Clergy and community leaders were standing in Bridgeport, Connecticut on the third stop of the 50 state "We Will Stand" interfaith tour. Rebuild the Family, Restore the Community, and Renew the Nation are the main themes. A full house, estimated by the Connecticut Post to be 1200, gathered on a Tuesday evening at the Arnold Bernhard Arts and Humanities Center on the campus of the University of Bridgeport.

In preparation for the evening program, tour co-sponsor, the American Family Coalition (AFC) held its first ever locally sponsored conference with some one hundred clergy and community leaders from throughout Connecticut in attendance. Discussion and talks focused on the issue of the White House faith-based initiative on government funding for certain types of community programs and outreach run by churches.

Featured speakers included civil rights pioneer and former Congressman Reverend Walter E. Fauntroy. David Caprara, President of AFC and former Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Jack Kemp also spoke. Participants came away with new ideas on how their organization might benefit from this influx of government aid and thus make a difference in their own communities.

Reverend Jesse Edwards, President of the United Pentecostals of Philadelphia, set the tone for the program in a moving message.
"A spiritual awakening is beginning to occur throughout America. We all need to listen to God and work together for Him."

A multiple church choir led by Dr. Angela Moses of the New Life Tabernacle in Brooklyn, New York led a spirited songfest that featured her own choir and a number of local singing groups from the Bridgeport area. The evening's entertainment also included a Tai Chi demonstration by Master Ai Peng Cheng, three-time All-China Champion.

Reverend Fauntroy, a protege of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who now pastors the New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and chairs the black leadership roundtable, delivered special remarks and introduced Father Sun Myung Moon, the keynote speaker for the evening and founder of the Professors World Peace Academy, which acquired the University of Bridgeport in 1992.
"This is the most important conference happening in the world today. (Father Moon) may be an issue for some, but increasingly people are looking beyond sponsorship to what is being addressed."

Prior to his prepared text , "The Path for America and Humanity in the New Millennium," Father Moon embraced the crowd with extemporaneous remarks. "'Bridgeport' stands for the bridge that connects heaven and earth and 'Connecticut' means to cut the connection to Satan", he noted.

"Democracy and communism, the systems that dominated the world during the past century, relied too heavily on materialism. After the defeat of communism, America must not merely continue on the path of materialism and selfishness, but seek God's will to make the Kingdom of God on Earth. That will only come about, when we learn the value of living for the sake of others. "

One UB faculty member noted that he "was amazed the 81 year old Korean was so dynamic and powerful for the nearly two hour presentation."

Essay contest winners were awarded cash prizes for their articles on how to achieve harmony amidst all the diversity we find in the United States, such as between religions, races, and economic groups.

Grassroots champions of family, racial reconciliation and religious harmony were honored by Father Moon and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon(Mother Moon) as a total of sixteen awards were given out to those working with street gangs, feeding the homeless in church soup kitchens and fighting urban unemployment through economic development. Reverend Minty De Kock of the Creative Word Power Ministries in New Haven, who has established several churches in South Africa as well as in the United States received a gold watch from Father Moon for his community work

One minister, a usually reserved and dignified Pastor Robert H. Genevicz of the Stratford Baptist Church presented flowers to Mother Moon on stage at the conclusion of the speech. He was so excited that he then gave her a big hug, much to her delight
and that of the audience. Coming off stage he could only beam and proclaim, "I am surprised beyond my wildest dreams. This is super, super
wonderful!"