The 2012 General Assembly Awards Ceremony for evaluating the gospel results for the past one year was held at the Okcheon Go&Come Training Institute twice before and after the New Year 2012 in the sacred calendar—for female adults on March 21, and for young adults, male adults and students on March 25. The awards ceremony, being attended by a total of about 32,000 members including over 500 pastoral staff members from inside and outside Korea, was conducted amid more abundant grace than ever before.

For the 1st part of the awards ceremony, the commemoration service was held. Mother gave thanks to Father for allowing the joyful awards ceremony to be held for Her children all around the world who were working hard day and night for the gospel, and blessed them for the new year in the sacred calendar. Then She said with emphasis, “God’s children are created for the glory of God,” and told them the joyful news that the members throughout the world recently displayed the glory of God through their good deeds by carrying out the blood drives and the environmental cleanup campaigns so that the whole world would be abuzz. She encouraged the members by saying, “Display the glory of God by serving your brothers and sisters and uniting with them and fulfill the mission of saving souls so that you can receive the crown of righteousness” (Isaiah 60; 2 Ti 4:1-8; Rev 22:11-12). She also showed them the Biblical history of the Exodus and of King Hezekiah when the miracle of the Passover took place whenever a war or other dangerous situations occurred and earnestly told them, “In this age of disaster, all human beings desire peace. With the heart of Father who earnestly wants all souls to be saved, let us fulfill the mission of couriers by preaching the Passover—the only way to escape disasters—to them, whether they listen or not” (Rev 16:12-16; Eze 3:17-21).

General Pastor Joo-cheol Kim said, “When we boast about God, we can bear fruit; and when we bear fruit, God is glorified,” and he hoped that the members would boast much about Elohim in the new year so that they would be able to bear abundant fruit and receive great rewards in heaven.

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The magnificent performance of the Messiah Orchestra announced the beginning of the second part of the awards ceremony. The awards were given to individuals, Churches, and each department of the Head Office. A total of 825 individual members, who had accomplished the Ten Talent Movement, were selected as the award winners; among them, 58 members in Korea went up to the podium and received the Ten Talent medals from Mother. The achievement awards were given to 25 departments of the Head Office and some members in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the cause of the gospel in various fields such as multimedia, publishing, Internet mission, overseas mission, Church culture, etc.

As for the female adult members who received the awards, many of them were from the same Church; they had fulfilled the Ten Talent Mission together in unity. “All we have done is to work together for the gospel by uniting with one another and engraving the Teachings of Mother in our minds. And now we’ve received this great blessing together. All this is the result of obeying the words of Mother.” Saying that, they gave all glory to God. The young adults and male adults, who were awarded for gaining many more talents through overseas missions, expressed their firm resolution, saying, “We just walked in step with the prophetic command: ‘Go to all nations and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you,’ and unexpectedly we’ve received these great awards. We feel unworthy, yet so thankful to God. From now on, we will continue to preach the good news of life to anyone, anytime and anywhere, so we can lead many souls to salvation, according to the command of God.” A brother and his sister who belonged to the Church in India bore the most abundant fruits in the world; they became good examples for other members by preaching the gospel
earnestly and untiringly, without giving up on even one soul.

There were also some performances celebrating the awards ceremony. The children’s choir expressed the meaning of the Passover, which has the promise of a bright future full of happiness, in cheerful songs and dances; their performance brought a joyful laughter to the audience. The male quartet sang the songs of praise for the sacrifice and love of Heavenly Mother, which touched the audience deeply.

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Lastly, the overall excellence awards were given to some of the Churches. 17 Churches in Korea and 30 Churches in overseas countries, grouped into three categories—large, medium and small, were honored as the winners of the awards; all the members of each Church had worked hard together in unity for the growth of the Church and achieved the remarkable results of the gospel. The overseers of the award-winning Churches pointed out that “Mother” is the key to success in the gospel work. They expressed their determination to follow the example of Father and Mother in the new year, too, saying, “As the members were all united in Mother’s love, humbling themselves and serving one another, instead of asserting their positions and titles, our lost brothers and sisters streamed to Zion and it brought forth the continuing growth of the gospel.”

After the awards ceremony, Mother talked about eternal happiness that Her children would enjoy in the vast expanse of heaven. She planted the hope for heaven in their hearts so that they would not get tired in their desert journey of faith, and hoped that they would be reborn as the beautiful-natured ones worthy of the royal priesthood of heaven. She also blessed the members to receive abundant heavenly rewards from Father by preaching the upcoming Passover extensively and leading many souls to the way of heaven.

2011 was a blessed year when world evangelism was carried out to a surprising degree; all the members, from children to adults, shouted the gospel with one voice and the echoes of the gospel from them resounded throughout the world. In this hope-filled year 2012 in the sacred calendar, the members of Zion, being entrusted with the prophetic mission to lead the world to salvation, are powerfully shouting the New Covenant Passover to their neighbors and to people of all nations, looking forward to much more amazing and glorious work that will be accomplished by God.

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