| November 15 2012
November is off to a busy start for Church President Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and his wife Rev. Yeon Ah Moon and their advisory team of Dr. Tony Guerra, Rev. Jim Edgerly, and Dr. Michael Balcomb. Friday, November 9, 2012 marked the beginning of several day-long “Briefing Sessions,” during which each team at Headquarters of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC USA) provided a situation analysis of their department and presented past, current and future projects. The following Monday and Tuesday, November 12th and 13th, were similarly structured for the executive team, beginning at 9:30 a.m. and concluding no earlier than 8 p.m., as various departmental teams filed through the conference room on the sixth floor of the New Yorker Hotel to give their presentations. Each briefing session lasted for at least an hour – some extended to nearly three hours – and afterwards, the executive team took time to discuss the content of what had been presented.
The Public Affairs Team. The Brand Development Group, which includes the Design
Team, Photography Team, UC Magazine, and Video Production
Team. The Operations Team. The Ministry Group, which includes members in Pastoral
Ministry, Youth Ministry, Curriculum Development and the
National Leadership Program. The Property and Facility Management Group, which
includes members in Property Management for the New Yorker
Hotel, the Learning Center on 43rd Street, and facilities in
Washington, D.C. The Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles
(CARP) Team. The Generation Peace Academy (GPA) Team. The Finance Team, Human Resources Team and Legal Team. The Blessed Family Ministry Team.
On October 17, 2012, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon had requested that all employees at headquarters “do homework” that consisted of a “SWOT” analysis (“Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats”) of their department and a personal statement from each employee describing his or her role in what he or she perceived to be as headquarters’ vision. The recent briefing sessions addressed many of the departmental and individual concerns of headquarters staff and provided the executive team a better understanding of each department’s professional contribution to the mission.
The following is a list of the briefing sessions on November 9th, 12th and 13th, respectively.
Ministry Group (Pastoral Ministry, Youth Ministry, Curriculum Development, National Leadership Program); Operations Team; Brand Development Group (Design and Photo, UC Magazine, Video Production)
Blessed Family Ministry (BFM) Team; Public Affairs Team; Finance/Human Resources/Legal Teams
Generation Peace Academy (GPA); Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP); Property and Facility Management
Briefing Sessions are expected to conclude by Nov. 21, 2012.
Feedback on Briefing Sessions from Departmental Leaders
Jaga Gavin, national youth pastor and curriculum developer: “It was great to finally have the time to share as a ministry team with Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and Rev. Yeon Ah Moon. The meeting was actually pretty relaxed and comfortable. One of the best parts of it was that we felt heard as a team. The executive team really cares about what we’re doing. Even a couple days after our meeting, I heard Rev. Moon say word for word what I had said in the briefing session, and I really felt listened to. They are taking us very seriously and looking to serve the Unification Church with its best interests in mind.”
Dave Hunter, young-adult pastor and curriculum developer: “It was refreshing to meet with Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and HSA-UWC's new executive team in order to present the Ministry and Education Department's scope of work over the last three years. Our department is broken down into five sub-teams – new- and existing member education, youth- and young-adult ministry, returning-member education, marketing and branding, and leadership development. I felt that Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and the executive team were sincere in their desire to understand our work and asked the right questions for the sake of clarity. Unfortunately, even the two- and-a half hours that we spent together were not enough to get clear direction on where our team should go from here. I think all of us on the team are desperate to support the local churches in their ministry and educational work, but we are still unsure how our department fits into HSA's new vision. On the bright side, it's nice to know that Rev. Hyung Jin Moon is not willing to make hasty decisions without fully understanding the broader spectrum of HSA's work over the last three years.”
Naokimi Ushiroda, director of the National Leadership Program: “Generally, it went well. We covered the different areas of the ministry department in two- and-a half hours. Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and his staff were listening most of the time; they didn’t give so much feedback but rather tried to absorb what we shared. I noticed that Rev. Hyung Jin Moon really wants input from us about the most important topic, which is the purpose of our church, where True Parents fit in that purpose. He asked each person to state what they thought on the topic and he took notes on who said what. I was expecting to receive a clear vision or direction, but it seems that Rev. Moon is taking things step by step and getting our feedback first.”
Rev. David Rendel, director of Operations: “Preparation for the briefing sessions gave each headquarters’ team a fresh opportunity to systematically analyze its function in the organization. The team members seriously assessed what they have and have not been doing to fulfill their purpose. They worked together to appraise their team’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The process was really enlightening. They all did a great job and their presentations were tremendous!”
Koichi Nakai, creative director of Brand Development: “It was great to speak to the International President. We were able to all speak about photo, video, photo- archiving, publications, design, and UC Magazine. I thought it was a great opportunity for Rev. Hyung Jin Moon to get on the same page as headquarters and see what we’re doing, and we’re grateful for his time and what he’s doing.”
Shinyoung Chang, editor-in-chief of UC Magazine: “We thought that Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and his team were coming to understand what it is that we actually do here, and that it made sense to them. They understand what Rev. In Jin Moon had been doing here and why what she had done was working. They realized how our design-, graphics- and magazine team can be used in the future to help educate local ministries on how to make their own designs, their own graphics, contribute to the magazine, etc. They didn’t just come to understand what we did, but also how we could be used in the future.”
Doug Burton, director of Public Affairs: “We made a candid assessment of the challenges facing our movement regarding the media outreach and sketched out several opportunities for raising the profile of the church and its leadership. I am encouraged to have face-to-face access with the president and hope that these briefings will be continued at least annually.”
Kaye Allen: “It was great to see that the new CEO and his executive-development team are working to get an overview of headquarters and are prepared to meet with each of the team members to hear about what they do and their issues. It seemed like a great start to be able to have open and honest communication about our situations, including problems.”
Susan Bouachri, director of Human Resources: “I enjoyed the meetings and felt they were valuable for two reasons: First, the new Executive Team could see that we have a professional, dedicated and talented staff at HQ; second, from his attentive listening we could see our new President and his staff are taking the challenging course of steering forward based on grassroots interest rather than just rushing to stamp his name and personality on UC America.
Victoria Roomet, president of CARP: “Sometimes briefing sessions can be set in cold, stuffy, business settings, but you can tell the people in the room actually cared and had a heart! It was something I was expecting! They genuinely cared, you could tell. Wendy and I basically tried to be ourselves and we actually had fun in the meeting. We took care of the executive team the same way we would take care of college students – we gave them care packages; we handed out Starbucks gift cards to those who had gotten 4.0s in school, and even ‘Mr. the Fish’ came in to pay a visit!”
Keimi Kanno, coordinator for the National Leadership Program and GPA: I attended two sessions, one representing the Leadership Program, which presented as part of the Ministry Department, and one representing GPA. In both sessions, I was so impressed by how focused Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, Rev. Yeon Ah Moon and their team were, and how intent they were on listening and understanding the situations of each department. It was so apparent – through the heartfelt and at times moving presentations – that each individual in each meeting had invested their hearts and soul in their mission, and Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and Rev. Yeon Ah Moon received all of it with gratitude and open minds and hearts completely free of judgment.”
Ciriel Monsels, building manager: “It is always good to see Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and his wife. The session was very informative and clear. I had the opportunity to meet his advisers and also to get more knowledge on the properties of the church nationwide. I felt that things are going in the right direction, physically and spiritually, with the providence. Everybody present was there with their sincere heart for God and True Parents. With Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and his wife we will achieve great things.”
Contributed by Ariana Moon.