Update

Oh my, here it is the last day of November and I realize I haven’t posted anything on these pages since September. In my defense (as all those who feel guilt are compelled to say) it has been a very busy and otherwise productive time. Much of our work as Interfaith Advocate is in producing videos of events and interviews with people central to the interfaith work in our local areas. For us this is primarily IPSC (Interfaith Partners of South Carolina) and UICC (Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort) although it often involves events at Unity and Unitarian congregations as well.

On September 9th there was a fabulous celebration of Unity of Charleston’s 35th anniversary with a special acknowledgment of its founder, Rev. Mary Ann Finch. As Rev. Finch also founded Unity of Myrtle Beach and Unity of Mount Pleasant there was a sizable contingent from those congregations including Rev. Margaret Hiller, senior minister at Unity of Myrtle Beach and Kimberly Renollet Heck, spiritual leader of Unity of Mount Pleasant. As it is also the case that Rev. Finch was very active in the Unity movement and served at the highest levels, the celebration was also attended and spoke to by Rev. Donna Johnson, CEO of Unity Ministries Worldwide. A very special presentation came from Charleston’s mayor, the Hon. John Teklenberg in the form of a proclamation naming that day as Charleston’s Rev. Mary Ann Finch day. The mayor than performed The President Sang Amazing Grace, a song by Zoe Mulford which had been recorded by Joan Baez and performed by her that previous June at the memorial for The Mother of a Emanuel Nine in Sumter Square. Follow this link to see the mayor’s performance.

Also in September was IPSC’s (Interfaith Partners of South Carolina) art competition event in Columbia, SC which was videoed in order to promote the art competition statewide. To see that promo follow this link. A fair amount of planning and preparation went into producing a Unity World Day of Prayer event which was to be held at Unity of Hilton Head which unfortunately was canceled due to a hurricane. On September 22nd a number of us traveled down to Atlanta, GA for the consecration of Bishop Jack L. Bomar at Dr. Barbara King’s Hillside International Truth Center. Co-consecrator with Dr. King was Bishop Carlton Pearson. I was deeply honored to be included in the Apostolic Spiritual Advisory Council, which included Unity CEO Jim Blake, and we participated in the laying on of hands blessing for Bishop Jack.

September 25th through September 28th was Unity Ministers of the Mid-Atlantic States (UMMAS) annual Kanuga retreat outside of Hendersonville, NC. This year our keynote speaker was the Rev. Margaret Hiller and Rev. Christy Snow performed and spoke as well. We were honored by the presence of Unity CEO Jim Blake and the Rev. Mark Fuss from Unity Village. Due to an extraordinary number of technical difficulties and other time pressures I have not yet produced videos from that retreat, although that will be a priority in the month of December. My primary responsibility for the Kanuga retreat is the production of a 2 to 3 minute promo video to be used the following year so my tardiness does not cause anyone the stress it’s causing me, LOL.

October 7 was IPSC (Interfaith Partners of South Carolina) Peace in the Park event which was held at the University of South Carolina on their Columbia campus. It was a beautiful day and over 300 people attended. Our cohosts at the University were so impressed that they immediately committed to having the event again next year at the same location. For a short video on that event follow this link.

Much of October was taken up in planning and preparation for the Parliament of the World’s Religions which took place the first week in November in Toronto Canada. I was involved in The Association of Global New Thought (AGNT) planning for their dedicated space at the parliament as well as some video assignments I had from them, primary of which was the videoing of their panel discussion Global Justice through Racial and Religious Renaissance moderated by Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith. The presenters were Bishop Joseph Tolton, Bishop Yvette Flunder, Rev. Erin McCabe, and Dr. Ken Gordon. This was a powerful and thought-provoking interchange between New Thought leaders and Metacostal (metaphysical Pentecostal) or Renaissance Pentecostal leaders. Follow this link to view that video.

I was granted press credentials by the parliament and other video assignments at the Parliament World’s Religions included a presentation by Dr. Barbara King, a panel discussion led by Trebbe Johnson, and a panel discussion led by Audrey Addison Williams. I’m working on the edits of those videos and will post them as I complete them. Each of them will warrant a separate blogpost so look for that. Of great personal importance to me at this Parliament was the pursuit of a certificate in Indigenous Cultural Awareness offered by First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) through the parliament. The sessions and presentations at the parliament are divided into tracks and among those tracks was one on indigenous peoples. The certificate required eight hours from that track, and I completed around 11 hours. I’ll be writing a separate blog entry on that program and my experiences in it.

Part of the planning I was involved in in October included preparation for IPSC’s (Interfaith Partners of South Carolina) annual meeting November 11th, which was hosted by UICC (Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort) and held at Bishop Bomar’s UNITED Church. Beaufort’s mayor, the Hon. Billy Keyserling welcomed us on behalf of the city of Beaufort. A highlight for me was the attendance of a chief from Oyotunji African Village outside of the Yemassee, SC. They are practitioners of the Yoruba religion indigenous to West Central Africa. You may view that meeting in its entirety here.

As I need to get back to my editing responsibilities, I’ll end with my best wishes for a happy and peaceful holiday season for all of you beloveds!