Los Angeles Clergy Moved by April 6 Rally

Submitted by Minister Susan Munsell, Co-chair, ACLC Los Angeles.

A Prayer Breakfast was organized by the Los Angeles chapter of the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC) on April 27, where guest speakers testified for religious people and people of peace to work together to fulfill God’s will.

It became clear that Dominique Cox, a City of Refuge Church youth pastor, has been passed the baton of carrying forth faith in God for future generations. Growing up in a fatherless home and becoming a single mother herself, Dominique announced that all her trials have been for God’s glory and her salvation in Jesus Christ has made her a victor. She went on to testify that after True Mother spoke on April 6 at the Peace Starts With Me Rally, there was a Peace Rally for the youth. She said, “It was a true point of inspiration to see the younger generation pouring out their hearts to God and pledging themselves to their future spouse in integrity, purity and fidelity.”

Next, acclaimed actor Richard Gant briefly acknowledged that the Peace Starts With Me theme is a sobering notion because it involves personal responsibility and requires oneself to align with God’s will, to which all the guests nodded in agreement.

Rev. Jae Yoon Pak, a former Korean pastor of the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, declared how grateful he is to be working together with people who are preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ. He quoted from Luke 4:18, when Jesus declared, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me…He has sent me…to set the oppressed free.” Rev. Pak said, “We have so many broken marriages and broken families in this world, and if we are among those who have received the Holy Spirit, we must heal the lost souls, broken marriages and families. Jesus is crying out for this world and crying out for us to heal the brokenhearted.”

Following Rev. Pak, Deacon Roy Valle and Minister Shekenna Valle from the City of Refuge took the spotlight. Minister Shekenna described how God had delivered her from the deep and painful resentment of her abusive past. Hate had taken over her life, but one day she was invited to church. She testified, “God took the hatred out of my heart, and peace started within me.” She started an organization called Love Is Not Domestic Abuse, which helps women who have been abused and men who have been abusive. Her husband, Deacon Roy, exclaimed, “How profound Dr. Moon is by proclaiming that peace starts with me. God is letting us know that we can have peace in the midst of all of the suffering which we endure, and we are the ones who can take that peace to our families, to our community and to the world.”

To conclude the Prayer Breakfast, Pastor Evon McMurry from Word Empowerment to Serve Ministries, a member of the Los Angeles ACLC Steering Committee, testified to her gratitude to God and to ACLC for providing a platform for what she has believed deep in her heart throughout her 40 years in ministry: Love knows no boundaries; there are no racial lines, no denominational lines, no religious lines in God’s plan for this world. Pastor McMurry said, “All my life I have understood that the peace of God lives within me and this is what I must pass on to others. The peace of God surpasses all understanding. On April 6, we witnessed the peace of God manifest here in America, in this nation! Peace starts with me, and that time is now!”