Kwon Jin Moon Witnesses in Las Vegas to Make a Shining City

Kwon Jin and Hwa Yeon Moon speak with a college student.

On the morning of Friday April 14, 2013, Unificationists gathered north of the Las Vegas Strip to clean the streets as part of the new outreach and service effort dubbed, the “Shine City Project.”

“The name of ‘Shine City’ is based on True Father’s prophecy to make Las Vegas a shining city,” Pastor Demian Dunkley, the leader of the Las Vegas congregation, told Unification News in an interview. “The Shine City project is simple in that we basically clean the streets in the areas, such as north of the Strip, where visitors leave behind their refuse and garbage on the streets. After joining in service with new guests we invite them to one of our evening programs or lectures. It is a good way of meeting good natured people, and it is a great way for the missionaries to develop relationships with students.“

Unificationists and guests volunteer to clean up the streets as part of the Shine City Project on April 12, 2013.

The inception of the project came about by David Yasui, a Japanese first-generation Unificationist who recently moved to Las Vegas. “Yasui wanted to make himself available to help out in the ministry,” said Pastor Dunkley. “Knowing that he has several years experience witnessing and running video centers, I asked him if he could lead the Hawaiian-Las Vegas (HL) missionaries in their witnessing program. A week later he returned with the Shine City Project idea.”

The project began six weeks ago in Las Vegas where both Japanese Unificationist missionaries and local church members cleaned the streets every Friday and Saturday morning.

Kwon Jin Moon, director of educational programs in Las Vegas, and his wife Hwa Yeon,

“When Dr. Anthony Guerra, newly appointed state leader of Nevada, arrived in Las Vegas two weeks ago and came across the Las Vegas Family Church’s development taking place with the new initiative, he saw an opportunity to promote the idea and meet students. He invited Kwon Jin Nim [Kwon Jin Moon, the fifth son of True Parents], who is the new director of educational programs in Las Vegas to participate for a couple of days as well,” said Pastor Dunkley.

A team of Unificationist witness on the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus on April 12, 2013.

Dr. Guerra brought Kwon Jin Nim to the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) campus on April 11th, to witness and invite students to participate in the Shine City Project. The next morning Friday April 12th, wearing bright-yellow t-shirts lettered with the Shine City Project on the front and the Family Federation logo displayed on the sleeves, the volunteers cleaned up the streets. The volunteers included one student from the previous day’s campus witnessing campaign, local Las Vegas church members, Dr. Guerra, Kwon Jin Nim and his wife Hwa Yeon Nim, and Archbishop Ki Hoon Kim, continental director of North America.

“In just a couple of hours of doing service you meet people who are interested and ask ‘What are we doing? Why are you doing this?’” said Pastor Dunkley of the experience. “We let them know that we clean the streets because we are proud of the city and want to take ownership. The residents of the neighborhood are very moved to see people taking ownership and volunteering in an area that people generally do not care about.”

Dr. Anthony Guerra, (third from left), Kwon Jin Moon (far right) and Hwa Yeon Moon (far left) meet with a student.

One of the biggest problems in Las Vegas is the low graduation rate of 61 percent, according to the newspaper, Las Vegas Sun. “In addition to cleaning up the streets and neighborhoods in impoverished areas, Dr. Guerra and Kwon Jin Nim have developed an idea to provide a mentor or tutoring program for struggling high school students,” said Pastor Dunkley. “True Father must have foreseen this because he said Las Vegas has to be the capital of education. “We are looking for new areas to clean as part of the Shine City Project near high schools so we can start the tutor/mentor program and help students in those neighborhoods. The Shine City Project is just one of the vehicles to invite and bring guests, and it is just a start. Because we are blessed to have Japanese missionaries here, it is good for them to have ongoing activities such as this,” concluded Pastor Dunkley.