On June 17, 1997 the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification hosted the Illinois Ministerial Alliance meeting. In attendance were Bishop Little, the leader of all COGIC (Church of God in Christ) churches in Illinois. The late Bishop Ford's son, Rev. Charles Ford, and the Rev. Stan Davis attended, along with many others. The alliance is made up of not only black Christian ministers but white ministers and rabbis as well.

The alliance was formed in the winter of 1996 in order to spearhead a movement to change the name of the Calument Expressway to the Bishop Ford Expressway-successfully!

Our church was asked to join this organization at that time. Rev. Spicer, Rev. Hudson and Rev. Tonkumoh worked hard to make the alliance a success. As time passed, the alliance asked our brothers to be on the committee to write their statement of beliefs.

Rev. Ford asked our brothers if we could hold the meeting in our church; the alliance had invited the parents of the young men charged with the beating of Leonard Clark to come to our meeting. The parents accepted, but they could not attend this meeting because formal charges have been pressed against their children, and they have been advised not to attend any more public meetings.

The Ministerial Alliance seeks issues to work on which seem to be a huge burden for the people of Chicago, and they also want to show the people of Chicago that we must come together as one to solve our problems.

Rev. Stan Davis gave a short homily about the passion ministers must have in order to save this country. He emphasized love, unity and forgiveness. As the ministers toured our church building, met our members, and saw and heard of our True Parents' activities, their hearts moved closer to our movement. They were excited to see pictures of their friends who have already rededicated their marriages, and asked questions about how they could have a marriage rededication in their church.

As Bishop Little closed the meeting, he asked our Bishop, Rev. Ki Hun Kim, to speak at the next meeting. This is such a great victory. Through our members' hard work, our movement is finally being recognized as something which can help heal the city of Chicago. As we put our True Parents' words into action, we can see how we can help to be a point of healing not only for the people of the city of Chicago but also for the ministers of Chicago.

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