Why I Joined

Today we’re joined by Peggy Yujiri. Peggy grew up in a small college town near Philadelphia. She spent her junior year of college in Munich, Germany, and decided to finish her studies there. While there, she met and joined the Unification movement in 1974 after receiving a revelation from God. 

Peggy returned to the U.S. in 1977 and Blessed in marriage to her husband from Japan in 1982. They then moved to Colorado, where their thre...

Today we’re joined by the Rev. Dr. Sandra Scott Lowen. Dr. Lowen is a licensed clinical therapist with more than thirty years of experience and a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing. She is an ordained minister and author of several novels, articles, poems, and musical compositions.

Dr. Lowen became affiliated with the Family Federation through what was known as the Unified Family in November of 1966, moved by the Divine Princ...

Today we’re joined by Roland Platt. Roland was born in Jersey, the British Channel Islands. After embarking on a spiritual journey at age 17 and traveling the world for five years in search of the truth, he met the Unification movement in December 1992 in San Francisco. 

He had studied multiple religions and spiritual practices but knew instantly that this was what he had been seeking. His life took on a whole new meaning as he app...

Today we’re joined by Adonia Hentrich. Adonia is a wife, mom to four kids, co-pastor of the Colorado Family Church, and founder of Heartland Academy Denver. She spent her early life in rural Missouri, learning about God by observing the world of nature. She dove deeper into her world of faith while attending a missionary gap year program, asking lots of hard questions, and even finding a few answers. 

After marrying and having thre...

Today we’re joined by Bento Leal, a relationship skills trainer and author. Bento’s book, 4 Essential Keys to Effective Communication in Love, Life, Work—Anywhere! is an Amazon bestseller in several categories and has sold more than 140,000 copies. He has taught communication skills to hundreds of couples and singles over the past 18 years in churches, family resource centers, county jails, and federal prisons.

After being raised i...

Today we’re joined by Maarten Meijer. Maarten was born in the Netherlands. He was drawn to the spirituality of Albert Schweitzer and Leo Tolstoy at a young age. After an unprompted brush with Jesus around sixteen, he bounced from Zen Buddhism to the existentialism of Hesse, Nietzsche, and Camus. He hitchhiked around Europe searching for truth. After two years of disappointing biology study, he dropped out of university. Maarten the...

Today we’re joined by Ten-Seng Guh, a second-generation Unificationist. Ten-Seng was born in Taiwan and emigrated to the U.S. with his family at the age of three, first living in the Bay Area, California, and later on in Queens, New York. He attended Binghamton University as an undergrad where he co-founded in 2005 a chapter of the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles, a campus ministry of Family Federation. Their ...

Today we’re joined by Kaori Becker. Kaori has owned and operated two successful food businesses, and authored two books, Mochi Magic and Let Your Passion Pay the Bills. She co-owns The Mochi Shop in Columbus, Ohio, which sells mochi donuts, while her mom runs Kaori's first business in California, a cooking class called Kaori's Kitchen. Kaori is passionate about empowering others to start their own life-changing businesses t...

Today we’re joined by Larry Moffitt, Secretary General for North America of the Universal Peace Federation and Executive Director for The Washington Times Foundation. All his life, God has been knocking gently on Larry’s door. Somehow, he always knew there was a God who had a personality, ideas, and opinions. Starting in high school, he set out to find Him, or Her. He was open to God being female long before it was cool.

During his...

Today we’re joined by Dan Fefferman. Raised in a secular Jewish family in Los Angeles, Dan began consciously searching for God when he moved to Berkeley to attend the University of California, where he earned a degree in political science.

When Dan attended the first Black Panther Party meeting, he realized how Marxism had infected the civil rights movement with hate. He decided that he needed to answer some basic philosophical que...

Today we’re joined by Crescentia DeGoede. Growing up in Pennsylvania, the closest Unification Church was one and a half hours away, so faith practices were centered on the family. She would participate in church camps over the holidays, where she built lasting friendships with other young Unificationists.

It was at a church camp at 13 years old where Crescentia had her first deep spiritual encounter with God and Father and Mother M...

Today we’re joined by Jario Vincenz-Gavin. He currently serves as pastor for a vibrant community in Mobile, AL along with his wife Leena. They have been married for 15 years and have three wonderful children. Together, they are guided by their motto “Pursuing the ideal, while embracing the reality.” Always a dreamer, Jario works hard to encourage others to own their value as a child of God.

Growing up in the movement, Jario was ins...

Today we’re joined by Joe Young. Born and raised in northern California, he decided to become a professional musician at the age of 15. Four years later, he moved to New York City to pursue a career in jazz guitar, and at 22 began playing in bands and touring.

Joe was born into the Unification movement and returned after years of being distant at the age of 24. He joined the national music ministry, where his passion shifted from p...

Today we’re joined by Andrew Love. Raised in Toronto, Canada, Andrew got into the comedy world at 18. After attending college for comedy, and doing shows all around Toronto and Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at show business. That’s where he ended up meeting the woman who would introduce him to God and cause a massive shift in the trajectory of his life.

At the age of 27, everything that Andrew believed to be tr...

Today we’re joined by Diane Kelalu Hack, a Bachelor of Science Registered Nurse student at Chamberlain University in New Jersey. She was the regional Youth and Young Adult Coordinator for her church for two years and worked as a Nursing Assistant. She recently took on a new role as National Administrator for the Women’s Federation for World Peace USA.

Her life of faith came to a turning point during a 40-day spiritual retreat in th...

Today we’re joined by Mark Anderson. In 1994, Mark was elected to the Arizona State Legislature where he served for 14 years. During his time in the legislature, he authored numerous significant and innovative pieces of legislation. Mark has been published multiple times in newspapers such as the Arizona Republic and East Valley Tribune, and has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Washington Times, and Chicago Tribun...

Today we’re joined by Mary Bizot Johnson, who served as a Political Officer in the U.S. Foreign Service for 22 years. Her work as a U.S. diplomat took her primarily through tours of service in Africa and Korea. A highlight of her career was organizing a conference to raise awareness of the human trafficking of women and children in Asia.

She was a missionary in Africa for the Unification movement from 1975-1991, which she joined at...

Today we’re joined by Susan Bouachri, who has led a career in Human Resources for more than 30 years and is a licensed boat captain. We’re going to talk with Susan about the relationships that shaped her spiritual journey, leading her to the Unification movement and eventually to a career in Human Resources.

Her time as a new Unificationist brought her up close and personal with Rev. Moon, fishing alongside him in the waters of Ala...

Today we’re joined by Dr. Thomas Ward, former President of the Unification Theological Seminary in New York City and Professor of Peace and Development since the summer of 2019. He teaches graduate studies in the NGO and Public Leadership program at UTS. His work on Peace and Development studies has been published in several major journals and by Paragon House and by the London publishing firm E-International Relations.

At the tend...