The Epic Expansion of High Noon

Photo courtesy of Natalie Padigo

“Our vision is big — to have a network of High Noon people accessible to everyone around the world,” said Andrew Love, executive director of the grassroots Unificationist organization, High Noon, which provides sexual integrity, intimacy, and marriage education. In a recent podcast episode, “The Epic Expansion of High Noon,” Andrew shared about their milestone achievement of advancing their international reach with new chapters in Europe, the Philippines, Japan, and soon, Korea. A pre-existing chapter in Latin America also has new leadership.

“A year ago, we decided to make chapters our main goal,” Andrew recalled during the podcast. “We travel a lot and we meet so many people ... [who] are transfixed by the [High Noon] experience.”

Although guests have been guided to the faith-based programs of High Noon — founded in 2017 by Unificationist couple David and Mitsue Wolfenberger — they don’t necessarily follow-up and join, Andrew noted. This prompted a search for chapter leaders to support regional interest.

“We want to plant roots in different places through chapters,” said Sammy Uyama, High Noon’s assistant director, during the podcast. “It really goes back to our ethos and what we’re all about ... creating a culture and community that helps people and helps one another.”

The search quickly yielded some unexpected candidates, Andrew said, calling it a “humbling” experience. “God was working in every way,” he said.

Latin America

Melissa, an American of Brazilian and Canadian descent, speaks Portuguese and moved to Brazil last year to join her husband. Though adjusting to a new culture and community proved challenging, Melissa felt inspired to contribute and serve in some capacity. With prayerful consideration, she pursued the chapter role. “I felt if God wants me to work for High Noon, it will happen,” she said in a follow-up podcast episode. “Since then ... I’ve felt very much that I’m supposed to be here.”

Melissa hit the ground running, stating that a lot is happening every day. The thriving Latin America chapter was previously led by Carina, who was appointed the new BFM USA Director in September. “[Carina] established a really cool system in Latin America,” Andrew said. “They have their own podcast and programs in Spanish ... but the Portuguese-speaking leg was very weak.”

“There is a lot of energy in Brazil and the Brazilian church is massive,” he continued. “[This] is really exciting because Latin America has a lot going for it ... [and] Melissa is going to take it to the next level.”

Europe

In Lithuania, Andranik was ready for change and seeking a new direction with work. “There was this kind of click inside that [High Noon] is important,” he said during the podcast. “I haven’t had many of those kinds of moments in my life. I’d been thinking all year that there's a need within me to switch up my life a little bit.” An active member of his community, he decided to take a leap of faith. “[I wanted to] do something more meaningful for the world in general,” he said. “High Noon was it.”

With differing time zones and members widely spread out geographically, High Noon’s leaders wanted to better accommodate Europe with its own chapter. “Europe is a huge base of our membership going back decades,” Sammy said. “We have strong relationships and a strong foundation there with a lot of participants ... [but] we needed someone who could make personal relationships there, with the leaders there, and who travels around speaking to communities.”

“[Andranik] is a serious and creative person,” Andrew added. “When [High Noon participants] get together, we want to capture that energy ... He’s going to go around and give talks at some of these places and stir up that fire again.”

Philippines

For Jude, little did he know that an introductory High Noon webinar he joined in 2020 would lay the groundwork for him to eventually transition into the role of local chapter leader three years later. “I’ve always thought of High Noon as a step up to pure love, but never really got deeper into that,” said Jude, who previously served as YSP youth leader in Manila. “God made this possible,” he said, reflecting on an elder leader’s encouragement for him to fill the position.

“The church community is amazing in the Philippines, they have a lot of hope and a lot of vibrance,” said Andrew. “Jude is young and he’s got a lot of passion ... All the members there are so young; there is a lot of potential. There’s no gray hair in our leadership over there, so it’s going to be really cool to watch these young people grow.”

Japan & Korea

As central hubs of the international Unification movement, Korea and Japan are key markets for High Noon’s mission. A.I., who was first introduced to High Noon five years ago in Tokyo, felt called to become Japan’s new chapter leader after recently meeting True Mother in Korea among some 7,000 youth. “True Mother needs our help [as young Unificationists], and now is the time that I felt this [organization] is something that can really bring back her children,” A.I. said. “A lot of reasons that came up were not enough to say ‘no’ [to this role]. I really felt called; that was the ‘yes’ for me.”

Though the chapter role in Korea has yet to be filled, High Noon’s momentum continues steadily. “Raising up leaders is a huge part of what we value at High Noon — it’s how we’ve operated since the beginning,” said Sammy. “We’ve grown exponentially and that’s what the chapters are about. We’re going to the next level of leadership and operations within our organization.”

“The essence of chapters is of course to have representation in these places,” Andrew added. “But each chapter is going to be very unique because they are all starting at their own places in terms of their foundation and where the church is [located], and also because each person is very unique ... I’m excited about the possibilities.”

You can learn more about the ongoing work of High Noon here, and follow the podcast here.