The Words of the Thompson Family |
Bay Area Family Church hosted a Blessing Preparation Workshop on February 5-7, 2010. 85 participants from all over the western United States descended on the church. Some were preparing to be matched and blessed soon and others were there to be educated as they began the process of their own preparation for a future blessing. Many parents also took the chance to participate along with their children.
After dinner on the first evening, MC Kenritsu Yamamoto started everyone off with an icebreaker and orientation. This was followed by a talk from Pastor Kevin Thompson entitled "Why Be Blessed?" in which the value of the blessing was discussed. This was followed by group discussions.
The next day Pastor Thompson gave a morning talk on "God's Ideal for the Family", in which he outlined the original plan of God to bring about His ideal through mature individuals creating beautiful families with God at the center. Emphasizing the need for each person to grow and develop their heart and to reach a position of maturity, which is affirmed by parents and elders, is a prerequisite for receiving the blessing. With the affirmation of parents and community, God's blessing is given by True Parents to begin a new family.
In the next talk Pastor Thompson emphasized the reason why this ideal was never realized. Through the introduction of selfishness and a "me first" attitude the process created by God has been short circuited. Instead of families with God at the center we see a history of families with the "self" at the center leading to society's ills. After each talk a group discussion followed and lively, animated, give and take ensued. After lunch, Mr. Bento Leal conducted an afternoon for the development of practical communication skills. Many participants said that this was a highlight of the workshop; to be able to develop much need skills in sharing and listening, skills which are useful for all relationships. "Hearing my own experience shared back to me gave me the sense of being deeply listened to and therefore actually loved and valued, this was a profound experience," shared one participant.
Before dinner we had the ever popular sharing of 2nd Gen Blessing testimonies by Henry and Ann Helen Bechtel, David and Lily Freeland, and Kenritsu Yamamoto. This was a very practical and meaningful for the young people as they could learn from their elders' experiences.
The final talk by Pastor Thompson was on the preparation for the Blessing and confession. Letting the young people know that they have a course to take towards the Blessing, and how to prepare internally and externally to make the most of the opportunity they have for the Blessing, is important information. Also the confession process allows young people the chance to unburden themselves of things which are weighing on their conscience and to come clean with God as they move forward. After the written confession period a meditation was conducted by Mrs. Pat Detlefson which allowed everyone to feel the love and forgiveness of God for any mistakes they had made.
The last day gave everyone the chance to attend LOVIN' LIFE MINISTRIES Sunday service live from New York, and to hear from In Jin Nim. This was a wonderful conclusion to a beautiful workshop.