Greetings
From David McCleskey
2505 Kathy Court
Oklahoma City, OK 73120
405 286 0091
silencefoundation@cox.net
www.silencefoundation.org
September 24, 2007
Greetings to ICA-USA,
Thank you for your kind invitation to the 2007 Legacy Event on October 5-7. It was an honor and a privilege to be one of the founding members of this organization.
I began my journey with ICA in an unlikely way. I was a grad student at the University of Texas in Austin and I was looking for an air-conditioned room for the Summer of 1958 when I passed by the Christian Faith & Life Community. It said “air-conditioned”. The door was open so I went in. No one was there. I called on the phone available and got Joe Mathews. An hour later I was enrolled. And I stayed with that group for 38 years. Awesome.
My life was changed when I realized I was on the ground floor of an organization that was forging a vision for a movement of the Spirit in our times. The transformation from being a skinny Southern Baptist kid from southwest Texas to a leader in the Spirit Movement, was gradual. It took years and years. But I learned to be a global person and to trust how the Spirit of God moves in my life day by day.
Following the Spirit of God led us as a group to do three historically important tasks: awakenment, engagement and fulfillment. In short these tasks are simply: to wake up and help others to wake up; to serve out of the most inclusive context possible, and to live life as a fulfilled human being. These tasks have claimed my total life and the lives of those with whom I’ve journeyed.
We awakened many people in local churches and communities. We engaged them in urban neighborhoods and rural villages to do their own inclusive human development. Those teaching and social methods continue to thrive and serve many human needs. They have borne the test of time over sixty years.
And now we are equipping ourselves and others to care for Those Who Care so all can live authentically today and in the days ahead. This requires finding, creating, and sharing spirit practices to raise our consciousness and deepen it – in mind, body, spirit and soul.
The legacy we have to pass on to the next generation is held in these three tasks as a sacred trust. In this way the Spirit Movement is strengthened to continue on the path toward worldwide peace on Planet Earth. It is my prayer that we will unify and harmonize the current energies among ourselves for the wellbeing of ALL. May your celebration be spirit filled.
Blessings, David McCleskey
Copyright © 2007 The Institute of Cultural Affairs USA