Unification News for July 2005

One Heart Camp 2005 - A "Hecka" Good Time

by Kevin Thompson

Camp Seeley in the San Bernardino Mountains once again hosted our middle school and high school camps for the west block from July 3-16th. This year the camps were proceeded by a wonderful leadership seminar for college age and older high school age kids to prepare them for their responsibilities in the upcoming workshops. This was particularly powerful as the staff then felt much more prepared and united. I am sure that this is why such a wonderful atmosphere was created which lasted throughout.

This year we made a determined effort to allow, promote and support our 2nd Generation to take more responsibility. Kenritsu Yamamoto, Youth Minister of bay Area Family Church was appointed as camp director. His assistants were Tadakimi (Youth Minister for LA Family Church) and Mitsy. Together they did a phenomenal job of creating a camp that was spiritually nourishing and uplifting for all. We had participants from Korea, Italy, Norway, New York, Tennessee and all western states of America. The 1st Generation youth ministry teams of Northern and Southern California provided many months of planning and support for our 2nd generation leaders to step forward and assume greater roles than ever before. The harmonization was wonderful and I could clearly see that this made the internal condition for protection and safety of all who came. This year we had fewer difficulties to deal with than in many a year and most people agreed that we had the best camp ever.

Also this year we had for the first time all 2nd generation lecturers. I have given the lectures for the last 12 years. At the end of camp 2004 I announced that I would not be giving the lectures in 05 and that the 2nd generation would be taking over. I assigned one lecture to each person who was to be a lecturer and gave him or her one-year to prepare. I am sure many thought that I was not serious and indeed in the weeks leading up to the camps there was a lot of scrambling taking place to get lectures ready. My reason for doing this was because each year there is always an assumption that I will give the lectures and honestly speaking I enjoy doing that. In fact this year I felt out of place and not sure where I should contribute. It would have been a lot easier personally to just give the lectures myself. However I really want the Divine Principle to not be in the realm of the 1st generation only. The lectures quite frankly were a mixed bag. Some were wonderful and some were challenging. However each of those who gave a lecture grew a lot and had to think long and hard about what Divine Principle really says. Also the younger brothers and sisters could see their elders teaching Principle and many younger ones commented to me that they would like to give a lecture in the future. The best way to learn how to lecture is to be put on the spot and give a lecture.

The atmosphere created in the camp was tremendous. The singing, the dancing and the "Joy breaks" were a touch of heaven. After all our kids are faced with the temptations of eth fallen love on offer in society and they need a taste of "Heavens love" in these get-togethers which often has to sustain some kids for a whole year. They have many of their own songs that they sing but also many of the old favorites that their parents all sang in workshops 30 years ago.

The 1st generation staff worked so hard behind the scenes with organization, nursing, art work, general affairs and perhaps especially kitchen duties. Feeding hundreds of hungry teenagers and keeping them satisfied always is a huge task. So many parent volunteers were needed and deserving of great thanks. I wish I could put all of their names here but let me point bout two representatives. Nancy Hewitt was in charge of the kitchen and Nancy is a dedicated servant to willingly sacrifices for these camps year after year as well as church activities year round. She is really a Unification saint. This year Randy McFarland stepped forward and added his considerable talents to the kitchen crew. Nancy and Randy made such a team, supported by many others, that they produced some of the best food you could ever wish to eat. 5-star dining was had by all and the kids were happy campers.

In High School one night we all slept outside under the stars. Of course some kids were afraid and thought they heard bears everywhere and some were very excited. However this experience helped many to bond together. The sharing before going to sleep were particularly deep and poignant. Each workshop also had a final evening which concluded with a 21 minute prayer. The testimonies which followed were so deep and powerful that many of the 1st generation listening were in tears of joy and we all felt so much hope for our future.

Our 2nd generation is God’s hope and they are also the forefront of Satan’s attacks. Lets continue to do everything to support them and help them to reach their potential for heaven.

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