ACLC Prayer Breakfast in Virginia

The American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC) of Northern Virginia kicked off the autumn season with a prayer breakfast. Inspired by the recent “All In” National Leadership Conference, local ACLC Coordinator Mrs. Michiko Yokoyama invited both returning and new pastors to the Northern Virginia (NoVa) Family Church on September 19.

Rev. Werner Suebert opened the meeting with a prayer, followed by a video presentation on ACLC, which outlined the history of the organization and its tenets: rebuild the family, renew the community, and restore the nation and the world. 

The keynote speech was given by Dr. Glovinia Williams, founder, president and CEO of Collegiate Training Institute, a community faith-based corporation. Dr. Williams shared about her history with the Unification movement, including her initial encounter with Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon in 1974, when she took her son to see him speak in Chicago. “God will always take you on a higher and higher climb, but you must always seek out information, truth and wisdom while going through hardship,” said Dr. Williams. “You may even find valleys on the higher ground, but if you practice and continue with absolute faith, God will guide you to even higher ground.”

Southeast Subregional Director Rev. Ernest Patton and his wife, Keiko, along with Bishop John and Gloria Allen led the group in a beautiful Marriage Blessing Ceremony. Rev. Patton then announced the upcoming Peace Starts With Me event on November 16 in Washington, D.C. and the 30,000 clergy rally on December 28 in Newark, NJ. Several new pastors plan to host their own prayer breakfasts to prepare for the coming rallies. 

One Unificationist expressed that while the group may have been small, those who attended left with the desire to take their communities and ministries to “higher ground.”