The Words of the Compton Family
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The Words of the Compton Family |
Dear Brothers and Sisters of New York,
Greetings! It has been a great honor for me (along with the other 11 District Pastors) to be elected to the position of your District Pastor.
On November 27, centered on Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim, an inauguration ceremony was held at East Garden. We recited a pledge of faith and responsibility, and, in addition, 12 members of the HQ's staff washed our feet, and then we washed the feet of 12 representative members. It was a very deep and humbling experience. It made me realize the seriousness of the mission and responsibility that I have been given.
Monday night (Dec 3) I attended the NY District Council meeting. What a great team! I am so grateful to each of them – they have amazing experience, talent, wisdom, heart and faith. I am confident that with them and with you, the NY District is going to grow and prosper. Just in case you didn't know, the team members are Noah Ross (chairperson), Susan Bouachri (secretary), and in alphabetical order; Esteban Galvan, Dr. Tyler Hendricks, Frank Kaufmann, Edner Pierre-Louis, Naokimi Ushiroda, and Dr Andrew Wilson.
As you may have heard, Hyung Jin Nim believes in the working of God's Spirit in and through the Blessed Families, the members of our church. He believes that it will be members taking initiative and giving their best at the local level, with the support of HQ, that will transform our church into a healthy growing church.
Based on Hyung Jin Nim's direction, the council and I want to do all we can to empower each of our Blessed Families and the local communities that they are members of. This is especially important in New York City – where for the past 3 years everything has been centralized into one city-wide church. From this point on we want to encourage the development of local churches. 43rd Street church is a local church in Manhattan and Rev Andrew Love is its pastor. In the same way, it is my hope that we will soon see the emergence of local churches in every borough – and not just one, but many local churches – in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Harlem, and in all the counties and cities of New York state. I am excited to see who amongst you feels called by God for this task at this time – to grow and develop our church – maybe it is you.
My immediate goal is to reach out to each of our church communities – beginning with our leaders and elders – and then to visit and meet with members. I am looking forward to meeting each of you soon.
Finally I want to conclude by thanking Rev Bruce and Debby Grodner for their incredible service to the NY District. They are both loved and appreciated.
I am looking forward to working with you – to make our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents very very happy!
God Bless you,
Andrew Compton