On March 9, when the “2008 General Assembly” was being conducted, the “2008 General Assembly Awards Ceremony for the Gospel Fruits” was held to make settlement for the gospel fruits produced during the year 2007 and to set a guidepost for completing world evangelism in 2008, the year of great hope. This event was attended by about 12,000 members including the pastoral staff from Korea and overseas and the members bearing titles and positions. They engraved in their hearts the will of God for them in this age and solidified their great ambition for the gospel.

Around 1 p.m., the opening worship service began. Mother offered a prayer of blessing, giving thanks to Father who poured out the abundant blessings of the Holy Spirit upon His children for the past one year and allowed them to have the General Assembly Awards Ceremony with joy. Mother also prayed that all Her children around the world might realize the value of salvation, give thanks to God all the time and do what pleases God, so that they would be able to receive abundant heavenly rewards. In addition, Mother earnestly asked Father to help His children resemble God who is love, and become perfectly one in love and faith and preach the gospel quickly to the ends of the earth.

General Pastor Joo-Cheol Kim emphasized in his sermon that we should reveal the glory of our heavenly Mother to all the nations of the world through our good deeds and perfect faith in order to fulfill the amazing work of the gospel prophesied in the Bible. He explained why God calls His children who are to be saved the “salt of the world,” and added, “When we repent of our shortcomings and foolishness of the past when we were slow to understand, and follow the good teachings of God, we can experience the miracles of the gospel which have been prepared in 2008. He also emphasized, “Let’s all be the precious jewels beautifully decorating Mother’s fine linen by participating altogether in the great work of saving people all around the world, being united with one another in perfect love.”

ⓒ 2008 WATV

After the worship service, the awards ceremony was held; the awards were given in three categories: administration, education and preaching. In the category of administration, the plaques of merit were presented to the departments of the Head Office that supported in the fields of computerization, video, publication and construction respectively, following the will of God. The “Light & Salt Award” was presented to 31 Churches that displayed God’s glory by practicing love for their neighbors through volunteer services. The “Award for Outstanding Achievements in Branching Out” was presented to 20 Churches in Korea and overseas that took the lead in establishing Zion, bearing much good fruit. In the category of education, the “Award for Excellence in Producing Gospel Workers” was given to 20 Churches that concentrated their efforts on producing the workers to develop the gospel.

ⓒ 2008 WATV

In the category of preaching, the “Award for Excellence in Overseas Mission” was presented to 46 Churches that showed their great enthusiasm for overseas mission, keeping in step with the prophecies of God, and the “Award for Outstanding Con-tribution in Church Growth” was given to 9 Churches that made a remarkable growth of the gospel. The end of the awards ceremony was highlighted with the “Award for Excellence in Preaching”; the honor and joy of receiving this award were given to 60 Churches in Korea and overseas that produced abundant fruits through love and unity, earnestly asking God for power, during the past one year.

A striking feature of the awards ceremony this year was the remarkable growth of the Churches overseas. The members gave a big round of applause to the awardees, and especially whenever the Churches over-seas received the awards, they gave thanks to God Elohim and a louder applause of encouragement and congratulations to them, witnessing the rapid growth in world evangelism.

ⓒ 2008 WATV

After the awards ceremony, a video was played. The video presented a great goal and vision for the gospel in 2008 and urged the members to have absolute faith, obedience and enthusiasm like the Apostle Paul in order to achieve the goal. Watching the video, all the members renewed the spirit of the gospel, and were determined to fulfill the Heaven’s will without fail by wholeheartedly practicing Mother’s Teachings that provide the main-spring power of the gospel, being more humble and obedient, and loving one another even more.

At the end of the event, Mother com-plimented the efforts of the members who had earnestly preached the gospel for the past one year and blessed them abundantly in both body and spirit. Mother repeatedly emphasized the “love” that is the fulfillment of the law and encouraged the members to serve one another with sincere love and preach the gospel to the dying souls.

As 3 percent of salt purifies the vast ocean, the 3 percent of the 6 billion people will purify the whole world. To find the heavenly children like the 3 percent of salt, we are taking vigorous steps with great hope in 2008. The great work of the gospel, planned by God, is to be fulfilled without fail. Only those who absolutely believe in the power of God Elohim and obediently follow Them will be able to become the prophetic heroes who fulfill the wonderful work of the gospel which they’ve never experienced before.