Archbishop G. Augustus Stallings, Jr, Co-President of the ACLC served as Master of Ceremonies at the black-tie event in the Grand Ballroom of the historically prominent Manhattan Center.

 

Rev. and Mrs. Mark Abernathy of Connect Point Christian Center gave the invocation.

A Gospel hymn of praise was offered by Rev. Cornelius Clark of the Streator Community Church near Chicago. Rev. Clark lifted our hearts with the song made famous by Donnie Mclurkin – “Stand”.   Rev. Clark budding ministry was enhanced by the years he spent as part of Rev. T.D. Jakes Music ministry.

 

Guests were thrilled by a new video showing the highlights of the vast work of ACLC accomplishments and history since its founding in 2001. Rebuilding the Family, Restoring the Community and Renewing the Nation and the World was highlighted thru the work that emphasized the role of marriage and family as central to church development. From sea to shining sea to the Middle East – ACLC is active for peace and embracing of all faiths. The excellent narration was done by ACLC Co President by Archbishop Stallings who founded the renowned African American Catholic Congregation – Imani Temple which has Independent Catholic Congregations across the nation.

 

Rev. Michael Jenkins, Chairman of the ACLC, introduced Rev. In Jin Moon, the keynote speaker. In his opening remarks, he noted that after In Jin Moon’s graduation from Harvard Divinity School in 1995, her parents ordained her as a Reverend, the first such ordination by her parents. He also explained to the 500 guests that Rev. In Jin Moon is the first woman to head the American movement as has served as the Overseer of the ACLC since her maiden speech to that group on Jan. 30, 2009.

 

Rev. Moon explained that her primary mission, and an important duty of her colleagues in the ACLC, is to raise and motivate the rising generation of faith leaders. “Those of us already working as pastors, and ministers and reverends have an incredible duty to raise up young people to be such great shepherds of our Heavenly Father and Mother,” she said.

 

Rev. Moon invoked the founding vision of her father which had begun on a mountainside in North Korea on an Easter Sunday in 1935 when he had received his calling from Jesus. “My father took this vision of wanting to create an ideal family -- of wanting to create a world of peace – to his heart and ever since then that man has never wavered in his faith. The wonderful thing about this man is that he understood the Providential significance of finding an eternal bride, an eternal partner that can be the example of True Woman that we – that I – have been waiting for our whole lives. And the wonderful thing about True Parents is that for the first time in history we have a man and a woman as the True Parents who can show us how to go about building this wonderful thing called an ideal family that our Heavenly Parent wanted so long ever since creating the universe,” she said.

 

“Brothers and sisters, having our True parents here is an incredible moment in history, it will not happen again.” She went on to say that just like the time of Jesus when He told believers that “flesh and blood” did not reveal this, likewise today we must receive confirmation through the Holy Spirit. She said that if we truly open up our spiritual eyes and our spiritual hearts, we will realize that here together we have the one anointed by Jesus as the True Parents. She highlighted the fact that the lineage of God is now secured not only in heaven but also on earth when she said “for the first time in history we have a chance to graft onto the true lineage of God our Heavenly Parents.”

 

Rev. Moon amplified the term “generation of peace” which she had introduced to the ACLC at that signature speech the previous year in Newark, New Jersey.

As she has done several times at formal events, she spelled out what the word “Peace” means to her: “P” means God is our Parent; “E” means “eternal beings of love;” “A” means altruism; “C” means compassion; and “E” means “excellence” both in an internal, moral sense and in an outward, professional sense. The generation of peace is the generation that is the embodiment of internal and external excellence, she explained.

 

She called on the pastors to build a movement for justice like that in America that brought us closer to equal rights and to join with her to condemn the human rights violations in America and the World. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. She highlighted the fact that  persecution of Unificationists in Japan have suffered kidnappings and forced confinements by those who, out of fear and ignorance, would seek to destroy faith, just like the time of the Inquisition.   She asserted that more than 4,300 Japanese citizens have been recorded as victimized with little or no legal protection from Japanese police and prosecutors.

 

Rev. Moon also called upon her guests to join with her to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, and she promised to match dollar for dollar all donations made for the sake of Haitian aid.

 

Rev. Jenkins presented the candidates for distinguished ACLC Annual Awards with a photo montage that highlighted their lives and service to humanity. Co Presidents Archbishop Stallings, and Rev. Tanya Edwards (representing Co President Bishop Jesse Edwards who was ill that evening) presented the Crystalline ACLC Awards.  These included Reverend Dr. Willie Weston, founder of Hope Evangelistic Ministries International in Chicago; Rev. Fermin Bocanegra, founder of the Iglesias Cristiana Wesleyan in Kernersville, North Carolina; Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, pastor of St. Matthew African Methodist Episcopal Church in Orange, New Jersey; Rev. Gilda Price, a minister of the New Temple Mt. Zion Christ Church in Brooklyn, New York (founding member of ACLC’s Women in Ministry); Rev. Betty Tatalajski, founder of the Temple of Universality in Tucson, Arizona; Rev. Jason Bentley, founder of HighPoint Church near Seattle, Washington; and Victoria Roomet, the Lovin’ Life Ministry’s Service Coordinator as well as the Vice President of the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP).

 

Women in Ministry of ACLC coordinators Rev. Tanya Edwards and Minister Reiko Jenkins who Co Sponsored the Gala honored Bishop Margie Delarosa of Mount Vernon, New York, a bishop in the Christ Family Church, as Woman Pastor of the Year. Bishop Delarosa who is battling a serious illness was represented by her husband, prominent ACLC leader, Archbishop Moses Delarosa. Bishop Margie was honored in particular when she overcame her illness and played a major role in Women In Ministries programs for healing and reconciliation of the Cheyenne Nation and the Nations around Norfolk, Virginia who were related to Pocahontas.   Bishop Margie Delarosa was a Cherokee Native American born in Cherokee, North Carolina. Our prayers go with her along with the honor. 

 

Pastor Dave Hunter, assistant pastor of the Lovin’ Life Ministry, introduced a waltz demonstration by 14 couples of young volunteers from Rev. Moon’s congregation.  Clergy were moved by the demonstration of culture and discipline. Some joined with the spouses on the dance floor. He explained that teaching dancing is Rev. In Jin Moon’s prayerful strategy to show young men and women grace, etiquette and respect for the opposite sex. The floor then filled with guests of all ages waltzing the evening away.