True Mother shared her burden to save the 7.2 billion people on the earth and called on the minsters to work even harder to bring forth God’s Kingdom, or Cheon Il Guk. The participants were touched by True Mother’s remarks. Many felt her burden was too much for one person to bear, and they rededicated themselves to advancing God’s spirit in their communities. They presented True Mother with a proclamation expressing their gratitude for her leadership and declaring their love and continuing support for her.
The four-day 2014 convocation was held between lunch on Wednesday, December 17th through lunch on Saturday, December 20th. The conference gathered participants from across the United States, and included church leaders from Nigeria, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Divine Principle lectures were held each morning, and on Thursday and Friday afternoon eleven pastoral practices presentations were given.
The pastoral practices speakers included Chief Apostle Floyd Nelson, the Presiding Bishop of International Bible Way Churches, Incorporated; Rev. Dr. Calvin Rice, the Senior Pastor of the New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Jamaica (Queens), New York; and Dr. Michael T. Ross, MD, President of Defending Our Fathers House. Topics included ways to better serve the communities around each church, houses of worship establishing city-wide marriage coalitions, and preventing government muzzling of the word of God.
Dr. Ki Hoon Kim, National Co-Chairman of the ACLC, and Continental Chairman of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification – North America, shared about True Parent’s vision for ACLC, and their motivation and vision for spending the last four years of True Father’s life in Las Vegas.
The Divine Principle presentations were delivered by Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, Jr., the National Co-Chairman of the ACLC and Founder and Prelate of the Imani Temples African American Congregations, Inc; Dr. Michael Jenkins, Chairman Emeritus of ACLC; and Rev. Michael Sykes, Pastor of the United Missionary Baptist Church of East Orange, New Jersey. Their presentations included The Principle of Creation, the Fall of Man, the Mission of the Messiah, the Principle of Restoration and the Parallels of History. Archbishop Stallings gave the Second Coming lecture just before the luncheon with Mother Moon.
There were three recurring themes throughout the conference. The first was that clergymen and clergywomen are the people God is using to speak His Word, and to serve and even be persecuted for the sake of others. Secondly, ministries will grow and develop when the meet the needs of others, and finally, that changing the social environment will require prayer, setting a moral and righteous example, and political involvement.
The conference concluded with a visit to the International Peace Education Center under construction near the McCarran International Airport. Participants left refreshed, eager to get back to work, and looking forward to next year’s National Convocation.
