On July 7th 2019, we had a launching at the Peace Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, where 60 members participated.
Our VIP high table consisted of 6 people. Mrs. Oko, Dr. George Ikpot, Mrs. Jackie Ogurie, Rev. Imo Nkanta, Mrs. Risa Smart, and finally our chief launcher Mr. Abe Okiy. Rev. Ekpo was the MC.
To kick off the ceremony, we had a benediction prayer & blessing over the DVD materials by Dr. George Ikpot. Following the prayer was a video introduction to the Interfaith Peace Marriage Blessing in Nigeria. The late Rev. Kevin Winter’s second son and his wife, Stephan and Diana Winter, gave the main address covering the purpose of the meeting, and the vision for the DVD educational materials for each blessed family.
The content of the address covered how God has been working in the background in Nigeria to develop the environment for peace and to offer the blessing to Pastors and their wives since True Parents sent the Missionaries to Nigeria over 40 years ago. The blessed families need to remember God’s blessing to their families when they became blessed families, and called on the attendees of the program to take courage in who they are, and go out with the DVDs to pastors and fellow neighbors to witness the power of God’s blessing which has already take fire within the pastors of the 2 day workshops around Nigeria.
Testimonies were shared by Rev Sunday Uke and Dr. George Ikpot about the Winter family’s involvement in the providence in Nigeria. Rev. Sunday Uke, the Blessed Family Dept. director, shared about his conversation with Rev. Kevin Winter during the last time Rev. Winter was in Nigeria before he passed to the spirit world. He said, “Kevin asked me to not hesitate to reach out to him in America if I ever needed more educational materials in Nigeria.” It came as a huge inspiration to Rev. Sunday Uke today when he witnessed the son of Rev. Kevin coming to Nigeria and providing educational materials with deep devotion just like his father had previously desired for the mission in Nigeria. We can see from this experience how Rev. Kevin Winter is still working even from spirit world to help our True Mother and the mission here in Africa.
Once the launching was properly opened, the MC lifted the spirit of the place with his vibrant engagement with the crowd and built a positive buildup on DVD Sales and was even calling on second generation to work together on contributing to the cause. Not only did each blessed family contribute 1-40 DVDs each, but each providential organization (WFWP, UPF, YSP, CARP and FFWPU) contributed 20-40 DVDs as well.
The result was even better than we hoped. We raised a large amount needed to launch our first contest for the month. The contest will take place from July 8th until August 7th. The first person who sells 100 DVDs will receive a generous prize of N50,000. Our chief launcher was generous to our cause and offered to provide the winning prize money of N50,000 for the contest winner.
Snacks and refreshments were served during the event as well as a song sang by our Young Unification members led by the VP of YSP.
We sold out of our initial 100 DVDs for the launch and went into our reserves in the back office.
We will be planning another launching this time for our Peace Ambassadors, WFWP leaders, PWPA members, and IAPP VIPs on a later date so we can properly make this educational tool working in the right hands to advance our True Parents Vision of 2020.