Having to stand in front of people and give a lecture can be so scary, but this desire of wanting to convey God’s heart is what I came for. Throughout the workshop I learned that becoming a good lecturer wasn’t my main focus; how to become a good mediator for God and True Parents was the focus. I want to strive to convey God’s heart to the people I will meet in the future.” – Risako Yonetani

“Throughout this week I learned many things about the heart of a lecturer, the Divine Principle itself and the heart of God and True Parents. I am really grateful that Rev. Compton gave us notes so that we can understand how to give a lecture. I remember last year I got confused studying the Principle because there is so much content and depth in it that I didn’t know how to convey it to guests who were just starting to learn about it. I felt that the notes we received contained a lot of investment and years of lecturing. One night we watched a Korean movie called The Admiral about a Korean admiral who had only 12 ships going into battle against 300 Japanese ships. The admiral had the determination that no matter how impossible this situation might look, he would fight through and keep his faith. This movie made the struggles True Father went through very real to me. In a way we are part of the 12 ships on God’s side. The path True Parents had to go to find the Principle and fight against Satan was very lonely, but they cannot do it by themselves. Even though this battle against evil might seem impossible at first glance, if we keep ourselves aligned and united with True Parents’ and God’s Will and never give up and continue to fight against the current with the Principle, we can bring victory, and ultimately create the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.” – Kana Ishii

“I gained a more complete understanding of the Divine Principle. I knew the content of the Introduction, Principle of Creation, the Fall, and Restoration but I’ve never been given parallels or parts of eschatology to understand them. Even with the sections I already knew, I saw connections between points and chapters that allowed me to have a clearer overall idea of the Principle. I also connected to True Mother’s heart with the guidance from Rev. Compton on the heart of lecturing. I deeply believe she needs us to convey the Principle to others and let them know that they are loved unconditionally by her. All 7.5 billion people on Earth need to hear it, and she can’t do it alone. We need to go out and not just teach the Principle but show the Principle and show true love to these people. I stand in a position as a Cheon Il Guk missionary to take responsibility to comfort True Mother. And it goes beyond GPA and CARP to further mission work and our future families. I gave a lecture about True Parents’ life course which was the most powerful lecture/guidance on True Parents’ life course that I’ve ever given. I didn’t know how capable I was of giving lectures with that kind of conviction and passion. I felt I was channeling God. At night I had a bowing condition, humbling myself before True Parents and God. I told myself during it that everything I could convey through the Principle was due to True Parents’ blood, sweat and tears in discovering and living it. Giving the lectures on True Parents’ life course was paying homage to True Parents’ sacrifice and love.” – Shogo Nakaza

“This workshop has been a great experience. The night we arrived in Las Vegas was the day before the workshop. After closing, I just prayed. I prayed to end the travel fundraising and to determine myself, and to God to the seven-day Divine Principle workshop. At first, I didn’t think I was capable of giving a 40-minute lecture without notes. I had already struggled to give a 20-minute lecture with notes. The one-on-one lectures really helped me. I would imagine giving the lecture to my friends and people that I meet while witnessing on GPA.” – Hwami Sawada

“One thing we learned in the first few days of this workshop: It’s not about being a good lecturer but rather a good mediator for God to work through. I think it can be easy to get caught up in thinking this is public speaking, but remembering the core of this before giving a lecture helped me calm down and prioritize that I’m conveying something of God’s heart to someone. I came into the workshop wanting to reignite my excitement and passion for the Divine Principle, but I found something deeper. I realized that I was cutting corners and making the Divine Principle less powerful as a result of wanting it to be easy to digest or understand. I couldn’t portray the Divine Principle directly or with power because I was worried of how someone would take it. What was the point of teaching if I didn’t give God’s whole heart? I realized I wasn’t only sharing the truth, I was giving them my life of faith as well, my relationship with God and True Parents. I couldn’t control how they responded, but I could control what I gave and how sincere it was. The continuous lecturing helped me recognize the problems in my lecturing and to fix them at the same time. I also developed my comfort level.” – Miyuki Granstrom

“Through this workshop, I gained a deeper understanding of the Principle and the heart we should have when teaching it. By having the mindset that I’m giving a lecture to a guest who doesn’t know the Principle, I felt I gained a deeper appreciation for the Principle. After attending this workshop, I am determined to continue studying and practicing the Principle, so I can share a deeper part of God’s love and heart.” – Yutaka Ono

“Throughout this workshop I went through the Divine Principle from beginning to end three times, giving a broad lecture on the key points of each section. That in itself was a great learning experience for me, because I saw how each part connected to the last and I could understand each section as we went from 20 minutes to 40 minutes to the one-hour lecture. This workshop helped me have a basic understanding of the Principle from the beginning to the end, not just in my head. It helped me gain the confidence to share this basic outline of the Principle with others. Another point I gained from this workshop was focusing on which aspect of God’s heart I wanted to express in each section of the Principle. As a result of this workshop I feel even more determined to keep studying the Principle, asking as many questions as I can to make sure that I can own the Principle I am teaching.” – Younng Joo Scharf

“One thing I learned was that this Divine Principle workshop really reflected my nature and relationship with others and God as well. Initially, I felt I understood my purpose in giving these lectures, and it was to share God’s heart with everyone. As time went on, I felt I was getting more and more arrogant. It was getting really frustrating to constantly study these contents over and over, and I was losing my desire to study the Divine Principle. I wanted to connect to God’s heart through the history of the providence, and I kept seeking to find this heart, but I was only looking for that and forgot about the content of other things. At the lecture competition, I got last place in my group. My slides were a little mixed up, and the section was difficult to understand. At that point, I became really frustrated and asked myself why this happened to me. I then realized that the way I studied the Divine Principle and gave lectures reflected on my relationship with others and with God. I was being insincere in what I was doing throughout this workshop. I was arrogant in my life of faith toward others, and my relationship with God was not very good or healthy. I had the mindset that I didn’t need anyone or help from anyone, ultimately reflecting that I did not need God. This made me realize that I was one of those central people in the history of God’s providence who keeps going but eventually fails and God has to start all over again. This made me really repent to God and everyone else on how I treated these people that I have been with ever since I became a Cheon Il Guk missionary. I realized that God was actually trying to tell me something throughout this workshop. God was planning a strategy to help me realize something because He wants me to grow. Ultimately, God was telling me that this was not the right way to go. I felt immensely grateful to God and everyone else for opening up my eyes, seeing how much effort these brothers and sisters are putting into becoming the best mediators so that everyone can be reached through the best possible way. God has given me this strategy to help me reach my goal of connecting my heart to His heart in any way possible, and this plan made me understand a little more of how and what He has been doing to help people.” – David Lee

“An experience this week that impacted me was how the Divine Principle applied to my life so well. I believed I relatively understood the Principle and its application to my life, but that was proven wrong. The more I lectured, the more I understood, especially aspects of the heart that I couldn’t quite feel beforehand. I connected most to the Parallels of History, something that I hadn’t connected to personally, but through this workshop I was able to do so. The same way that history repeats itself, we repeat ourselves in our individual lives. This helped me realize how to break that cycle. We have a portion of responsibility to choose good or evil and to move forward.” – Joshua Fujikake

“I really gained a stronger conviction about the Divine Principle through this workshop. Beforehand, I didn’t know why I was studying the Principle or learning how to teach it. But after giving a few lectures, I realized that this is the definite truth and is one of the most valuable things God has ever laid upon us. The Divine Principle is the key to long-lasting happiness, and it’s what we as human beings have been struggling to attain for a long time. With that knowledge, I realized I couldn’t just be here and not share it. It’s not just about spreading God’s words but ultimately God’s love so that everyone could live a happy life centered on God.” – Mitsuyoshi Orikasa

“I lacked a lot of knowledge on the Bible and Divine Principle. During the workshop we took a Divine Principle test which I failed three times. I felt left out being the only one taking the test three times. I felt I wasn’t fit to be a Cheon Il Guk missionary. I was so caught up in these thoughts that I became more and more negative. I needed to gain confidence in giving lectures. When I gave my one-on-one lecture on The Conclusion, I only gave a 27-minute lecture without notes, which was supposed to be a one-hour lecture. I felt horribly and thought I did poorly because I finished too early, but was told it was fine. The next session was in front of a bigger group for the Divine Principle contest. I was given the same topic, The Conclusion. I felt extremely nervous and decided to use my notes this time for my last lecture. When I finished, I noticed I gave more heart during the first lecture. I lacked confidence in myself and limit my potential. However, my conscience has gotten stronger, and God is always telling me to keep going no matter what.” – Hirokazu Terada

“I really enjoyed this past week. I felt I gained a lot, more than at any other workshop I have ever been to. I really enjoyed the time we had lecturing to each other—not only when I was giving lectures to others but also when I was listening. I felt like this Divine Principle lecture workshop was great, not only for future lecturers but also for people who just want to create a deeper relationship with God and True Parents.” – Sotetsu Honda

“This seven-day lecture workshop was a really great opportunity for me to hone my lecturing skills. I used to think that only through reading Divine Principle itself, or receiving lectures, could we learn more about the Divine Principle. Every time I gave a lecture, it was as if I was giving a lecture to myself, and I made a lot of connections. I could see how certain points from the Principle of Creation would be connected to Restoration, or how the history taught in Restoration connected with the Second Coming of the Messiah. There were so many points that were always in front of me, but I never made these connections.” – Anonymous