Information on the Worldwide Members’ Witnessing Competition for Commemorating the 15th Anniversary of Cheongpyeong Works

Information on the Worldwide Members’ Witnessing Competition for Commemorating the 15th Anniversary of Cheongpyeong Works 

Blessing Address

Hyung Jin Moon
January 31, 2009
New York Manhattan Center

Good evening brothers and sisters! (Good evening!)

It is a most auspicious day today. I want to start with something from Scripture today. I was actually, initially, supposed to read one of Father's prayers but Father asked me just to share from my heart.

So I'd like to start with Scripture, Genesis 1:27. It says, "So God created man in his own image," and it goes on to say, "male and female He created them." And verse 28 says, "Then God blessed them," and in verse 31, "when God saw all that He created, He said 'Indeed, it is very good!' "

And I want to get that on the inside of us today, because today is a day that the Lord has made. It is a day that is joyous; it is a day that is profound. It is a day that is blessed. And when God looks at us today, He's going to say "Indeed, it is very good!" Let's tell our neighbor today, "Indeed, it is very good!" Let's tell our neighbor, come on. Let's share it today! (Audience repeats.)

Brothers and sisters, it's so important to always start with this kind of attitude. When we in the Unification tradition receive the Holy Blessing, it is not only a vow that we take, it is a practice. The Blessing of Marriage is not only a promise that we intend to keep; it is a practice that we live out. The Blessing of Marriage is not only a proclamation that we declare unto heaven, it is a practice that we live out in everyday life, and that is the profound work that God has called us to do.

You see, what True Father has taught us is, that in the beginning God wanted to have His family, and He wanted to set this ideal, just like you saw in verse 31. He wanted to look at His children and say, "Indeed, that is very good!" And when He looks at us today, I believe He is saying that. He's shouting that from the Heavens today. Let's give God a big shout of praise today. Let's give Him a big hand! (Audience applauds.) God is good! And He is here tonight!

Brothers and sisters, it's so important that when we start this journey together, we know that this is a beginning, it's not the end. It's not only a certain important point in our life; it is a beginning of a new Genesis, it is a beginning of a new creation, a new era, a new history. Your family will create a new world that we and our descendants will live in.

Brothers and sisters, it's so important that we start out on this type of note, that we understand the sacredness and holiness of marriage, and that that sacredness extends into our everyday life. True Father has taught us that it is in the Blessing of Marriage that we can substantialize and actualize all the great teachings that he has given us, the teachings of true love and living for the sake of the other, the teachings of respecting our spouse, giving and receiving in true love action with them.

See, brothers and sisters, it is in this sacred union that we are practicing to become the divine sons and daughters that heaven has proclaimed us to become. It is in this institution, in this daily practice that we live together, that we actualize our potential and character, where we become greater and greater, and God sees us and is more happy and more joyous. And indeed anything that God has brought together will endure forever. It is so important that we start with this attitude, it is so important that we start our footsteps together in the right motion, in this providential motion together.

Brothers and sisters, today is a great day! It's always a joy and a great honor for us to be participating in the Blessing of Marriage. I want to get blessed again today with my wife! I see her with my new eyes today. I'm getting married with you guys today, too!

So brothers and sisters, always we want to be fresh. We always, every day, every moment, want to renew our marriage. Our marriage is not only a one-time thing, it's a practice. It is something that is profound. It is something where true world peace can be substantialized. It is the place wherein which the divisions that have separated us as humankind can be overcome, and that is True Father's profound teaching: that in the institution of the spousal relationship we create the true family, and in that institution we bring the utmost glory to God.

And when He looks upon us this day and so henceforth, He will look at us and say, "Indeed you are very good!" Let's tell your neighbor, "I am very good!" Tell it, come on! Tell it like you mean it. Tell your neighbor, "This is a very good day!"

Brothers and sisters, once again, this is always what we wish for you to take unto your marriage. We pray that when you come out, when True Parents come out, you can really celebrate this day with them, it is their 90th Birthday; it's a profound day, and also it's a day wherein which you start your most glorious path.

Brothers and sisters, welcome to this path! It is the blessed path, it is the path where we go out and change the world, starting from our families. Thank you so much, brothers and sisters.

Thank you and Congratulations!

(Applause) 

Determination to Practice Liberation

Hyung Jin Moon
January 31, 2009
Manhattan Center, New York
Presented at True Parents' 90th Birthday Celebration

Beloved Father, thank You for Your grace as You have protected me while I continued to fight ever since I was a child for fear that Heaven might suffer the indignity of being slighted.

Regardless of how good things are here on earth, there is no standard more precious than to be connected to Your original heart. Our longing for that connection should therefore be unbounded. We should realize that people who are connected to Your true love are without regret even if they have lost everything in this world. Now we must find our way to the original hometown, the ideal world in which Your love is at the center of our lives. While we are on the earth, we should prepare for the day that we are born as liberated children with free authority in our third life.

Just as a baby must be healthy in the womb to be healthy in life, one's life on earth must be spiritually sound so that one's life in the heavenly world can be sound. In order to stand in a position to receive help from both heaven and earth and to be moving in step with the dynamic fortune of the entire universe, we have to be ready to face death, because the present world is a contradictory world under the dominion of evil. We must be aware that it would be absolutely wrong to allow our descendants to have to carry our burden in our place. (Sun Myung Moon, October 17, 1971)

Beloved Father, when we realize that You have been ceaselessly working until now to pioneer a spring-type environment, we are infinitely grateful to You and infinitely glad; yet we should become sons and daughters who can still lament the fact that we have still been unable to give our entire life and love to You. In order for us to greet the new spring, we should secure a bond with You through which we can invest our life fully and become totally absorbed in that relationship.

In that way, we can greet spring for the first time and come into bloom. We should not become pitiful spiritual beings that go to the next world without having ever welcomed springtime during our earthly life. Just as a flower must go through summer and autumn in order to produce a fruit, we also must go through such a process to bear our own fruit.

For a life to be invested and come to fruition, it must go through the summer season and absorb life elements through the root, trunk and branches until it has the full life force needed to begin a second life. We should become Your sons and daughters who can ask ourselves the question, Is there a life force within our mind and heart that is ready to burst into life in the next world after our bodies have died?

We know that the internal life force must not be invaded by the environment no matter how much time passes and how strong the storm may be. It must follow a course of consistent development so that it becomes a seed that can be planted again as the source of a second life when spring arrives.

In the same way, even if we are not externally powerful, if we are beings with an intense, infinite life force within us -- people with an internal value that can be planted again in the infinite world of the spirit as the fruit of our life in this world -- then we realize that no matter how miserable we may seem, we are not really miserable. I sincerely wish and desire that You will permit us to know that, even as our outer form gradually deteriorates, we are guaranteed to become more serious about investing in the internal value within. (Sun Myung Moon, June 14, 1970)

Father, we need to be aware that no one lacking the desire to humbly bow before You can have any connection with You in the eternal spirit world. Please permit us to feel Your deep heart as we open the door to our own mind and heart. Please let us hear Your voice, which is calling to us from within our own hearts, in order that we may find our lost selves. Please allow us to become people who can bow our heads as we feel the history of hardships and toil through which You have invested in order to restore each of us. (Sun Myung Moon, September 14, 1958)

Universal Acclamation

As saviors, messiahs, returning lords and True Parents, Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his wife Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon have devoted their entire lives to the realization of the ideal world which God has desired ever since the Creation.

Rev. and Mrs. Moon have consistently gone the way of restoration through indemnity throughout their lives, shedding blood, sweat and tears in order to liberate God and save humankind. Finally in 2001, conditions were completed that allowed God's kingship to be restored back to Him. Now the authority of absolute sexual ethics, true love, true life and true lineage within the realm of the cosmic sabbath for the parents of heaven and earth has been established.

True Parents have liberated God, the King of Kings through totally indemnifying and resolving resentment of the history of evil and sin which resulted from the fall of the first human ancestors. Now, all can regain the value God intended for humanity at the time of Creation.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon have taught the path of peace based on the principles of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values throughout their lives in order to bring an end to the history of conflict, war and alienation. They have broken down the walls dividing peoples, religions, ideologies and cultures and have dedicated their lives to the realization of the ideal of creating one family under God. Now 185 nations and 286 clans have acknowledged them as the king and queen of peace.

In this 90th year of Rev. Sun Myung Moon's providential course, he is opening a new era in which humanity can become one community of love and peace, through the appointment of Boon Bong Wangs as representatives of the Parent UN to each nation. We offer our congratulations that the 'Coronation Ceremony for the Authority of the Liberation of God, the King of Kings' can be held at this time and thus offer this plaque to venerate God as the true parent of humanity, the king of peace and king of kings.

Presented by the Cain and Abel Boon Bong Wangs of the world Presented by the Ambassadors for Peace of the world Presented by all Blessed Families in the spiritual and physical worlds 

Prayer: Determination to Practice Liberation

Hyung Jin Moon
January 31, 2009

This prayer was read by Hyung-jin nim at both the coronation in Korea and the United States on January 31. (In the first such coronation on January 15, a Report to Heaven was read by Dr. Kwak Chung-hwan.) It is a compilation of excerpts from True Father's prayers on different occasions, from as far back as 1958.

Beloved Father, thank You for Your grace as You have protected me while I, out of fear that Heaven might suffer the indignity of being slighted, continued to fight ever since I was a child. When we reflect on the fact that regardless of how good things are here on earth, there is no state more precious than that of being connected to Your original heart, our longing for that connection should be unbounded. We should realize that people who are connected to Your true love are without regret even if they have lost everything in the world. Now we must find our way to the original hometown, the ideal world in which Your love is at the center of our lives. While we are on the earth, we should prepare for the day that we are born as liberated children with free authority in our third life.

Just as a baby must be healthy in the womb to be healthy in life, one's life on earth must be spiritually sound so that one's life in the heavenly world can be sound. In order to stand in a position to receive help from both heaven and earth and to be moving in step with the dynamic fortune of the entire universe, we have to be ready to face death, because the present world is a contradictory world under the dominion of evil. We must be aware that it would be absolutely wrong to cause our descendants to have to carry our burden in our place.

Beloved Father, when we realize that You have been ceaselessly working until now to pioneer an environment that is like springtime, we are infinitely grateful to You and infinitely glad; yet we should become sons and daughters who can lament the fact that we have not yet been able to give our entire life and love to You. In order for us to greet the new spring, we should secure a bond with You through which we can invest our life fully and become totally absorbed in that relationship.

In that way, we can greet the springtime and flowers can blossom for the first time. We should not become pitiful spiritual beings that go to the next world without ever having welcomed the springtime during our earthly life. Just as a flower must go through summer and autumn in order to produce fruit, we also must go through such a process to bear our own fruit.

For a life to be invested and come to fruition, it must go through summer and absorb life elements through the root, trunk and branches until it has the full life force needed to begin a second life. We should become Your sons and daughters who can ask ourselves the question, Is there a living force within our mind and heart that is ready to burst into life in the next world after our bodies have died?

We know that the internal life force must not be invaded by the environment no matter how much time passes and how strong the storm may be. It must follow a course of consistent development so that it becomes a seed that can be planted again as the source of a second life when spring arrives.

In the same way, even if we are not externally powerful, if we are beings with an intense, infinite life force within us -- people with an internal value that can be planted again in the infinite world of the spirit as the fruit of our life in this world -- we will realize that no matter how miserable we may seem, we are not really miserable. I sincerely wish and desire that You permit us to know that even as our outer form gradually deteriorates, we will certainly come increasingly into alignment with our original internal value.

Father, we need to be aware that no one lacking the desire to humbly bow before You can have any connection with You in the eternal spirit world. Please permit us to feel Your deep heart as we open the door to our own mind and heart. Please let us hear Your voice, which is calling to us from within our own hearts, in order that we may find our lost selves. Please allow us to become people who can bow our heads as we feel the hard, toilsome history You have come through in order to restore each of us. 

The Central Focus for Our Religious Leaders

Hyung Jin Moon
January 30, 2009

Hyung Jin nim conveyed the following message at the opening of the World National Leaders Assembly 2009 to more than a hundred and twenty members, mainly national leaders and regional presidents, who were anxious to connect to their international president's heart. The assembly took place January 28-31 at the Cheongshim Youth Center and the Cheon Jeong Peace Palace in Korea.

Hello brothers and sisters. True Parents just arrived today. They are very happy that you could all come from all over the world to participate in the first national leaders' conference. There will be many topics over the course of the next few days, but these are really preparatory for the celebration of True Parents' birthday, so we hope that you will all come with that kind of celebratory heart, to really praise and give glory to True Parents on this very auspicious occasion.

Brothers and sisters, I would just like to share some of the things that have kept me constant ever since Father asked us to take on responsibility. We started out in the Mapo church; it's a small church here in Korea. Whenever Father asked me to do something new, I asked him one question, "Father, what should I do next?" Father's answer has been consistent. His response is very simple. "Continue to give Jeong Seong." That's a very important secret, I would say.

We have many different theories about why the movement is not growing or developing as we would like. Here in Korea, as we are growing the church, we are wrestling with these ideas, developing new witnessing strategies, new organizational structures and transparent financial management. It's very important. We have to be very systematic and rational in the way we think about our church development.

We are so grateful to Kook Jin hyung because he has such a systematic, organized mind and so many years of experience running organization. He has so much insight. A lot of the plans and strategies for development have come out of his genius or his Task Force Teams, which make proposals for better church growth. We deal with many different things on the ground. Because we run the church from the ground, many things have to be tested -- whether it be a home .group method or new witnessing strategy. I know you are all concerned about this and very interested in these developments, but at the same time, we have to remember that we are a spiritual movement.

We have to develop the practical organizational systems; these are critical because they provide us a safety net from organizational trouble. They prevent organizational disasters or catastrophes. But we have to recall that we are a spiritual tradition that is rooted in the devotional life. Father could have told me to focus on young people's education, or focus on witnessing, which of course our teams do, but he specifically told me to continue to give Jeong Seong.

The Chinese character for Seong in Jeong Seong has a very deep meaning. It's a character meaning "to embody the word;" on the left is "the word" and on the right is the radical for "becoming" or "actualizing." It is the substantiation of what Father has been teaching.

It seems as if, as we get very much into church development and structures, we may start to believe that it is less important to live an authentically religious life. It may be third or fourth on our list of important tasks. Religion, of course, uses scientific methods, but religion also has something beyond any of those structures; that is, it is spiritual. Every healthy religion is; it has to be to be vibrant and alive.

That's very important for us. We start our day at 2:30 with devotional practice. We go up a mountain and pray there, meditate and do recitations and bows up there. We start our day that way because one of the fundamental aspects of leadership, of religious leadership, is to continuously live a religious life. This entails not just the externals but truly trying to rid oneself of the trappings that can come once we take on position or power. To be watching oneself, analyzing oneself, meditating on oneself and emptying oneself. We see this in the Christian tradition, kenosis, emptying ourselves -- which I see as a very important aspect of religious leadership. Out of that emptying, comes humility and the attempt to live a sacrificial life. Nobody's perfect at those things, but the attempt to practice them comes out of our own attitude toward our faith. To me that is central. If I have a specialization, that's it. I'm trying to focus on keeping that center that True Father has given us, keeping sincerity of heart.

Sincerity in this context, is not, as in the traditional sense, an attitude. Jeong Seong goes into physical actions, physical religious practice, or a devotional offering -- an actualization of religious principles into life. It has a very action-oriented meaning in this context. So when I use sincerity, I'm always including that element.

Kook Jin hyung's focus on real results is a powerful catalyst for the movement. It started us focusing practically, and focusing rationally -- to not theorize, but to make result. He caused a revolutionary change, which had not been seen in the organization. Father asked us to take responsibility, then Kook Jin hyung helped us create the team, which Director Cho was also involved in, so the World Mission Department was reorganized. Then, we implemented the whole church restructuring plan.

One thing we try to focus on is empowerment of people, empowerment of our members. That's very important. If you have an empowered citizenship, you have an empowered nation, a very positive nation. One of the principles I always try to work with is that when Father gives me more responsibility, I give more away.

The Headquarters Church has had its first election for our women's ministry. These women are taking on very important roles in the church. It's the age of women in the church and we're very happy to see women rising up in leadership.

The women in the congregation elected them. No men were present at the election. These woman leaders work with the ministers on different teams. We are giving away authority. At the Headquarters Church, I have the authority to choose the leaders I want. If I wanted to put a certain woman in charge of a group, I could do that, but it's important to let go of authority, learn to give power to our members. As members feel included, it creates a powerful energy. That's what we did. We gave the members the power to choose their leaders. They chose the exact people we were scouting. The members as a group chose every single person we were interested in having as a leader. Because of that, we have tremendous confidence in allowing the members to have a larger say in how the church is developing. We've tried to do this in every single aspect.

For example, Kook Jin hyung has brought in his Jaedan [HSA-UWC Foundation] management team. These professionals manage all the church donations. The minister doesn't touch the donations. This is a very important issue. In other religions as well, such as Buddhism and some forms of Catholicism, the priests and monks won't actually handle money, as part of their practice; there's a real separation from the use of finances.

What we've done is create a transparent system. We report every single financial detail to the members every month. That's done by the head of the financial management team. He gives a report to the membership so they clearly see where every single penny is being spent. That kind of financial management also empowers the members, because it gives them insight into where the organization is moving, what it's investing in and where it's using their hard-earned donations.

We have been working with a new witnessing program. We've also been working with home-group systems, which you see being used in large Protestant churches. Some of those things are being adjusted, because they don't fit our context. We are looking at many different areas. My point is that it's like a laboratory.

Many people come up to me and ask, when will you come to our nation?

I'm always so sorry. I would love to come to every nation. I wish I could magically duplicate my body. I wish I could go around. I explain that we're trying to create something that will be like medicine for certain problems. Before that medicine goes into production and spreads around the world, we have to test it first; we have to make sure that the medicine, when delivered, creates a predictable response. Of course, this is not exactly like medicine, so there's a little flexibility here, but I use that analogy to express that we have to test these methods. We don't want to work just with theories. We want to make sure they lead to the desired outcome. That's why I've focused on the Headquarters Church. I've been asked to tour Korea, and I've said the same thing. I could have gone around and spoken about a new service culture, about a new style of worship, a new church organization that should help to promote church growth. I could have talked about that, but it wouldn't yet have any weight.

So what we did at first was focus on the ground, on the frontline, so to speak, actually dealing with people, trying to witness to them, trying to help them understand True Parents and to make the commitment to become a Unificationist. On the frontline, we've discovered some methods that don't work and some methods that do. We're in the process of creating many systems. We're using these to find methods that lead to somewhat predictable outcomes.

We have an emotional, an intellectual and a willful portion [of our character] and these resemble God. Taking out the intellectual portion is a very big mistake. So, of course, we approach things very analytically. It's important to keep in mind that rational, systematic approaches and the continuation of authentic spirituality are like wings of a bird, so that when people encounter the movement, they encounter not just an organization but a culture of spirituality. That's very important.

When you look at conversion rates in religious studies, you see that people convert to different religions when they're in their twenties or when they're in their forties to fifties. When they convert at the earlier age, when they're in their early twenties, in their colleges years, they convert mainly for intellectual reasons -- a certain philosophy or teaching is intellectually stimulating, it makes sense, it's something they would like to participate in.

When you look at the other demographic of people who convert, those in their forties and fifties, it's not intellectual. They're looking more for a community; they're looking for a place to raise their children, a trustable environment to safely raise a family. It's more emotional, though you cannot take out the intellectual aspect.

A lot of excitement is developing because of the changes in the church, but beyond structure, it is the responsibility of our leaders to offer a deep and continuing spiritual environment, spiritual practice and ambiance. This is critical.

In the Headquarters Church, we have ministry teams. We have ministers that focus on, for example, spiritual discipline and other ministers that focus on management, managing the groups under them. We've found that they all have to focus somewhat on management, but when more emphasis was put on spiritual devotion, the people under them were more inspired. The woman leaders underneath them want to introduce people to a minister who is serious about and continues to practice a spiritual life. When that is not present, we found they didn't have as much confidence to bring people to those leaders.

As religious leaders, the key is to focus on the spiritual, devotional aspect. So, we've begun to delegate the other responsibilities, like financial management or the allocation of different types of ministries. Our twenty-three woman leaders decide how they are to use their group's assets. We give them authority to do that. They also decide what strategies they want to use.

When we're able to trust the members more, it stimulates a very positive environment. They are the ones that come up with methods that work, or don't work, who change methods and are accountable as the people making decisions. That is a great win for us, because that helps us focus on the devotional practice.

It's also very positive and very important that the members have more say about who their leaders are. We're very enthusiastic about holding elections. We've already done that in the Korean church, and we always encourage all the nations to create electoral systems, create areas where you empower members, give them strength and authority. When leaders do that, it helps us spiritually, because as spiritual leaders, we have to be in the practice of giving away authority not clinging, not attaching ourselves, to power. That helps us to stay spiritually clean. Ridding ourselves of those kinds of things is actually a great win for leaders. We see the participation of members as a very positive trend for the Unification tradition.

I want to make it clear, because Father has been very clear that the central focus is taking religious life seriously. I've lived with monastics. I've lived with monks and priests of different traditions, and I deeply respect them because their whole focus is on the spiritual dimension of their particular tradition. There is a very inspirational power there. It's significant that Buddhist leaders focus very strongly on the spiritual aspect, making that a huge priority. Many people around the world in our tradition are studying the growth of big Protestant churches. They learn that in the really successful ones, if you look at the minister and pastoral teams, they are extremely into devotion. They're extremely into fasting. They're extremely into spiritual practice. It's central to their success.

They're not just into CEO-style management. One small-group specialist gave the example of a marketing expert who set out to make a very successful church, but it was an abysmal failure. He understood the systems, understood how to present the ideas to people, but he didn't understand that a church is fundamentally a religious organization and has to inspire people religiously and give them spiritual nourishment. A church must have that center -- a religious life of devotion and sincerity. It probably seems obvious to everybody, but it can be quickly forgotten when you're trying to implement strategies.

I hope nobody expects that after listening to lectures for two days, you'll go back to your countries, everything will be solved and we'll all have booming churches. That's not going to happen. But we hope you'll understand the trajectory, the direction in which the church development is moving.

We'll also focus on aspects of the world temple. As we speak of the practical elements of it, please remember it is a real temple. We are very serious about the substantiation of the world temple as a continuation of our spiritual tradition in our fatherland. We hope you find the explanations illuminating.

Please forgive us for not visiting your countries. We're always praying for all your countries. But we also want to be responsible, be accountable and create the right combination of elements that do promote healthy church growth.

With that being said, I'd like to close. Thank you all for coming. We're very happy that you're all here. On True Father's birthday, let us really celebrate with True Parents and give them the glory they deserve. I hope that that glory continues on, and that it shines through every single member in your country. We want the focus to be on letting the members shine, letting new members shine, letting people who join our movement shine.

Thank you so much.

Hyung Jin Nim's Prayer:

Heavenly Father, most beloved True Parents,

Thank You so much for this day that You have blessed upon us. Father, today we have gathered in the beautiful mountains of Korea, the mystical mountains in Your fatherland. Father, here we are in the presence of True Parents, who are at Cheong Jeong Gung. Father, we pray that You may bless them with abundant health and divine protection, so that everywhere they go, they may continue to shed Your light of love, Your light of hope, Your light of inspiration and blessing. Father we thank You for all the brothers and sisters that have gathered here today, as national leaders, at this assembly. Father we pray that You may bless them, You may bless their families and their nations, and that we may become the leaders of the new era. Father, that we can truly empty ourselves, lift others up, and understand that that formula is Your formula. That formula is truly the way of humility and practice. And in the end the way of glorifying You. Father, thank You so much....

Illuminate our minds, Father, inspire our spirits, and allow us to bring joy and peace to Your heart. Father we pray that today, you may once again bless each one of these leaders here, each of their children, that you may keep them in mind, and each one of their relatives, and connected friends all over the world. We pray that You may be with our Unification family today. Father bless us, this day. Father we pray that over these next couple of days, we can offer You glory and gratitude. We pray this with an everlasting love, and most humble gratitude, in the names of all our brothers and sisters around the world together here as one. In True Parents' names, Aju. 

Notes From The Opening Address

Hyung Jin Moon
January 28 and 29, 2009
UK National leader's (Simon) notes from Korea

January 28, 2009

I would like to mention some of the things that have kept me very constant in my mission:

Every time Father gave me more responsibility and greater missions I would ask him: "what should I do now?" Father always said the same thing. His answer was continue to give Chung Song (make sincere devotion to God.)

We have many theories why the movement is not growing, and so we do need to develop systematic about development, but we should never get so caught up in the technical that we forget the internal core.

At the core we are a spiritual movement, so despite how systems help us avoid pitfalls and organizational disasters, we must always make the devotional aspect of our life central.

Every healthy religious tradition has that very alive spiritual life which is very real and vibrant.

We need to truly try to rid ourselves of the trappings that catch us when we take on positions of power etc.

Out of emptying our self will come humility etc,

Kook Jin Nim in his work uses the principle of results over popularity.

We try to focus on the empowerment of our members, whenever we get authority from True Parents we try to give it away to our members.

So with the new women's ministry we have just initiated, we let the women of the congregation elect their women leadership.

It is important to let go of authority and learn to empower our membership.

They chose the exact people we were scouting that we wanted...so I have tremendous confidence in the congregation.

All the church donations are managed by the financial management team and not by the pastors.

We report every month to the membership from the finance committee exactly where all the money has been spent to the last penny.

I have been focusing on Headquarters Church because I want to work with practice rather than just theory, and we are trying to test things out and see what really works, and brings results and can be somewhat predictable in terms of bringing success.

Rough Analogy: one doesn't put a medicine into production before you have tested it out.

It is the responsibility of our leadership to continue to offer a spiritual atmosphere, and those ministers who focus more on really practicing a spiritual life are more popular for members to bring their people to. People are less keen to bring their people to those who are essentially more like managers.

That has been Father's secret: to continually focus on the spiritual practice of devotion to God.

In the future of our movement the membership will have more information and more say in how decisions are made.

Giving away power helps us to stay spiritually pure as leaders, rather than clinging onto authority.

If you look at the most successful big protestant churches like Rick Warren's you can see that they do live a very devotional life of fasting, praying, studying, etc.

However good your marketing is you still have to inspire people spiritually and with the religious life. A church can only grow if it has a religious lifestyle at the center.

We are very serious about the world temple as the continuation of our spiritual tradition and root in the Fatherland.

Sorry for not visiting, but we want to make sure that things work in the lab rather than unleash a bunch of disasters on you, and of course no system is perfect, but we are honing our methods as best we can.

Dr Seuk: explains the intense condition and schedule that Hyung Jin nim's couple is making. Through that type of condition comes spiritual power.

He often is calling our country name as he makes bowing condition.

January 29, 2009

2.45 am exercise and meditation and guided visualization w/ Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim

He showed us Father's morning exercises and then asked us during the meditation to sit absolutely still cross legged on the floor for more than 40 minutes. He took us through a visualization where we placed our self in a cell in Hungnam prison, at the end of which we realize that Father is in the cell next to us. And he teaches us as a prayer and mantra Father's prayer from that time: "I am alive, thank you." He emphasized the power of expressing gratitude throughout our daily life.

He wanted to also do a 120 bow condition with us, but we had to leave to go to the peace palace for Hoon Dok Hae with True Parents.

5 am Hoon Dok Hae with True Parents

Father moved slowly onto the stage with True Mother, but once sitting down he became vibrant and dynamic, before any speech could be read Father started talking with an energetic spirit. He continued until 9.30am, and despite his grandson working very hard to get Father to come for breakfast. Once or twice before Mother left the room, she turned Father's wrist after the first 90 minutes to check his watch. Father then asked how long has it been? Everyone laughed, Mother smiled...and then Father just carried on.

His talk covered a vast expanse of topics. I will just list a few of them to give you a rough idea: early years being opposed by universities in Korea, WWII, Korean war, various other historical invasions, various aspects of history, Russia and the orthodox Christian tradition, football, Eiffel tower, Rockefeller, democracy, science, electricity, television, Obama, catching and skinning snakes in the Pantanal, different rivers, polar bears, being bitten by ants when going to the toilet in the mountains.

It was I like a snap shot of all the thoughts and feelings that were going through Father's heart and mind this particular morning, a summary of God's cosmos and history.

Then there was a report about gifts from the North Korean Government and Kim Jong Il for True Parents' birthday. Really incredible gifts: personal letter from Kim Jong Il, State letter, 3 Ginseng roots from the mountains (70, 80, and 90 year old roots). Two very large beautiful vases by the most famous Asian vase maker (probably worth a small fortune), ribbons with gold thread, and calligraphy written by another famous person. North Korean rep. asked them to prepare 90 roses and 67 lilies for True Parents age, and then asked them to place the special ribbon on the bouquet. This was all reported to the South Korean Government representatives.

1 pm Father and Mother arrive,

Father is not happy that more people have not been invited, seems to have thought he had made things very clear, and wants to change to bigger room. We change to a bigger room, and the Chung Pyung workshop participants join us shortly after.

Father asks for several reports from Bo Hi Pak, Mr. Joo, and others. They give extensive reports. Later Father talks very profoundly about how precious and absolute the relationship between husband and wife is.

Father finally asks Peter Kim to read one of the peace messages. He does so faster than any race horse commentator, or tobacco auctioneer; a quite phenomenal speed. Occasionally Father interrupted but Peter Kim tried his best to go straight back into the speech and finish his reading.

My main conclusion is that the regime Father keeps himself to is relentless and unforgiving regardless of his age, and he never stops working to bridge the gap between God and us (representing all of mankind). 

Having Positive Intensity

Hyung Jin Moon
January 24, 2009
Headquarters Church Service
Transcribed by: Ae-Ryeon Hokanson, Diane Chaillie, and Regina Shin
Edited by: Bruno Klotz

Welcoming remarks:
Yeon Ah Nim

Good afternoon brothers and sisters! Today we have such a beautiful weather with high blue sky and with snow outside. And we are always welcoming you and thanking you for being here with us in the sanctuary. For those who are joining with us via internet, we also welcome and thank you as well. Welcome brothers, Welcome sisters!

Hyung Jin Nim

Welcome Brothers and sisters on this warm winter day. We're very happy to have you here.

We're going to start with Father's words, Cheon Seong Gyeong, Page 618:

"All of you must have the heart that is seeking something. After praying in the morning you should be able to sense that something good will happen that day. Do not think that something good will happen on its own course, but rather actively start looking for whatever it is. This type of attitude is what you should have in leading a life of faith. Therefore, feelings, experiences, and putting them into action will bring life to you."

I love that. Bothers and sisters, you know, everyday, when we start morning training we always try to start with this kind of mentality. It's not only that we say, "OK. today is a good start,' but we are EXPECTING. As Father says, you have to be able to sense that something good will and should happen today. Not only on its own course, but we're going to go actively seek it out. I love that. That's very important, that attitude of aliveness, that attitude of expecting good things in our lives, not only in the future, but even today. That attitude of, "Yes, something is going to be right around the corner. God is preparing something for me."

When we have that attitude of expectancy, then we start discovering all the wonderful things that are actually in our lives. Brothers and sisters, it's always so important to remember to focus on the goodness of God in our lives. That is how He has led us here up till now. How He has helped us get up through our obstacles. How He has at times helped us to work through and overcome doubts and fears and be able to become the people we are today.

And even though we had obstacles, and people that were trying to tear us down, or archangels that were against us telling us we couldn't do it, but we're here. We made it at least this far. We always have to give ourselves that kind of credit. Brothers and sisters, if we start up with that kind of mentality, then we know that this day will be God's Day, the day we'll give him glory and joy. When we do that, then, as those blessings go up, and those praises go up, then the blessings are sure to come down. If you believe it let's give it up for God. Come on, brothers and sisters, give it up!

Once again welcome to service and let's really have a wonderful service today on this beautiful new, new year. In Korea we have New Year's Day twice. Happy new year everybody!

Prayer by Hyung Jin Nim:

Heavenly Father, thank You for this day. We thank You that we're able to join together here, dear God, before You in the sanctuary.

Father, it's cold outside but inside here we can feel the warmth of Your presence. We can feel that You care for us, that You have been watching us. Father, You have great things planned and in store for us. Father we pray that 2009 will be an exciting new year. A year filled with new fruition, new blessing, Father, new maturity, Father, new abundance, new sharing in our life.

Father, we pray we may become the people that You have designed us to become, truly, those people that can be great blessings to this world. Thank you so much for letting us join here today. We pray that You may be with each of the families here today. Bless them completely. Father, be with those families joining us across the globe, via internet, wherever they may be, in any country. Father, we pray that You'll be with them today.

Father we pray that through this service, through this gathering of hearts, that, Father, we may bring You joy, inspiration, enthusiasm and a new found meaning and aliveness when you look at us. Once again we're tremendously grateful. We offer our everlasting joy and humble gratitude to You. In our names as central blessed families, Aju!

Interesting story by Hyung Jin Nim:

We always start with something a little interesting. I heard of an interesting story. It was a party, after the ancestry lecture, and a whole group of women were gathered. They started to talk to each other. Tina was talking to Claire, and she asked her about the ancestry. Claire said: "My ancestry dates all the way back to Alexander the Great!" And Caroline came in and said: "My ancestry dates all the way back to Constantine!" Angie came in the conversation and said: "My ancestry dates all the way back to Genghis Khan! Tina, what about you? What did you find out about your ancestors?" Tina looks very sad and she says: "Well, I really don't know." And the other ladies asked her: " Oh well, I guess your ancestry doesn't go back that far anyway, it's probably a very short ancestry line." And Tina says: "Yes, it's very sad; we've lost all our records in the flood!"

True Parents Declaration:

These are my True Parents, the eternal King and Queen of Peace, and liberator of God's Heart! They have saved me from my past. They have blessed my future, and they give true love, forgiveness and happiness. Today and I choose to receive it! My mind is awake, my hear is open wide, and from this moment I change forever! In my name, AJU!

Main Sermon by Hyung Jin Nim:

Brothers and sisters, today I want to talk about having Positive Intensity in our lives. In order to live the blessed life, we must learn to have a balance of positive intensity in our lives. Whatever we do, in order to excel at it, we must learn to have intense focus and intense and unrelenting improvement, clarity and purpose, in whatever we do.

And too many people think intensity is like an outward gesture, a physical gesture or expression. But really, intensity always begins from within. Having that inner fire, that inner intensity in all that you do, is one of the keys to live our blessed life.

When we look at the Providential History we can see that God is quite intense. He's been fighting throughout Providential History, not only to save his lost children, but to believe in them, believe in them through the struggles, believe in them through the disappointments, believe in them through the pain, and overcoming these kinds of obstacles. He stayed patient. He had to have this type of intensity these last thousands of years. This doesn't come out of no practice or no effort. This was very intense. And it couldn't have been done without His intense love, His intense perseverance.

We know that because of True Parents that "Han," that heart, is now liberated. And now, when God looks at His children, when He sees our Blessed Central Families, He can look at us with pride, knowing that He waited patiently for a good cause, knowing that it was worth to wait. And that's one of the biggest keys, one of the biggest things we can understand about God's patience, His positive intensity.

And whatever path we are in, we, too, need that intense passion, that persevering power if we want to succeed. "But I've never been an intense person, how can I have intensity?" But if you think about your life, if you've ever done well on your test, if you've ever been on a diet and you've defeated the chocolate cookie on one day, even if it's just one time, if you've ever intensely worried about your future, or intensely worried about somebody, if you've ever nagged somebody intensely, you have intensity! We may use it in the wrong direction, but we still have intensity.

We have to understand that intensity is a kind of passion. Intensity in our lives is like a discipline. It can be trained, nurtured, like any other characteristic in our lives. It is something that we can use as a tool; it is something that, if we use it to forward motions in our lives in a positive way, it can be a great catalyst for our lives.

One of my sisters, Sun Jin nuna, a couple of years ago, gave me a wonderful rubric that she learned in psychology class in Harvard. And she did this when we were pursuing a path, discussing chosen destiny etc., discussing how to find what God has chosen for you, how to be the person God wants you to become. And she gave me that wonderful rubric. This is what I called S.J.M. model. That's her initials (Sun Jin Moon). Each one of the letters stands for something important: The S stands for Strength, the J stands for Joy and the M stands for Meaning. If we do our job just to pay bills or for our status, it might be not a lasting joy in our lives, it might be not something that we truly call our calling, something that will give tremendous enrichment over a long run.

But if we review our life and our path, if we ask whether or not our work is connected to our Strength, Joy and our Meaning, and if all these things overlap and we find ourselves in that little green triangle that you see on the screen, then we know that we're doing something that God has asked us to do. We will then know that God is leading us in the right direction. And then, through that we will find a natural intensity, something that you're good at, something that you know and find meaning from and that you're happy to do. You have a natural intensity that comes out of that, a positive intensity, that helps you continuously to improve in that arena.

One of the top Korean comedians, a female comedian named Choi Hye Ryun -- the Korean brothers and sisters will know of that comedian Choi Hye Ryun -- she's a top female comedian here in Korea. This lady is intense. My wife is reading a book on her because she is studying Japanese. And this woman, this sister -- you probably saw her on TV -- she's a very well known comedian here in Korea. But because of the Korean wave, the popularity of the Korean music and actors, etc. it went all over, especially in Asia. Actually Harvard is doing a class on Korean wave, studying how big the Korean impact is.

Because of that she decided: "I want to become a comedian, not only in Korea, but also in Japan." And so, she went over and she went to talk to one of the top managers in Japan, in the entertainment business there, and requested whether or not she could have a contract, if she could work with the Japanese media, if she could do something in Japan.

But she had a major impediment, a major problem; she didn't speak a word of Japanese, not even ONE word. They told her: "If you come back within 6 months and you have mastered Japanese, we'll think about you, we'll THINK about it!" She ended up coming back to Korea; she contacted her local language institute, right down here in Insa-dong. She contacted them and she requested from them a private tutor. The lady was working a full time schedule, she was raising 2 children, and taking care of her husband, and from midnight to 2 o'clock, her private teacher was coming to study Japanese with her everyday. She was intense about her passion, her career. She knew that she wanted and needed to go beyond Korea. Everyday, as she said, she memorized hundred words, every single day she learned new vocabulary.

Those who were studying S.E.T., you know how hard this is. Hundred words a day! And later on she memorized hundred Japanese sentences per day. Now she's a regular show host on the program "Sunday Japan" in Japan. She works 3-4 days in Korea, she works 3 in Japan. Every week she's traveling back and forth. And as soon as she arrives in Japan, she reads 25 Japanese newspapers, to practice and keep up on her Japanese. That's what I'm talking about when we talk about intensity. If we want to do something at that top level, we've got to have that intensity.

In the religious role we see this as well. In 5th century, in Byzantine Christianity, we see a very interesting saint, a Christian saint. His name was St Simeon the Elder. He was born in Syria. The Roman Empire was split at that time. And Syria was incorporated into the Byzantine Empire. And now Christianity was spreading very rapidly.

He joined a monastery when he was sixteen years old and at some point in his monastic career he was in a castle ruin, and he found this big pillar. He went up there to do his devotions at first. He went up there because he felt inspired and he prayed up there, feeling closer to heaven. More and more the word got out that he was doing some very special training and practice. So the top monks in his monastery went to test him whether or not he was doing this kind of practice out of arrogance, whether or not he was doing it to become famous, or if he was doing this truly out of humility and devotion. They said: "Come down from that pillar if you have real devotion. Come down." And he started to come down; he showed no ego about it. He was willing to come down, no problem. And when he showed the willingness to come down, the monks said: "Okay, you can stay up there. You can keep training and practicing up there."

He ended up living on top of such a pillar for 37 years. He practiced devotional practices up there, that's quite intense! He was so famous throughout the Byzantine Empire that aristocrats and politicians sought after him. Even the Emperor Theodosius and Emperor Leo came to seek his counsel. Whenever they were dealing with problems they ended up climbing up a crazy pillar, meeting St. Simeon asking him what to do with the empire that they were leading.

But despite his fame he always showed an intense humility, he always showed that even in this intensity it was not an intensity based on becoming a larger ego but having a greater gratitude for life. It was a positive thing. When people saw that, they were inspired.

We also see these very intense traditions in Buddhism, especially in Chinese Buddhism. I'm sure all of you know the famous Shaolin Monks in the Henan Province. They are training in the Hung San Mountains. They are training their martial moves in the mountains. (Showing a slide of a Shaolin Monk in the mountains). They are training in the mountains, doing their ascetic training, running up those hills, doing push-ups down the hills etc.

Also in the Tibetan tradition we see monks that can withstand immense cold, and they practice by using their body heat. When I was at Harvard, Dr. Benson who was Head of the Medical Department there, did a study in the 1980's. He went to the Himalaya Mountains to document these monks. He videotaped them during their training. And then, in the coldest night in the Himalayan Mountains, when temperatures were about minus 30, they ascended to the highest peaks in these frigid temperatures!

Also the winds are extreme up there and the monks go up there basically with their underwear! They go up there, and next to a Pagoda they sleep outside in the snow. They cover themselves up for 8 hours, and then they wake up and go home. Dr. Benson and his team were there. They had their triple goose feather jackets on, they had their snow pants on, they had their boots and hiking gear on, their goggles and their beards, and they were freezing! And the monks are sleeping there with their little ice sheet blankets, they get up and go home. Of course, this can't be explained scientifically. Dr. Benson said: "This cannot be explained scientifically. This is something where the mind truly was able to take dominion over the body." He wrote a very interesting article about it.

In our lives it is also important to have intensity. Of course, intensity used wrongly can also be too intense and can actually impede your growth, progress and what God has prepared for you. We need to have a balance of intensity. We need to know that a natural intensity comes when you find your strength, your meaning, purpose and joy matching. In living the blessed life it is very important to cultivate that.

In our tradition we may have prayer and meditation as well. But also creating the Four Position Foundation with our family, creating a strong family environment, can be seen as our central religious idea, religious practice. Of course, we have prayer, of course we have meditation, but at the same time one of our practices is cultivating powerful relationships in our own lives. In my life, every morning, training is a great joy. I have been doing this for 9, 10 years now, and it's so important for me to start my day like that. It's practicing patience, wisdom, focus, centering myself everyday. Every single day we start here at 2:30 in the morning, we climb a mountain here in Seoul and we train in meditation, we pray, we do 100 bows, we do all sorts of training up there. Today it was quite cold by the way, and when we return home it's very, very tempting to say: "Okay, training is done; now we can go home and relax!"

But that's the problem. We have to understand that our training doesn't end when the training session is done. It's just beginning. When we enter our home, when we come back from work, then becoming a better husband, a better father, becoming wiser in our relationships, is also part of our practice. The wisdom, the perseverance that we have gained through intense individual spiritual practices has to be transferred and continued into our family practices as well.

In our theology, cultivating a parental hrart is one of our central practices. If our Dojo is the place where we train and meditate and practice our religious devotion, then the spousal relationships in our families are our Dojos as well, where we practice the way and the actualization. For me one of the greatest things that have helped me to constantly work on my own relationships in my family is bringing this positive intensity from the morning practice into my family training, into my training to being patient and mature. It has been one of the great shifts in my own mind to change the idea that we have the family separate from the other religious training or spiritual practice, but to see that family IS our training IS our practice arena. It is our place to become better, more mature, and more parental.

And this helps me to regain a lot of energy after a long day when I and my wife return from church late. When we return from church late we don't say: "Okay, now it's time to relax at home." No, no, we don't say that. We give each other a high-five and say: "Now it's time for more training!" and then we go in to our kids, happy and enthusiastic. This kind of thing is so important in our life. We always try to do that.

One of my wife's main training is to always meet the children with a smile and enthusiasm. You may be so tired and exhausted that day, but when you get home, don't say: "Time to relax!" No, no. You have to say: "Time for more training!" and go and meet them with a smile, give them that smile, give them that joy. They deserve it and they need that to be nurtured as they grow up. My wife is also very intense. Right now she is in fasting training! I tried to stop her but she said: "I have to do it!" She is doing the fasting training; she is very tired but still always, before we go home, she is ready for more training, ready to meet the kids. In our lives that's very important to have that kind of intensity whatever we do, to have that kind of positive intensity. In 2009 let's have this kind of joyful intensity in our life, an intensity that's not too extreme. If it’s too extreme it can take away our energy. Intensity that is balanced helps us to improve and makes us more mature, passionate and enthusiastic about our lives.

Let's give that joy of being alive to our children. They need to see that, they need that in 2009. Let's give it to our spouse, she needs it, he needs it. We need to give away this enthusiasm and positive intensity, and then it comes back stronger. Whatever God has asked you to do, make sure that you have your joyful intensity. Make sure it's matching up with your strength. Make sure it's giving you meaning in life. Make sure it's giving you joy and that are moving through it. When we feel weak and the obstacles seem great, remember that that is a sign that the enemy is getting scared. He is trying to bring you down, trying to make you give up. That's a clear sign that you are on your way to getting to the next level.

Let's make a commitment: When I get home from work this year, I'm not just coming home trying to relax, not listening to the children; no, let's say: "Okay, time for training." Give your wife a high-five and tell her: "Honey, I'm ready for training. Bring it on, children!" Let's have that kind of attitude.

If we do that in 2009, brothers and sisters, I know, we are going to find ourselves with more victory, more illumination and more peace in this year, being a blessing to this world. If you receive this message let's give it up for God and True Parents! 

Coronation for the Realm of Liberation for God, the King of Kings

Hyung Jin Moon
January 17, 2009
Headquarters Church, Chungpadong, Seoul Korea
Transcribed by: Snezhana Olatunji, Vera Sawaya, and Regina Shin

Welcoming Remarks:
Yeon Ah Nim:

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! Thank you! It has been quite a week for us. As you may all have heard there was a Coronation Ceremony for the realm for the liberation of God, the King of Kings. All we can say is we truly are grateful to Heavenly Father and True Parents and all the members who participated in the ceremony. Most of all we are truly grateful to True family members who participated in the midst of their busy schedule.

Brothers and sisters, we are truly happy to see all of you again. And we love you so much and we believe in you! Aju!

Hyung Jin Nim:

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! We are going to start with Cheon Seong Gyeong. Today is page 993. Father speaks. He says:

“Age of the Unification Church is the age of the parents. We are paving the road whereby God can come and be present on Earth. This is why it makes sense to say that we are saved through attending Him when He comes.”

I love that first passage -- “The age of the Unification Church is the age of the parents.” And it’s so important for us to remember that there is always just one parent. That is True Parents. It is always so critical to understand that it’s always our constant center. And as we progress through the history, that’s always going to be our center.

Brothers and sisters, whenever we come into His presence, God’s presence, we come here to attend our True Parents, give praise. It’s always so important to once again reframe our life, to see ourselves in a right perspective. That is because in the next week we will have certain challenges and obstacles that will come against us. It’s so important for us to have this confidence to overcome those things when they do come.

Brothers and sisters, we always like to start by remembering the greatness of God, the goodness he is placing in our lives, the great blessings that He puts around us, our children, our family, our spouse. In fact, we can walk in here on our own two feet. His great blessings we want to always magnify them, always want to think about them. When we do that we start noticing the other incredible gifts that he is providing us with. It‘s so important that we can get into the habit of not magnifying the struggle, even if it is a constant obstacle in front of us.

Brothers and sisters, it’s always important to be objective with those things. Seasons come, winter comes but always passes. Any circumstance may feel huge and bulky. But we have to know that too can be overcome, that too can be broken down. And knowing that, having that confidence, when we move forward, always remembering praise songs in our hearts, always remembering that God is helping us through our life, making us stronger, giving us more determination and strength -- that one of the keys of living the blessed life.

Once again welcome to service! We start with that. If we start the new week like that we do believe that as our praises go up the blessings will come down. And our lives will become more victorious this week. Once again welcome, brothers and sisters!

Main Sermon by Rev. Hyung Jin Nim

Thank you brothers and sisters, we always like to start with something funny -- no, not today. Brothers and sisters, we wanted to do a regular service but all our ministers said it’s really important to share with you the events that happened over the last past week. We know one of the things we’d like to make just clear from the front. We’re very grateful to True Parents and so thankful, particularly to all the family members. I want to make a special reference to Kook Jin hyung (elder brother). He had a huge meeting in the States, that he planned one year ago but he canceled that to be here, present, In nuna, of course, was very busy in America but she made her way to Korea for the ceremony. So we’re very grateful. One thing, whenever we have interviews with the medias and everything, we always tell them we’re not working alone, Father has appointed many of his children to have, you know, responsibility over the world. That the trend, that the direction we are going to keep pursuing, we are going to keep moving in that direction.

One of the things is that a lot of people say, we’d like you to just focus how to make faith applicable to our life, that’s what I try to do in sermons, I always try to do that; how to make basic principles of faith applicable to everyday life, etc. But many times, because we also have to take care of a number of organizations we have to be very rational with our thinking as well; many times we’re struggling in promise solving many different organizations challenges. This is new to me because I don’t have this kind of experience.

We have a lot of people, but the person who helped me the most in this realm is my brother Kook Jin hyung. He has over 15, 16 years of organizational experiences, so I’m just so grateful to all the people that always are helping move everything forward, increase all sort of improvement that you have seen, not only in the building, but in the church reconstruction etc, that’s not be done on my head. Those are the things that many people came together, many professionals came together to really analyze and be very rational to take a very serious and analytical approach to improve our movement’s situation, and this of course has began in Korea.

One thing we really tried to focus on, when I was inaugurated in April, Father asked us to take responsibility for the religious side and we made it very clear, what our direction is, we really want to be able to have the members shine, our brothers and sisters shine. When our normal members can shine, that’s when True Parents can be glorified, that’s what we believe. So we don t want just to say it. The last year we’ve been trying to do that, a very serious organization. Many people many times think I’m not very intellectual but I have been trained intellectually, so we are really seriously thinking always about how to improve the church’s situation.

Over the last year we’ve been trying to implement this seriously in our organization. The church has changed quite dramatically, if you look at it about five years ago, and now look at the church situation. The church has changed tremendously. One of the things that have really been a big change for our church was that in Korea we had election; the first time in our church we actually elected a church leadership, instead of having them mandated. We wanted to return authority back to central blessed families. We had regional directors, the first time in the church history the regional directors were elected by our ministers. They chose the best among them. They’re now personally our regional directors.

We also in Bonbu Church (Headquarters Church), had the first establishment of the women’s ministry and this is becoming really one of our central ministries at the Bonbu Church. It s actually one of our most important ministries, really it’s becoming the center of our organizations and here the twenty three women leaders were elected by the women in the congregation. So, for the first time in our church women leadership is very strongly being promoted into the church leadership, so the number of women leadership in Bonbu Church outweighs the number of men in terms of the leadership. We have 23 women leaders leading our congregation.

We’re also taking very seriously the transparent financial professional management and that Kook Jin Nim is doing through the Business Foundation and their professional management team, every two months, on Sunday, the second service we give a comprehensive report. The person who is responsible for our church finances is Mr. Pang. Mr. Pang was the president of HanJin Corporation, a huge construction company in Korea. He was the head of the KCIA in here in Korea. So he has an incredible political and also professional career.

He’s a new member in our church, Kook Jin Hyung is his spiritual father, but he’s contributing tremendously and really pulling the organization at a professional level. He gives that report every two months to the congregation. We disclose all information about the church, whether it will be a bank account, financial present situation, or church attendance, etc. In this, we’re disclosing for the first time in history, what other churches try to conceal and not show it to the congregation, we’re showing it transparently to the membership.

We work also with the media, to change our societal image and stand as a Unification movement so that the members are not constantly persecuted and harassed for being Unificationists. That’s really one of the things; we’re trying to work on here in Korea. We had, myself and Kook Jin hyung, a total of 40 interviews, 85 articles and TV broadcast combined. The real and miraculous thing is that all of them have been positive and not even one was negative about our movement. (Applause) so we’re really proud of our accomplishment, I’m very proud of that (applause).

We feel because of many things we’re doing and not just on the ministerial side, but especially with Kook Jin hyung’s leadership and all the organizations that he managed starting from the business is showing a new level of professionalism in our church. And in particularly, and as you know, Kook Jin hyung started his business about a year ago, he came to oversee a business that has moved from the Business Foundation here in Korea, and had in the last three years a yearly loss of one hundred million dollars, that’s how mismanaged it was, and within three years he turned that around, the businesses that he managed to a total of fifty million dollars profits, that includes every single church company that we have now in Korea from ILHWA, to the construction companies, etc. So he has done an incredible job at professionalizing the businesses.

One thing that he has also done in the business is that he took this first step before even the churches did. Once he’s in the business, he encouraged all the Unification members in the businesses to live the basic faith life and to not be just nominal Unificationists, not just be viewers of the traditions, sideline viewers, but also to be participants. So he encouraged all his staff, including all the way down to the bottom, in every single business or organization that he manages. The staff was also encouraged to live a basic life of faith. And that he defined three things, the first would be attending the church, be a participant in the church, tithing, and also attending True Parents, that’s having a picture of True Parents in your house and that kind of attendance, etc.

He defined those things and he encouraged the people in the business groups, the Unificationists, to do that basic level faith life. He actually did that before the church was doing that. So we saw that example, we said if the businesses are doing that so in the church we have absolutely to do that. All the others, whether the NGO, or even the church administration from the Korean Church Headquarters to the World Mission Office, everybody was to do it, not only the leaders but the staff too. We made a countable to be an example to the membership that is having an active faith life. This is a part of one responsibility as a paid stuff person in the business. We stated it then we moved that to the church organizations as well.

And also the fifth point that I want to share is that in the church we moved toward transparent church information, and results disclosed to everybody, not only for our members but to the societies. What are we talking about here? We’ve done now an analysis about the last two months; we got our entire church situation, from the smallest church in Korea to the largest church. So now for every single church, we have all the different data and statistics that are now being presented not only to the leaders -- before only the leaders would know about this -- but now we’re presenting to the members and to the society to see and that includes the real number of church members, the real number of blessing candidates, the real number of donations, etc. all those things are disclosed not just only to the leadership but transparently to the public and to the church congregation.

So these kinds of steps that we’re taking into the church organization are one of the most important things I believe that has been supporting the church growth and improving the church situation. These kind of activities show that we’re moving toward becoming an organization that is trustable, an organization that in the modern world people can look up to, the religious can look up to and say, that is a very responsible leadership, and so we’re moving the organization, of course Kook Jin hyung with the business side, and now at the church level, to bring those things more transparency, fairness, and more and more authority and involvement with the basic membership, so that the people who are truly participating in a active faith life, should be the owners of our church and not the leaders. It s not the leaders, it’s not the people at the top, it’s the people who are truly devoted to the church, and that are on the ground are teaching our children, that are living the basic faith life, those are the real owners of our church and they’re empowered to chose the best leaders, chose the best direction for a certain decisions to be made, etc.

That large group of people with real faith is the ones that should be able to have the greatest say. We believe in that. I and Kook Jin hyung are always talking about it. That has been the central aspect toward a modern day successful religious organization. And so of course I want to give a great credit and great thanks to Kook Jin hyung because he’s the real genius, he has the great experiences behind this. At the present time I’m learning from him but because of these kind of improvements and activities we have a new level of honesty, transparency; accountability of leadership, accountability for the staff to truly be the people who we are trying to become. And so that kind of involvement including the membership into the church direction is one of the biggest and largest changes that we have in the unification movement.

We encourage all the other nations to come and research what are we doing and to improve the different situations in the other nations by starting to implement more transparency in their organizations, and so we definitely encourage, we’re always encouraging them, slowly that takes time it’s a large, large movement, it takes always time to be able to have a natural and realizable change process. I want to give thanks to True Parents, many of these things we were told when Kook Jin hyung first presented them to the church staff, the church leaders, many of them told him you will never be able to pass it, it’s impossible, you will never be able to show it, or be able to have elections. But each step of the way, Father has approved each one of these critical decisions and He has allowed us to make these public changes, so that the movement can become truly trustable and truly a world class, world level religion and contribute to the world.

One of the things, I want today definitely to recognize, Kook Jin hyung’s great contribution, he has been from the very beginning, from five years ago, constantly working and because of his genius and this kind of organizational frame work, he has brought so much insight to help bring the world movement, not just inspirationally to the next level, but brought real professionalism, to move together with inspirations, message and faith, so it can truly have a worldwide impact, that’s one of the things that I’m proud of.

I want to truly give thanks to all the brothers and sisters who were there at the ceremony, for us it’s the same thing. We did the ceremony but the very next day, I was doing my training at 2.30 am. So for me, it doesn’t mean a big difference. I never start my spiritual training because I want to be a participant in the ceremony, I started my training 10 years ago because it was important to me, I started my meditation, my devotional training because that was something I wanted and I needed to do for myself and to train myself. So that’s what I continue to do.

I continue to do and see that as a part of my spirituality and my training. But I’m very grateful to True Parents for this kind of ceremony, but I want to take it with great assault. I want to offer that glory, all the future glory to God, to True Parents, to brothers and sisters. What we want to be very clear, there is no new king, I said that from the very beginning when I was inaugurated as an international president, I said there is no new king, I’m not the new king, don’t even expect it, and don’t ask me to do it, I’m not it, so there is no king.

What is very clear for us is that True Parents are the eternal kings, they’re the eternal center, theologically that’s very important to maintain, and since I studied theology, it s very important theologically that there won’t be any future kings, but everybody that’s truly supporting the activities of True Parents, truly, truly the co-owners of our church traditions, those people are the ones that will be able to bring glory to God. So for us we feel that kind of humility is critical and important, that kind of honesty with oneself is essential.

I always talk with Kook Jin hyung, because he always tells me “So many people are trying to fire me,” that’s what he says to me, and he adds” I’ll be happy to leave this job, I never asked for it anyway.” I said, Kook Jin hyung, "I’m the same way, I want to get out of this job too, I got all this stress, we got all the stress doing this work”, for us it’s important we want to see the success of the unification tradition overtime. We want to see it succeed and blossom. We want to see our children live in a church that’s truly honest, truly transparent with the leaders are accountable, the membership is strong etc. We want to send our children and grandchildren to those kinds of churches, we don’t want to send them to churches where there is tyrannical leadership, entitled ministers, leadership class, and the members are frustrated. We don’t want to make that kind of church. It’s very important for us, as we move forward that the glory is focused constantly on True Parents.

Being in the ceremony is a great honor for us, a great stress, but the most liberating part was when I took off that crown, that was the most liberating part for me, I was the happiest than, I was filled with stress and turbulence when I was wearing that thing, and I became so happy when I took it off. It was always our attitude and it will continue to be. We’re going to continuously push the organization forward. We really feel that only when the glory will be returned to True Parents and will be continually focused on them, only then God will be able to be happy and truly build his Kingdom here on earth.

Brothers and sisters, we were so thankful to all your letters of congratulations, and all the messages that are pouring in. We’re truly so grateful and thankful for all these warm letters and greetings, we want to return that back to brothers and sisters, to all the world, actually they’re sending them in. But also we want to make sure that everybody is clear. True Parents are the eternal center. Theologically it’s very critical and important for us, we just want to do our job so that the Unification tradition can truly be successful and blossom, and as we pass and we move on, and the next people, the next generation passes and takes our footsteps, that will be our happy day because we can retire, go to the mountain, but we want to be sure that our leadership is focusing on the whole, we’re focusing on the unification tradition and not on our personal ambitions.

We want people who are being elevated for leadership, who have a public mind, who want to serve the public, who want the public to be protected, and the membership be strengthened. That’s what the movement is moving toward and will continue to move in that direction. We’ll continue to have the election system, continue to do transparent financial management. We’ll continue to work with the media. We’ll continue to have the leaders and the church staff to be accountable to the membership, be an example for them, and not only be salary men. We’ll continue to have transparent church information and the results will be disclosed to the membership and have them be able to have freedom, so they can be free in the future to chose their leaders at a church level.

All these processes, we are going to be working on, so that truly the Unification Church can be the most transparent, the most accountable organization and church. We don’t want only to have powerful spirituality, or only a powerful emotional content, but we should have also a powerful mind and intellectual content. We have a powerful will content, a real contribution to the world. I believe if we do that we’ll find our traditions with more victory, more illumination, and more peace, and we’ll have a blessed life. This church and this movement will live that blessed life that God has blessed us with. Brothers and sisters, if you have received this message, let us give it up to God and True Parents.

Prayer by Hyung Jin Nim:

Heavenly Father! Thank you for this day, which you have blessed upon us. Father we pray, that as we walk in this course with you, as we pass through our circumstances and different events in our life, that we always may keep the right frame of mind, the right perspective in our hearts. Let us never be filled with arrogance when we have a victory. Let us not gloat and let us not put others down when we are victorious. Let us make light of the victory and offer it to you. Let us know that we didn’t do it and never do it on our own strength. Let us know that with this humility You will imbue us with power. You will give us strength to overcome obstacles and also inspire others to overcome their obstacles and their mountains as well.

We know that even in times that are tough, you give us perseverance, determination, the internal self-esteem and strength to get us through those things. Father let us be an inspiration to, not only the people around us, not only to our communities, not only to our nations, not only to our world but let us be an inspiration to You. Let us inspire You every day. Let us truly be the children that can inspire You and can bring tears to Your eyes; truly make You glad and proud that You created us. Make You not regret that you created us. Make You happy that You created us. Heavenly Father, all we want to do is offer thanks to You. We pray that in the hard times and in the good times, when we cry and when we laugh, that we may continue to send those praises up. We know that when we praise and when we give thanks only blessings can come upon us in our lives.

Father, thank you so much for this day that You have blessed upon us. We pray that You may be with each and every one of the members here and each of their families, each of the people that are connected with their families, be with all of them here today and across the world. We are praying for all the nations, all the families around the world and we pray that You may bless them entirely, completely and fully. Thank You so much for imbuing this day with tremendous gratitude and happiness we pray that we may return an everlasting love to You and glorify your name forever and ever. We pray these things in our names. Aju.