Unification News for September 2002

In Memoriam - Rev. Purnell Spicer

Purnell Spicer born on December 06, 1958 to Purnell Spicer Jr. and Alcora Spicer was the oldest of seven children. Purnell joined the Unification Church on September 30, 1977 and was matched to Jenice Godofsky and blessed in July 1, 1982. He has three children Avniel, 13 years old (Hebrew name that means my father is a rock), Esua, 10 years old (Nigerian name that means the one who is loved and accepted because he led a life of love and sacrifice for the nation) and Mercia, 7 years old (who’s name means compassion) and served our Heavenly Father and True Parents with impassioned faith, love and obedience even at the cost of his life.

Rev. Spicer is legendary in his ability to break down the theological and dogmatic walls that divided Christian Leaders and kept them from understanding the vision of our True Parents. His unique ability to express God’s heart, articulate True Parents’ vision and teach Divine Principle through the life, love and gospel of Jesus Christ helped many prominent clergy and other prominent national level leaders. He truly was a great Ambassador for True Parents all throughout America. Rev. Spicer taught hundreds of clergy Divine Principle and True Family Values and has hundreds of spiritual children who are blessed all throughout America.

He was a man who was driven to give everything that he possessed to fulfill the will of God and True Parents. He sacrificed himself, his family and ultimately his life to be a responsible son to our beloved True Parents. He is a Saint, Patriot and loving son of our True Parents and I have been proud and honored to have served with him the last three years! Rev. Spicer’s final mission was as the assistant Regional Director to myself Rev. Anthony Flores in the American Family Coalition mission. Rev. Spicer although relatively new to this mission set the model for AFC Activity in our region. In October of 2000 Rev. Spicer in 17 days organized a very successful American Leadership Conference in Wilmington Delaware. Over 170 leaders participated including several prominent policy makers and business leaders. He later assisted me in bringing over 300 prominent leaders to the Inaugural Prayer luncheon that was held in Washington DC in 2001 while holding several very successful AFC programs in Delaware. While working very hard and bringing great success in his AFC Mission Rev. Spicer also worked extremely hard traveling all over America helping the American Clergy Leadership Conference. Rev. Spicer blessed hundreds of clergy, lead many successful revivals and began training our members how to successfully do clergy outreach. I received many calls from church leaders wanting me to send him to their state to help out with mobilization because of his success. Rev. Spicer sacrificed his family who he loved so deeply to do God’s will. Many times he wept because he could not spend time with his wife and children but he digested this very difficult situation and invested more of his heart and energy in his mission for True Parents.

Recently, our True Parents asked for us to organize a special American Leadership Conference "Making the Dream Real" that took place in Washington DC on May 21-22 at the Sheraton National Hotel. Rev. Spicer worked very hard to bring the highest caliber of Black American Leaders across the political, civil rights, clergy, business and community leadership spectrums. He sacrificed being with his family for over two months to help make this conference a tremendous success.

Rev. Spicer spoke with me last Wednesday, a few hours before he passed into the spirit world, about how happy he was about the breakthrough he made with his Parents’ Day Event. The Mayor of Wilmington Delaware, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Representative from the Governor’s office and several key community and business leaders agreed to hold a city wide Parents Day Awards Ceremony. The also agreed to hold a Summit on Violence Prevention and Family Renewal together with the American Family Coalition of Delaware. That evening after making such a great break through Rev. Purnell Spicer passed into the spirit world. After not hearing from him for several days and through a series of dreams that I experienced I began to search for him only to find him early this morning in his Delaware apt. deceased!

Rev. Spicer was a true brother who can never be forgotten. He was the historical brother that everyone hopes to have, hopes to know and hopes to love. He is the true brother that makes the reality of God substantial and the love of True Parents very very real. I can only say that I am inspired to work ten times harder and invest myself one hundred times more to keep his living spirit forever alive in my heart.

Rev. Anthony J. Flores, Co-Chairman, American Leadership Conference; American Family Coalition – Regional Director

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