40 Years in America

One World Crusade

One World Crusade, Inc. (OWC) was the engine of the Unification Church’s evangelistic activities from 1972 through 1974. Through this structure, pioneer state representatives, bus team members and leaders, itinerary workers and existing church centers coordinated activities. The organization itself was formed during the Day of Hope revival in Los Angeles, the fifth city of the seven-city tour. Although the OWC structure included state representatives, itinerary workers and existing centers, it was especially identified with "mobile unit" bus teams. Newly appointed OWC "commanders" Young Oon Kim and David Kim, along with approximately twenty-five members each, set out in March 1972 from the Bay Area on separate northern and southern bus team routes to meet in Washington, D.C. the following August. At that time, a third bus team was formed and in December, 1972, seven more teams were organized, making a total of ten evangelical bus teams, each assigned to a specific region of the country. By July 1, 1973, forty more OWC mobile units were organized so that there was a unit for every state. On that foundation, the movement launched more ambitious speaking tours in late 1973 and 1974.

The genius of the OWC was the way in which it integrated a variety of different tasks. First and foremost, the OWC fostered evangelistic outreach. At each of their stops, evangelizing bus teams reinforced activities of newly sent out and often solitary state representatives. Witnessing actively, especially on college campuses, bus team members brought guests to evening programs, conducted workshops and left long lists of contacts for local state representatives to follow up. Seven-day crusades in each state frequently resulted in the recruitment of permanent members. Equally important, the OWC enhanced the movement’s internal solidarity. The mobile units combined membership from various parts of the movement and continued the process of unification begun at the original pioneer training session. At the same time, the establishment of state representatives and itinerary workers, as well as such publications as Pioneer’s Progress (which supplanted Miss Kim’s New Age Frontiers from July to October, 1972), opened channels of movement-wide communication. The OWC effectively linked up disparate centers throughout the country.

In addition to evangelistic outreach and organizational integration, the OWC helped lay the groundwork for the movement’s future speaking tours. Members cultivated important contacts and gained public relations experience. Actively contacting news media, local churches and civic officials, public relations teams stressed theistic principles and ethical values. These themes were reflected in "Rallies for God" on college campuses and at state capitol buildings. From March 16, 1972, when the two evangelical bus teams left San Francisco, until August 1, 1972, when they arrived in Washington, D.C., Mobile Unit #l (the northern bus) campaigned in twenty-two cities and twenty-two states, traveling a total of 8,400 miles. Mobile Unit #2 (the southern bus) campaigned in twenty-one cities and twenty states, traveling a total of 7,780 miles. Mr. David Kim emerged as the OWC’s leading "field general." In over forty separate reports under such titles as "Marching Across This Great Land to Make It Free," "One World Crusade Is Marching On," and "Mobile Unit II Moves West Coast States," he chronicled bus team activities in 1972. In December of that year, he was named "Executive Director" of the One World Crusade. With numerous bus teams in operation, the movement was under considerable pressure to fuel the crusade. To do so, another organization was born.

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