For those who don't know me, I am Samuel Harley.
I joined the Unification Church in Oakland in 1978, the one founded by Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
I joined in Oakland in 1978, was on MFT for 5 years, IOWC, NY church, seminary, state leader, lecturer, Manhattan Center, etc. Blessed but single, 3 kids. I have been teaching English and giving the odd sermon in Los Angeles church. It has been on me for some time to record our stories, and it keeps coming back to me every time I see another In Memoriam message from HQ. There are so many stories to be told, to our families, to our friends, to future generations. 
We were in a war, but one that didn't make headlines. The battles were invisible, but the victories could be very visible. Many of us feel moved to write our stories, record them somehow. Yet many of us get stuck on the way to doing that, find it hard to continue or can't get started. 
Our children need to hear these. I also believe that they are an excellent way for people to understand who we are and what we stand for. But here's the key: we have to tell what happened in detail, the good and the bad. We can't rely on words like "breakthrough", "inspiration" or "God's heart" to tell the story. Too many times our testimonies are so full of these that we can't tell what actually happened.  
Our stories are fascinating without buzzwords. We need a culture of telling stories as they happened.

In Los Angeles, we already have a writers' group that meets twice a month to tell stories. We write them out and post them. But this needs more. We need to visit people's homes, and not just those who come to church. I have started to write about the context of MFT, so that someone unfamiliar with it could understand an MFT story.

We are going to fill a website with stories, in video and in writing. Ultimately, a series of books. I say series, because I can't imagine one, or even ten books, can hold all the stories we have. And I want everyone's story, the humble, the leaders, the victorious, the struggling, the defeats. I want people to know what life was like in those days. Ultimately, I want to honor everyone who came, even those who only stayed a week or a month. I want to get stories from those who are still here and those who can't be around any more.

I have no axe grind or point to make. I have no group I want to promote over another. I simply want the world to know what we did and what we experienced. How, for example, standing outside in ankle deep in slush on Christmas Day being stared at could become a profound spiritual experience.

So, I what do I need? I need to be able to travel to visit people. I will start locally, of course. I need to be able to write the stories down, record them and ultimately publish them in a book. I do not want to take official funding for this, because I want to be able to tell anyone's story, as it happened, without wondering it will sound good or not. I have a small family to support, basically by myself, and I do not want the struggle to survive getting in the way of this project, this calling that I have.

I have worked in many different parts of the church, as a fundraiser, seminary student, pastor and lecturer, and doing events involving celebs like Eric Clapton, Luciano Pavarotti, and Demi Moore. I am trained as an actor, writer, teacher, public speaker and pastor. I want to tell the experiences of people who joined the church in those early years. They have some amazing stories to tell. I simply want to tell the stories in their detail, and let the reader make their own conclusions.
I've done some stupid things in my life, but my biggest regrets are things I didn't do when I knew I should do them. This is what I have to do with the time I have left. I don't quite know how to do it without help, so I am asking you to help. If you want to help organize, or write, or start a storytelling meeting, please let me know. And I need the financial help to keep going at this.