The Words of the Byrne Family |
Shawn Byrne is currently the regional coordinator of New England.
The Quality Inn in Danbury, Connecticut was the location of a prayer breakfast for twelve local ministers on the morning of Saturday, October 20, 1984. The event was held at Father's special invitation, and was hosted by the Connecticut family and Mr. Peter Kim and his wife Phyllis. Dick van Dorsten, our Danbury church director, acted as emcee. The purpose of the breakfast was to make ministers in the Danbury area aware of the religious liberty issue and the need for Christian revival.
The meal was marked by a lively discussion on the reality of the spirit world and its relationship to us, as well as the importance of accepting responsibility to establish God's Kingdom on earth.
With breakfast behind us, Dick introduced the proceedings and showed the video tape "Assault on Religion," a stirring and dramatic presentation of some current cases of church-state conflict in the United States, including Father's. After that I was introduced as the main speaker. I felt that it was a great privilege and responsibility to speak about Father and what he represents in the very town where he is imprisoned.
I had prepared for the 15-minute talk by asking myself and Heavenly Father, "If I were a disciple of Jesus, and was given the opportunity to speak on Calvary at Jesus' crucifixion, what would I say?" I decided to highlight Father's significance by outlining his commitment to complete the work of Jesus through overcoming the three great obstacles impeding its accomplishment: widespread immorality, Christian disunity and the disunity among all other religions, and atheistic communism.
Father has developed a substantial response to each of these. That he is now in prison in Danbury is a measure of America's failure to understand him. He seeks to re-create the image of God in men and women. He seeks to build a great alliance of Christian and religious people to fulfill these tasks.
Mr. Peter Kim concluded the formal presentation by speaking about some of his personal experiences with Father, both at East Garden and in Danbury prison. He emphasized Father's character as a man of God, his fervent prayer, and that certain mysterious quality which remains even after one has known him for as long as Mr. Kim has.
Much good discussion about Father, religious liberty, CAUSA, and NCCSA followed the talks. The meeting concluded with prayer.
Guests were evidently very pleased with the prayer breakfast. They left with many warm thanks for what they had experienced. Two ministers subsequently became members of the local NCCSA chapter, and one minister later attended the Common Suffering Fellowship Seminar.