The Words of the Hunter Family
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The Words of the Hunter Family |
1. (Cheering) As you can see I brought my fan club with me. I'll have your money after the service. (Laughter)
2. Good morning to all of our communities all across America – to Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle (my wife's hometown), to the Bay Area, to Bayou la Batre, Alabama, Louisiana, to Miami, to my home in Maryland, Washington DC community, Boston, New Hampshire and Maine.
3. It's tremendously nerve-racking to be up here. I've been coming out on this stage for three years and I've never been this nervous in my entire life. I haven't eaten or slept for two days.
4. It's a tremendously humbling experience to be behind this podium. You would think it wouldn't be that way. I have the spotlight, so my head could get big, but when I think about the owner of this podium, when I think about our Senior Pastor and who she is – who she is externally, a graduate of Harvard Divinity school, the most prestigious school in this nation. She is a mom who has raised five children, three who also went to likewise prestigious schools, and two on their way, an accomplished orator. It's hard not to feel unqualified to stand behind this podium.
5. But when I think about who In Jin Nim is internally, a child of our precious True Parents, someone whose blood is the same as our True Parents – True Parents loved flows through her veins. I don't know about you, but for me there is divinity in that.
6. She is the first ever reverend ordained by our True Parents in 1995, she was named Chooksajang, reverend, the first ever, even though we have many reverends in our movement. And don't call me that.
7. When I think about who she is it's hard to feel worthy to be behind this podium. And I can imagine that everyone else who shared this podium with her, as In Jin Nim has asked, the District Pastors and various other national leaders who stood behind this podium, I can't imagine that they wouldn't feel likewise – unworthy and unqualified.
8. And I was looking for ways to deal with this feeling and so I look back at their sermons. And I realized, unabashedly, that they each developed a gimmick, some remarkable thing that you would remember them by. When you think about it it's true. Think about Reverend Cotter, who is he? He sings his way through his sermons, and we eat it up! Sing it Rev Cotter! Go ahead!
9. Aunt Heather has her stellar British accent that us Americans are so mesmerized by. Rev. Schanker had lost so much weight that we stood there, mesmerized. Where did you go Rev. Schanker? Where are you? Rev. Swearson when he talked about forgiveness was so well read and had all of these beautiful quotes. Rev. Lamson showed videos about the prodigal son, Rev Cutts showed Academy award-winning films. It left me thinking, what can I possibly share? I have to come up with some sort of gimmick, something that you will remember me by. And I realized there is one thing that I have that no one else who's been behind this podium has, not even In Jin Nim, and that's a two-year-old.
10. (His son came on stage and he took him in his arms) Say hi to America. This is baby Dave. He's not so happy with me right now. He's been spending two days with friends overnight so that daddy could prepare. When I saw him this morning he started hitting me, "bad daddy."
11. A lot of people often ask me, "why are you so sold-out to Lovin' Life Ministries? Why do you preach Lovin' Life Ministries wherever you go? Why do you believe in this so much?" This is the reason (lifting his son). I believe with every ounce of my being, with every ounce of my soul, in the type of community and culture that Lovin' Life Ministry (Lovin' Life Ministries) is creating. And I am so excited to watch my son grow up in this church, because I know it's going to be so much better than the church that I grew up in. Ain't that right? What do you guys think? Ain't that right?
12. Every Sunday my wife and I get here at 7 AM, Mitsuru is rehearsing with the band and I am preparing what I'm going to say, and I just give him to someone. For three or four hours I don't see him, but I am so confident in the people here that they are taking good care of my son, that God is with him, and that because he is growing up in Lovin' Life Ministries he's going to be an excellent young man, with a flashlight (he is holding a flashlight). There is a problem with this gimmick. When I give him back to Toby he's probably going to scream, so Toby I want you to tuck him under your arm like a football and run like a New York giant running from a Redskin.
13. One of the first things I told In Jin Nim about Lovin' Life Ministries, after baby David was born, is that I am so confident in the movement he is going to grow up in, in the church he's going to grow up in, in the community he's going to grow up in, because it is so full of life. Aren't you guys full of life?
14. About five years ago in 2007 I was working for the church down in Washington DC, for headquarters down there, and I got involved in a grass roots movement of church members, commonly known as the Witnessing Summits. Do you remember those? We had one in New Jersey, it started in Los Angeles, Chicago, Maryland, we went all over, San Francisco. The purpose of those witnessing summits, and there were eight of them, was to ask how could we become a relevant movement, one that has an impact on society and the culture at large, one that knows how to educate and raise up the next generation, a movement that can witness, that can become attractive, and a movement and a church that people would be inspired by and want to join?
15. We didn't talk a lot but we asked a lot of questions. And by the process of something called the World Café, we accumulated a lot of data. We asked members what are the barriers to joining the Unification Movement? What are the key success factors internally and externally to witnessing and to getting people to join? How can we reach out to our disaffected youth, our young people who have no place in our movement right now?
Phillip
Schanker – October 23, 2011
16. And because I was on the committee I got to read through thousands and thousands of comments. And myself, along with others, Sheri Reuter, Noah Ross, Heather Thalheimer, Rev. Schanker, and many others – Henry Schauffler, we scoured through those comments, we categorized them and looked at what the majority of people said. And what it boils down to, and I was looking through the notes last night, what it boils down to is there are a couple of things that people said we needed. Remember, this is five years ago, prior to In Jin Nim's leadership, prior to Lovin' Life Ministries. I would like to share some of those things with you.
17. Externally, people said we need to have something that we are proud of, a place that we can be confident in, that we can bring our guests, to bring our friends, to bring our brothers and sisters who haven't been to church in a while. We need something to be proud of.
18. Actually the number one response, in terms of witnessing was, we need a system and structure, an educational track to educate people. (You remember that, John Williams.) I think it's interesting that through the work of Lovin' Life Ministries and our ministry team, Heather Thalheimer, Tami Gavin, Toma Gavin, a lot of Gavin's – we've now developed this series called the journey. It's a series of four classes, 101, 201, 301, 401, modeled after Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church, which is there to educate people how to integrate themselves into our community. It's based on the four realms of heart. 101 is a heart for God, learning how to become a child, a child of faith, a child of our Heavenly Parent, a child of our True Parents. 201 is developing a heart for people, learning how to interact and build our relationships. It's called Wired, connecting with others. 301, I believe is a Blessed Life, a heart of a spouse. It's about learning how to become a good spouse, a good husband and a good wife, learning about the blessing of our True Parents. The gift that God gave us to be a Blessed marriage. 401 is the heart of a parent and its learning how to take care of our community and to contribute back. And so in one sense Lovin' Life Ministries has addressed that need, check.
19. The second thing is … now I know that some of you over the years have had great Sunday services, but for me growing up and for me, prior to Lovin' Life Ministries, I have to admit I thought our Sunday services were a little bit lame. I hate to sound judgmental, but people said, we need better speakers, we need better music, we need professionalism in our Sunday services, we need to have a great Sunday service that we're happy to bring our friends to, because Sunday service is the most regular ministry that we do. But I know that I was afraid to bring my friends. And I know my friends, young people that grew up in the movement, were afraid to bring their friends. They weren't happy to. But I tell you what, I have professional friends out in the world, people that work in hedge funds, people who publish books, are in the process of making TV shows, and I invite them as much as I can to this Sunday service, because I am proud of this Sunday service.
20. Members said we have to fix our public image, our image on the Internet. Our image out there is not so great. And if you look at what In Jin Nim did when she first came in, she started working on our Family Fed website and she updated it to the 21st century. Look at the transformation when we went from Unification Church News to our new magazine. Doesn't it look awesome? In so many different ways she's addressed our public image.
21. They talked about our resource allocations and how can we allocate our resources better. I have to admit that there was a meeting in 2006 and 2007 in the headquarters building in Washington DC when all the presidents and vice presidents got together. I wasn't in the meeting but I was in the building. They developed 12 goals that they wanted to achieve in 2006 and 2007. And then they prioritize them. Do you know what the number one priority was? The education of our young people, the education of the next generation. That was number one. Number two was reaching out, outreach and witnessing. And they went on down the list. Then they looked at how the financial resources were allocated. Do you know who was at the bottom? The education of our youth and reaching out and witnessing. But I know right now where our financial resources are allocated, it's toward motivating, inspiring, and educating our young people. It's becoming, not just going out and doing outreach, to witness, the way we did before, beating the streets with our Divine Principles, but it's about becoming a natural witness, living lives that people are attracted to. And so we have totally shifted the allocation of our financial resources.
22. There has also been a shift in our human resources. The old model was, a job to fill – find someone for that job. But that is not In Jin Nim's way. And I can speak from my personal experience. When In Jin Nim came in there were a lot of people around, looking, what is going to be their place. She didn't say, "Dave I have a need, please fill it." She said, "what are you passionate about, what do you want to do most?" And I said, "I love being around young people." I am a formal public school teacher. I didn't get into teaching because I love conveying content. I love it because I love being around youth. And I believe that they are the future. And she said, "Go and do. You can be our youth pastor for the New Jersey community." She puts people where they belong, not where she needs them. And so there is a whole shift in how we allocate our resources.
23. So when we look at all the externals, that you guys, that all of us were craving for – the update to our image, the education, the Sunday service, all of those things – when you look at the Lovin' Life Ministries and what our Senior Pastor has created, you have a big check mark. Can I get a hallelujah?
24. Internally however, they said something else. I looked through the comments last night, reread them, and the thing that jumped off the page to me many times, most people were saying, "we need to be who we say we are." We need to practice what we preach. We need to live the ideals that we talk about. We need to be who we say we are. And I say it's time we do it. How about you? Actually, that's what I would like to talk about this morning, is becoming the people who we say we are and practicing what we preach.
25. In order to do that I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself. In case you didn't know my name is Dave Hunter. I'd actually like to start with my parents. My father joined this beautiful movement in 1969, one of the early members of the Unification Church here in America. My mother joined in 1971. They served our True Parents faithfully for decades. My father started as a bodyguard. He was willing to give up his life to protect our True Parents. (applause) Thank you. My mother sat at the right hand of Dr. Bo Hi Pak and served him faithfully and served our True Parents faithfully. And my mother has told me some amazing stories of her experiences with True Parents. She used to go on tour with them and be one of the first people that father would see when he came off stage. She's got amazing stories. You know my mother used to go to Pizza Hut with True Parents.
26. I don't know about you but that blows my mind. What are you doing today Betsy? Well, I'm going to go to Pizza Hut with the King and Queen of peace. As she got to eat big Macs and go to McDonald's, what some who will say is Maca-mcdonaldo, with the Lords of the Second Advent. What a tremendous position my parents played, as early members of our church.
27. They were blessed in marriage in 1975 at the 1800 couple blessing. And I was born three years later in 1978, a child of the 70s. I grew up in Washington DC, my hometown. I was born in Annandale Virginia and was raised mostly in Bowie, Maryland. By the way I would like to send a big shout out to the Maryland, DC, and Virginia communities because the Marylanders are spending their first ever service at Williamsburg high school and their new performing arts center. Let's give it up for Washington DC!
28. Thank you to all of you in DC who have made Lovin' Life Ministries a reality in Washington DC. Back then we didn't have the Blagensburge performing arts Center, we didn't have any new Hope Academy or the Nova church, we all came together at a church that we bought from the Mormons in Washington DC. That's where my formative years were spent, running around the halls of that tomb. You know I was raised hearing about how important Blessed Children were, but when it came to Sunday school they moved us from the chapel and took us down to the basement, and then they took us down to the basement's basement. And that's where they taught us Sunday school. And I thought, we really are "special." (with sarcasm)
29. But you know, at least going to that church I remember myself – I'm looking at Jin Sung Nim here who is one of the oldest blessed children in the world, but I thought of myself as the oldest in our community. By that time he was already blessed to our senior pastor, In Jin Nim. So I was one of the oldest, growing up in our community. What I remember from that time is pressure.
30. Actually my mom has admitted to me, and In Jin Nim has said over and over again, there is no manual for raising the True Children and there's no manual for raising blessed children. And my mom admitted, "We had no idea what to expect of these children who were born without original sin. Are they going to be perfect?" Actually there was an expectation – Jin Sung Nim told us one time that someone came up to him and raised his pant leg to see if he was actually walking on the ground. But, that was the mindset people had, early church members, that we were going to be these little angels. And I think I was the first to prove that wrong.
31. I didn't like Sunday school. I preferred to run around the hallways, find all the nooks and crannies in the church, to go up into the steeple where I wasn't supposed to go, to go outside and play basketball – and I was constantly met with judgment. People would say, "Dave, why are you such a bad kid? Why are you always skipping Sunday school? Why are you constantly running around? And for the love of God why can't you be a better example for your younger brothers and sisters?" And my response was simple, "it's because I'm seven."
32. But, you know I grew up with that mentality. I recognized very early on that there was a lot of pressure to be perfect. And when I wasn't perfect, and I'm definitely not – there was a lot of judgment that came with that. That was my experience growing up in the Washington DC church, at least that is what I remember, and there is a lot more I could tell.
33. As I grew older into my youth, when I was getting into middle school and high school – as a teacher, we know that when you are 13, 14, 15 years old, developmentally those are some of the most important years of your life when it comes to developing your sense of who you are and your life of faith. So what happens during that time is very important. What happens at that age is very important – and that was a time when Blessed Children from all over the country started to be invited to come to Camp Sunrise in Harriman State Park. Who's ever been there? (cheers).
34. The first time I visited Camp Sunrise I was 14 years old in 1992. That's exactly 20 years ago. It was an awesome experience, because now I was one of the youngest, because there were a lot of older blessed children living in the Tarrytown Westchester area and in New Jersey. In the workshops then, they were a little bit different from workshops now.
35. You know, I had some really good experiences. And I think the thing that I took away the most from those experiences was that I was part of a national community of Blessed Children from all over the world and from all over the country. And people that I went to Camp sunrise with 20 years ago are my friends to this day, people like Jin Kwan Kim, Shinyoung Chang, Jin Suh Pak, and many others. Many of them have gone long and difficult roads. Some of them still have some growing to do, like I do. But I recognized that I was part of this national community.
36. But the overwhelming thing that I experienced there, as I expected to go to a summer camp, was a lot of work. Back then, there was this mindset that we have this great gift from God called the Divine Principle and True Parents teachings, and everybody needs it. Therefore we should jam it down their throats – and my mouth wasn't that big.
In
Jin Moon – December 25, 2011
37. Actually In Jin Nim talked last week about developing that allergic reaction. I became allergic to the Divine Principle very quickly. Not because it's not valuable, but because I was too young to know what the heck they were saying. Back then we got up really early in the morning, 5:00 or 5:30, we did morning exercises for as long as it took. And then the schedule was something like this – lecture two hours, five minute break, lecture two hours, breakfast, lecture, break, lecture, break, lecture, dinner, lecture, break, evening service, 11 PM go to sleep, wake up at 5:00. There were two weeks of that. Because we had to teach them the entire Divine Principle in that two-week period or else we were failures.
38. And so I just started regurgitating it. I started coughing it up. When you're 14 or 15 years old you can't really get the intellectual side of the Divine Principle. As In Jin Nim said, it's really college-level material. But you know what we're developing when we are 14 and 15 is what we remember in our emotional experience. And I remember, the lack of what I thought should have been a summer camp.
39. In addition, and probably one of the hardest things for me to deal with, was that the people at that time who were running the workshops didn't run it with what I thought was love. If we were late to the lecture we would get hit with a stick. If we sat on the wrong side of the room we would get hit with a stick. If we fell asleep during the lecture we would get hit with a stick. If we shot too many hoops we would get hit with a stick.
40. I felt like I didn't have a childhood. Actually, one of the things I hated most, I hated morning exercise. We used to have to do these things called unity jumping jacks. Do you guys know those things? You had to go one two three – one, one two three – two, and you had to go up to 50. And everyone has to count or we get hit with a stick. But you go to 50 and along the way we had to leave out 7 and 42. And if you say seven, sorry you're starting over. One morning we did jumping jacks from 6 AM until 11 AM. And because I'm not the most physically fit person in the world I started to feel like my church was torturing me. It sounds funny, but actually that's how it felt.
41. Several months ago one of our first District Pastors to command this podium, Rev. Grodner, talked about Camp sunrise. Because he was on the board that helped lease Camp sunrise and he was there during those early days. I didn't have the heart to tell him when he was talking about Camp Sunrise. Some of the things he remembers as, "these awesome things that our Blessed Children did." I remember as crazy things that we were forced to do. He talked about those boat races and how everyone was enveloped by this spirit because all the kids were chanting. That wasn't me. I was going, "Why is our boat sinking? Why are we so bad at this?"
42. Also in 1992 there was a forest fire, right outside of Camp Sunrise. And because the community around was a bunch of other Christian camps, and we weren't so well received in Harriman State Park, someone thought it would be a good idea to get in good with the other camps around us if we put out the forest fire as a camp. So, they sent all of us, took us out of our small group meetings and sent all of us up the mountain. We had no hoses, we had no buckets, all we had was our flip-flops and our sneakers. At the time we thought it was pretty cool, I have to admit. We went running up this smoke filled mountain, stomping out brush fires with our feet. One of our dear sisters went to the hospital with smoke inhalation poisoning and a lot of kids had burns on their feet. And even though my macho manly self at the time thought, "wow, that's awesome!" A couple of years later when I started to question my faith I started thinking, this is how they treat their precious blessed children. Their image in the community is more important than my life. And that's what I took with me after those years. And all the other experiences kept adding up and adding up. I was lucky because there were some good experiences – I mentioned the sense of community and I also got my first taste of our Heavenly Parent during those two weeks. But overwhelmingly I saw a community that really didn't live up to the people and the ideals that we preached to be. Because, in the lectures all I heard was true love, ideal families, and living for the sake of others – and what I got was – sacrificing me for the sake of others, getting hit with a stick, and feeling like I was being tortured.
43. Now I want you to know, that looking back I actually understand what I was going through. But I was an immature kid and that was simply my perspective. And you know, what I know of the Divine Principle is, that the first failure of Lucifer and Adam and Eve was failing to see from God's perspective. In other words failing to see from other people's perspective. And we have to understand that we do have a bunch of young kids who may have a limited and immature perspective like I did, and we have to think about what they are going through as we educate them and raise them up, because if we don't, if we sit there and say, "well you're the immature one, it's your fault for feeling that way Dave." Then we are never going to really grow as a community and we're never going to be able to educate our young people.
44. Probably the hardest experience was the experience of my family. Now, today I love and respect both of my parents. I believe that they are heroes. And definitely, growing up in the 80s, in our church there was such a lack of resources. We educated people, we trained the first generation how to witness, how to fundraise, but we really lacked in training them how to become married couples. And I saw, very quickly, in my family growing up in my formative years, a gap between what our community preached as ideal families and what I experienced in my own family.
45. It was hard for my parents to get along. I also understand that there is a certain restorative element to the Blessing. That True Parents gave my parents a responsibility, but I couldn't understand that at 14 and 15. I don't want to go into the details, but I learned very quickly that my family was anything but the perfect family. It was anything but the ideal family. And I was constantly comparing my family to the families of my friends around me in school. And I realized quickly that they did a lot better than my family did.
46. So at 15 years old I made a conscious decision to leave this church, to walk away, because of this great gap between what we preach and how we live. This dichotomy of who we said we were and who we actually were. Now, many years later, when I had my spiritual transformation and I started working in the church, I started working with the Getting Back on Track Ministry.
47. Rev. Lamson talked several weeks ago about prodigals. You know, I was one of those prodigals. And I worked with hundreds of blessed children who likewise have become prodigals in a sense. My analysis of the situation is that many of them leave for the same reasons, because they can't wrestle with this gap, they can't wrestle with the idea that we are not who we say we are. And many of them have different stories, but when it comes down to it a lot of them feel the same way.
48. Therefore I believe we have to become the community that practices what we preach. We have to be the community that is who we say we are. I know it's not easy, but you know the people in this room, the first generation in this room, you guys should go down in history as the greatest saints that history has ever seen, because you recognized who our True Parents are. You recognized that the Messiah was living on this earth. You protected them during the most difficult times and you followed them in the past nine decades. And there is a lot of credit to that. You followed them your entire life.
49. But as In Jin Nim has said over and over again we don't need just followers. And this isn't just for the first generation. True Parents need unity. That's why we're called the Unification Church. What do I mean by that? I mean, when it comes to unity, we have to start living up to the expectations that our True Parents have put on us, to become mature, faithful people of good character. We have to become the families that our True Parents desire us to have, those happy, loving, beautiful, harmonious, unified families. And we have to become the community that True Parents have asked us to become. Because if we can't model it ourselves, if we can't become those people, then who will? True Parents entrusted us. Our Heavenly Parent entrusted us with that responsibility. And if we don't do it, if I don't do it, then we could go down in history as the greatest hypocrites that have ever walked this earth.
50. Now I know that sounds harsh. Usually my responsibility over there (to his left) is to uplift and inspire you. I hope you'll forgive me because I believe my responsibility today is to challenge you to be better. It's our responsibility to live up to those ideals, to go forward and to become the people that we long to be, to become the families that we long to be.
51. Now, I do want to say something about those prodigals because I was one of them. Rev. Lamson gave a beautiful sermon about it. But the key point of his sermon was that the barriers blocking them from coming back is not their parents, but it was the other person in the community, in this case the elder brother, who was constantly judging the person. So we have to be a community that can embrace the prodigals. We have to be a community that can reach out and forgive and to love and to uplift. But even if they are not there yet, please don't give up on them.
52. And also don't worry so much, because what I have experienced in my own life is that God blesses even the broken paths. God will work in their lives no matter what. He is going to do his job, she is going to do her job. Do you believe me?
53. I was out of this movement for close to 15 years and looking back I can see God's hand in my life every step of the way, from the moment that I left in high school, when I was just desperate to seek attention, God was blessing my life and preparing me for the man that I am today. In high school, I don't know if many of you know this, but both Jaga and I were cheer leaders.
54. But, looking back God used that in my life. Let me explain. Admittedly I joined the cheerleading squad because I craved attention. I needed attention, and I got it. I got it from all of the cheerleaders. I got attention from all of the guys who are judging me for being a male cheerleader, from all the people who are jealous of the amount of time that I got to spend with beautiful young ladies.
55. Now wait a second, can I savor that? Can I say beautiful young ladies, because I kind of grew up in a church that said, "You can't say that. If you admit to their beauty then you may not end up in the right place in the spirit world." But I believe, men, that if we're going to become true brothers, then we have to tell our sisters how beautiful they are. We have to let them know how divine and inspiring they are, how wonderful they are, how gorgeous they are. We should be able to say with confidence, Dr. Anne, you're my aunt and I love you and your beautiful. We should be able to say with confidence, Cynthia, you're my sister and I love you with all of my heart and you are gorgeous. (he mentioned other names) there are so many beautiful ladies out there. I could go on for days. You're beautiful and I love you and I want you to know how gorgeous you are, how beautiful you are, both internally and externally. Now, some might think Dave is a youth pastor, what is he teaching our young men? So I want to be clear about these brothers, you don't say that to draw attention to yourself, you don't say that because you're going to get something out of it. You say it for the sole reason of uplifting our sisters, because they're our sisters and they deserve to be uplifted, they deserve to know that they are beautiful. Because, if we don't tell them someone else will. That's a fact.
56. Back to my point, cheerleading. You know I was also on the football team in high school, just in case anyone is questioning my masculinity. But I do have to admit that our football team, Bowie High School, we were horrible. I played for three years and every year we went 2 and 8. That's two wins, 8 losses per season. That means in the course of my high school career we won six games and lost 24. But I can remember being in cheerleading practice and some of the cheerleaders were complaining, why do we have to cheer for the football team, they are so bad? It doesn't make any sense. Let's cheer for a good team. Our cheer coach, who is a friend of mine to this day, said something so profound. She said, "We don't cheer for them, because they win or lose. We cheer for them because we are proud of who they are and where they come from. And they come from our school."
57. I admit, I became ashamed and I stopped cheering for our church. I was going through a whole heck of an ordeal, but we have to become proud of who we are, and I take that with me to the grave. I am proud to be a blessed child. I am proud to be a member of the Unification Church.
58. And if you are proud, the other thing I learned on the cheerleading squad, is that you gotta be loud. I come out here every Sunday at the end of the service and I scream into the microphone, "Are you loving life?!" And with my whole heart and desire it's my wish that you are owning that decision when you scream yes. And you are owning that decision to be a happy, healthy, loving, uplifting individual. That you are making that choice. Can you imagine if I walked out on the stage and I said, "Um, hey guys, do you like your life?" There is no power in that. We have to be loud and proud Unificationists and that's what I learned on the cheerleading squad.
59. There are so many ways that God led me, even when I was so far from Him, so far from Her. The cheerleading squad … I chose a profession that I use to this day, I became an educator, And it helps me so much in what I do. Hopefully it's helping this morning.
60. My wife was similar. She chose to be a professional musician. Her journey through this life of faith was not easy, because she didn't walk the pipeline. She didn't walk that route that the Blessed Children were supposed to live. Instead of workshops during the summer she was going to music festivals. Instead of STF she went to study viola under a world-renowned violist. And when she came back to her community they looked down on her, or at least she felt that way. And every time they needed a musical offering they would parade her across the stage and say, "look how great our Blessed Children are." That's how she felt. But even during that time God was preparing her for what she is doing today. She is currently in Japan with our Senior Pastor at the Youth Concert for World Peace and Ideal Families. Sonic Cult is on tour in Japan and God prepared her, even during that difficult time, to do what she does. She's learned that she can make an offering and that her life of faith can be based on inspiring youth through music, as are all the musicians of Sonic Cult and the LL Band.
61. Everyone has a different way that they can contribute, it's not just giving sermons or giving lectures. Jatoma Gavin cooks. Natalie Franklin bakes and runs our Life Lounge. And so many others have different ways to contribute, but for so long there was only one way that we could walk. My point is, don't worry so much if our children go a different path, because God is going to be with them preparing them for greatness.
62. I believe that Lovin' Life Ministries is a ministry that is going to help us become the movement that we want to be, to become the individuals and families that we aspire to be. And that is why we want to reinvigorate this movement. That's why we're going back to our spiritual roots. In the witnessing summits there was this big question about our identity, are we a church or are we a movement. Clearly we are a movement, but all movements, all great movements start on a religious foundation, a spiritual foundation, and over time, as In Jin Nim said, we started to lose that.
63. Lovin' Life Ministries is a family ministry, it's about worshiping together as a family. When I was growing up we would walk up to the chapel and right when the sermon was about to start they would rip us out of service and send us down to the basement's basement. And I learned very quickly that I didn't have to attend Sunday service. And if you think about the impact that has had on our young people, pulling families apart, and teaching people that Sunday service is not that valuable – that's why it's important in this ministry that we worship together as families.
64. Lovin' Life Ministries is about implementing the Divine Principle in our daily life. And we do that through so many different practices. That's why I so love, even though I'm not a good dancer, I so love ballroom dance class and ballroom dance ministry. Because when you think about what it is, it's putting Divine Principle into action. We've heard about give and take action for so many years, there is a subject and there is an object and they are to interact and revolve around each other in spherical motion and create unity and harmony. And for me growing up I just saw a bunch of circles and arrows on the board and I thought, "What does that have to do with my life." He
65. But when you see that taking place on the ballroom dance floor, where young men are learning how to approach and honor a young woman. And young woman are learning how to respond and react to their lead, that they have to sacrifice a little bit, that they have to learn unity, they have to learn how to live for the other person, for their partner, and work together in harmony. You know, that's amazing. It's putting Divine Principle into action. And I think it's unfortunate that so many people have thought that it's just for the young people. Because I would love to see my parents ballroom dancing. I would love to see the parents in this room ballroom dancing.
66. It's heartbreaking for me when we do our Divine Principle slam group, our Divine Principle study group in New Jersey, and Sakamoto-san is leading the ballroom dance class in New Jersey, that there is usually only two couples there, two first-generation couples. I want to challenge you – start dancing together. Because you're going to learn a lot about each other and you're going to grow closer together and you're going to learn to love like you've never loved before. Please dance.
67. So Lovin' Life Ministries is about challenging us. It's not about making us feel comfortable. And of course our major emphasis is on young people, it's on the growth and education of our young people. So I don't want you to worry because In Jin Nim is going to take care of the youth. And we're going to update the way we educate. As an educator I am so inspired by the way In Jin Nim thinks. She says, "It's not enough to just lecture the Divine Principle. They have to know how to implement it and make it real in their daily lives. And that's what I try to do in New Jersey's youth ministry.
68. We recently completed a two-day workshop at Camp sunrise called the faith workshop for New Jersey and New York youth. We lectured very little. But all along the way we were doing activities that allowed them to experience what we were talking about. We talked about the freedom and responsibility that you have in order to grow through the three stages of growth. (I'm almost like, regurgitating – hearing three stages of growth.) But it wasn't enough to say formation, growth, and completion. We had to learn about how we can implement that in our own lives and how we can listen to God's voice so that we can grow ourselves. And so we took them out on the basketball court, we set up an obstacle course, we had people play God, we had people blindfolded and they had to navigate just by listening to God's voice. And the lessons that are learned through an activity like that are tremendous. They have to learn to quiet all the other noise. They have to learn to focus on where God is leading them. They have to learn how to listen and respond to God's voice. Then we wanted to teach them about True Parents life, so we showed an hour-long video that Hyung Jin Nim just put out on YouTube, a great video about to True Parents' course.
69. But you know, I grew up hearing all the stories and I could really understand who our True Parents were and the amount of sacrifice that they laid for us. So we said, let's give them a taste. And we walked them through True Parents course. We hiked them up to the mountain and asked them to dedicate their life to someone, to something. They prayed on the mountain for 21 minutes, looking for something that they could dedicate their life to, just as our True Father did at the early age of 15. Then we walked them down to the beach and said congratulations, your dedication to God's providence just landed you at Hung Nam prison. And they filled 65 pound sandbags and walk them up a tremendous hill and stacked them while the staff acted as prison guards, and mistreated them. Now, I know that sounds awful, but the point we were trying to convey – is to get a taste of True Parents heart along the way and if you read the testimonies that the kids shared, "never have I ever understood the sacrifice that our True Parents laid for us, never have I understood how much they went through."
70. And there were tons of other activities that weren't as harsh, about learning the Divine Principle through nature, walking from North Korea to the south caring someone on your back and learning how to influence an apathetic society through public speaking. But we have to teach our kids to implement the Divine Principle in their daily lives.
71. So our youth ministries and our camps are serious about Divine Principle education and the teachings of our True Parents. It's so interesting to me that I grew up having all of these complaints about Camp Sunrise and how I was treated. And then last year In Jin Nim said, "Dave, why don't you take and run with Camp LL. Why don't you run the show?" She trusted me with that. And she said, make sure you have fun. Make sure they have a good time. And you know for me, part of my philosophy is I am serious about fun. Anyone who knows me I am fun country all the way. So I like to emphasize that. But please don't mistake, we don't water down the Divine Principle.
72. Our theme last year was the Shoulders that We Stand On. Because, In Jin Nim is serious about honoring our heritage, honoring our spiritual heritage. If I could just take a few moments to explain what the Shoulders We Stand On is about. It's about recognizing that we come from our Heavenly Parent, that we stand on God's shoulders, that we are divine sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parent and we are their eternal children. It's about understanding that we stand on Jesus' shoulders, that he laid a sacrifice for us. Because of that sacrifice we could have True Parents and we stand on all the foundation of our True Parents, all the indemnity that our True Parents have paid. We stand on the shoulders of our parent's generation, the first-generation. And In Jin Nim is serious about honoring our parents' generation. We stand on the shoulders of the True Children who are leading the way in this settlement age to become the community that we want to become. And finally we stand on the shoulders of all of our older brothers and sisters who have gone before us. And that's why our staff T-shirts said, "Stand Here." Stand on my shoulders and we're going to go together.
73. So last year was about spiritual heritage. This year at Camp LL it's about inheriting that and becoming social activists, becoming people that are going to have an impact on society. Are you ready for our camp theme? I'd like to show you our T-shirt. Our camp theme this year is, "Rebels with a Cause." (He showed the T-shirt).
74. That may sound like an interesting title for some. "Rebels? You're going to teach them to be rebels?" Absolutely. You know we have a history of rebels. The unfortunate ones were Adam and Eve. Because God is the first cause, we know that from theology. God is the first cause of the universe. And Adam and Eve were rebels without a cause. They lost God as the center. But throughout history, God has been longing for rebels who will take him up as a cause, who would advocate for our Heavenly Parent. Jesus was a rebel with a cause, Martin Luther King was a rebel with a cause, Gandhi was a rebel with a cause.
75. Actually, we as a society, honor and respect rebels. The greatest people in history were rebelling against something that was not right, something that was ungodly. Our True Parents are the greatest rebels of history! My parents are rebels. All the first-generation in this room and listening all across America, you guys were rebels. They confronted an ungodly culture and said, "I am going to take a stand against this and I'm going to create a better world." And now it's time for the second generation, for the next generation, for the young people of our movement to take a stand and be rebels.
76. I'm so excited to have Seijin Tramberg on our team with Camp LL because he exemplifies a rebel with a cause. As you know he did his tour de cause on a bicycle across America to teach and educate people about the issue going on in Japan where our members are being kidnapped, raped, and tortured. He's a rebel. I'm so excited to have Chris Amorikawa, Danny Heller, and Toby Gullery on our team. Because they stand as rebels to because they are constantly trying to raise up the next generation.
77. But what I mostly want to say this morning is that, Lovin' Life Ministries is going to take care of the young people. But for everyone else, don't think that your time is over. You have to continue to be rebels. You were rebels once, you should be rebels again.
Joshua
Cotter – January 8, 2012
78. You know, Rev Cotter, in one of the first sermons he gave, he talked about all these re- words. Re-member, it's time to member up again. Don't resign, but re-sign. Don't retire, but re-tire. Put the treads back on and do some work.
79. I think In Jin Nim would probably play on this word rebel. As you probably know she speaks fluent French. It's time to re-bel. And bel in French is beautiful. It's time to re-engage that culture of becoming that beautiful community that you guys joined. It's time to rebel against the Satanic culture, the world out there, re-tire, re-sign, get up and make a stand again. Are you with me?
80. Now, the second generation has a lot of programs in place. There are local youth ministries, there are weekend workshops, there are summer camps, winter camps and winter workshops. So we have a place to educate our young people, to become those rebels. But for those of you who are a little bit older, where are you going to challenge yourself? Where are you going to get some inspiration on how you can grow, because you are not done. A commitment to growth is a lifelong commitment. You're not going to workshops anymore. There is no more 2, 7, 21, and 40-day workshops. I believe Sunday service is a place where you have to be serious about your growth. Now remember I'm here to challenge you.
81. I want to tell you a story, because to me it is so important that we become the community that we say we are. A year or two ago In Jin Nim gave a sermon about entitlement. She talked about how people, leaders especially, can become so enveloped in their title, and their position, and who they are. After that, it was that time when In Jin Nim used to greet people down here in the front, my wife and I stood in line, in the back of the line, because we wanted to greet our Senior Pastor. And I witnessed something that I thought was tragic. And this is how our young people see things. There was a leader, who after hearing an entire sermon on entitlement, decided that he was important enough to cut in front of all the people who had been waiting patiently to greet our Senior Pastor, because he was a reverend of our church, because he had that position and he was so important that he could cut in line. Now that may seem like a small thing, but to me it's not. If we can't embody what you are hearing from this podium, especially when our Senior Pastor is talking, if we can't be serious about what we are being challenged to do – she was challenging us to be a little bit more humble, to take the backseat. The Bible says the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Let's be willing to take that position.
82. I want you to leave here today thinking what can I do differently today. When Rev. Swearson gave his sermon we should've left the room thinking, who do I need to forgive or who do I need to seek forgiveness from. When Rev. Lampson left the stage we should've been thinking who are the prodigal's in my community and how can I reach out to them? And am I the person creating them? Am I being too judgmental, too harsh and unforgiving? Do you understand what I'm saying? We have to become those people that are serious.
83. So I want to leave you with these three points. Be serious about what you're hearing, whether it's through the sermon, you're reading of Hoon Dok Hae, a lecture, or your own personal growth, please go out there and challenge yourselves to become better people – because you're going to be judged. Please make a commitment to making a change today. Everyone when you are walking out of this room today and walking out of your Sunday services you should be thinking, "What can I do differently?"
84. I wake up every day thinking that way. It's the one thing I have going for me. I wake up thinking, "how am I going to be a better husband than I was yesterday and how am I going to be a better father and a better youth pastor? What can I do differently?" And I want people to hold me accountable for that. I want my youth ministry to be able to say, "Dave, you hurt my feelings. This is how I felt." And I'm going to apologize. I'm going to be accountable or my actions. And lastly, we have to persevere when it's tough. We have to keep going, even when it's hard. Because it's no easy thing to live up to the great set of ideals that we have. But we have to constantly keep dealing with these things. Please leave here today thinking about what you can change so that you can become the person that you want to become, so that your family can be the family that you wanted to be, and so that our community can become the community that is going to have a tremendous impact on the society – because we are an ideal community, we are a loving and unselfish and beautiful community. That's a community that I want.
85. Thank you.