True Mother came to Oakland, CA, on September 26th as part of her 12-city U.S. speaking tour and truly brightened up the city and Northern California with her warmth and grace. The banquet and speech event was held at the Oakland Convention Center in downtown Oakland with an appreciative audience of more than 700 people.

The pre-program featured beautiful musical selections from Step Out Band of our local Bay Area Family Church.

At 6:30 pm sharp, Rev. Michael Jenkins took to the stage as emcee and welcomed everyone to tonight's program with his usual, and contagious, bubbling enthusiasm. He then invited Rev. William Perry of Gospel Harvest COGIC and National ACLC Board Representative to give the invocation.

Rev. Jenkins then read excerpts of the beautiful Proclamations issued by Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco declaring today "True Peace Day in San Francisco!", and Mayor Jerry Brown of Oakland declaring today "A Day of True Peace." That set the tone for the significance of the day and of this tour.

Archbishop George Augustus Stallings of Imani Temple in Washington, DC, who is also a founding member of ACLC, came to the podium and roused the audience telling them that "God has sent Rev. and Mrs. Moon as the True Parents!" That Rev. and Mrs. Moon have been anointed by Jesus to be Messiahs, and that we ALL should be messiahs in our own areas! The "Amens" were starting to build!

Next was a beautiful video presentation of the life and work of Rev. and Mrs. Moon in their ministry and mission to bring about a world of True Peace. The stage was now set for True Mother Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon to come forward and deliver her speech entitled "God is the Origin of Peace". She read it with dignity and heart. The audience followed along with the booklets they had at their seats. In the course of her hour-long reading, Mother built up to the climax at the end where she announced that she and Father are the True Parents of mankind, the Messiah, to "Amens" and applause. (A couple of times during Mother's speech the sound went out. Mother handled it with calm and a bit of laughter. Fortunately, the technicians were able to correct the problems and only a couple of minutes were lost).

After her speech, Rev. Jenkins then called four representative Ambassador for Peace recipients to come on stage and receive their framed certificate from True Mother with the assistance of Dr. C.S. Yang. They representative awardees were: Imam Mumtaz Quasmi, Chairman of the Sharia Council of California, and Imam of the Muslim Mosque Association of Sacramento, Consul Chunmei Chon receiving the award on behalf of the Honorable Yasha Ke, Consul for Cultural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Master Samantha Chou, Director of the Purple Lotus Society, a Buddhist organization based in the Bay Area, and Pastor Brondon Reems of Center of Hope Community Church in Oakland.

Rev. Victor Medearis of Double Rock Baptist Church of San Francisco then came on stage to present a lovely gift of a stature of a crane that had been carved out of a horn -- it was majestic! With True Mother standing in the middle, everyone on stage posed for a photo as the audience applauded. A sister then presented flowers to Mother who held them high and waved them as she departed the stage. Mother then went to her room for a celebration interchange with True Father who was back in New York. A few members joined her in her room with song, laughter and cake.

In the meantime in the banquet hall, Rev. Jenkins invited Rev. Jesse Edwards of Philadelphia to give an introduction to the "Cloud of Witnesses". Like Archbishop Stallings, Rev. Edwards was also "filled with the Holy Spirit" and preached how God and spirit world are working. He even hopped a few times on the stage!

Rev. Jenkins then invited our local sister, Christine Froehlich, to come forward to read excerpts of the Cloud of Witnesses while soft music played in the background. Again, there were frequent "Amens".

After that, Rev. Bento Leal, who was standing in for Rev. Jenkins at that point, invited everyone to enjoy their physical dinner which was now served, since they already had such a huge spiritual feast!

Throughout the dinner, various clergy were called up to give their spontaneous testimony on the evenings proceedings. Love filled the hall.

Gospel quartet "Purchased" then sang a few upbeat soulful numbers and we concluded with everyone standing up singing "Amazing Grace" with Rev. Keith Byers closing us out with prayer.

It was a beautiful and high-spirit evening. Special thanks to Rev. Byeng Chul Kim and Rev. Kevin Thompson for their huge effort and leadership in orchestrating all the details and members to make this event a great success.

Oakland and Northern California wish True Mother bon voyage -- but her spirit, love and message will remain here with us.

Notable Quotes by Several Quests:

Rev Rose Wun -- "With the tragic breakdown of the American family it is clear to me that Rev. and Mrs. Moon hold the key to solving this problem. I was so happy during Mother Moon's speech."

Rev Kenneth Hughes -- "I was deeply moved by the love of Mrs. Moon, and it really is time for the spirit world to start working."

Rev. Lee Harrington -- "I told you that I need to hear the whole of Divine Principle. Every time I come to one of these events I am amazed at how profound the truth that gets revealed. I have been having dreams recently about True Parents and especially that Korea is a special nation."

Rev. Keith Byers -- "The Anointed One is coming in the last days (Psalm 24). That is Rev. Moon! Only he can bring people together like this. The message to Christianity is-'Stop fighting the Christ!' "

One Christian Brother -- "Did you hear what she said. No what? She is the anointed one of God. That means that if we are united with her then we get anointed too. You don't understand ---You Are Anointed!"

Robert Calavan's cousin and his wife were so inspired that they said they want to come to our church from now. When the microphone went off they said that is Satan trying to stop us from hearing this, now I know I need to hear this

Three guests of STF (Berkeley students) were so inspired by Mother and are begging to go to Hoon Duk Hae with Mother the next morning.

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