UNIVERSAL LIFE CHURCH

UNIVERSAL LIFE CHURCH MAILINGS ARCHIVE - OCTOBER 2007

Hello!

I'm sure some of you have noticed that the deadline for the Who's Who book has passed. I have to apologize for not being more on top of things on this end. I've had some very difficult things going on in my personal life that has captured my attention. It will be difficult for a little while yet, but I'll do my best not to let that interfere. If you've sent me some emails in the last several weeks that have not been responded to, that's why. I'm doing my best, so please bear with me.

I'm copying below a sample of MY story for the book. For those of you who haven't submitted yours yet or don't know what to write, maybe this will help. I still need a few more people to sign up to give this book the weight that I believe it deserves. I'm working on the cover as well. I'm going to leave the deadline open for another month or so. I apologize for those who have hurried to submit your stories. I greatly appreciate your submissions. My issues here have just taken precedence and I hope you'll understand. Prayers and well-wishes would be appreciated.

Here is my story:

Hello. My name is Rev. Amy Long. My ULC story started in 1992. It was then that I heard that my former church where I attended seminary was going to charge its ministers $250/year to maintain our licenses. I didn’t want to pay that, so I looked for other options. My friend told me that I could get ordained through the mail, so I sent off my information and request to become ordained through the Universal Life Church.

Once ordained, I did absolutely nothing with my ordination for several years. In 1994, however, I decided to get into the wedding business and booked my first wedding. From then until now, I’ve probably done at least 600 weddings.

In 1998, I decided to write a book about weddings. I had it in my mind that ULC ministers would be the perfect ones to benefit from such a book as I had in mind, so I wrote it, published it, then contacted the largest ULC site on the web at the time and offered my book. He bought a box and promised to put it up. After several years, nothing had been posted on the site about my book, so I offered my assistance in putting it up myself.

In mid-2002, I began volunteering with the ULC site, improving the site, adding new features and content, answering long-ignored emails and more. I also published a second book called ‘Weddings, Funerals and Rites of Passage.’ It didn’t take long for me to see that the ministers were not being treated well and were not being trained properly.

Having been through Seminary myself, I recognized the need for training. I was getting many emails asking, essentially, “I’m ordained; now what do I do?” So I thought about starting a Seminary. My goal was to give people an option for learning about how to be ministers. I wanted to change the image of ULC ministers as being more than ‘internet ministers’ or ‘mail-order ministers.’ I wanted ULC ministers to be proud of what they were doing and what they were working towards.

In 2004, I launched the ULC Seminary and have been working ever since to increase the training and education of ULC ministers worldwide.

One of the best things I’ve found about doing the Seminary is how good I feel helping people. I’ve never considered myself a selfish person, but I also never considered myself someone who’s main focus is helping others either. What I have found though, and this may seem obvious, is that as I give, so shall I receive. Simple, yet true.

I get the most amazing emails from people. One woman wrote to say she’d taken the Spirit Quest course and it had saved her marriage. She had been ready to give up, but after reading a few of the lessons, decided to hang on a little longer. Now she’s working towards forgiveness and happiness. There have been others who I’ve met who I can tell don’t necessarily have too many other people to talk to – so they talk to me. I’m pleased to be able to be there for them and I generally find them to be very interesting individuals.

I’ve found that over the last couple of years, I seem to find it much easier and more natural to give – and by that I mean not only things, but information, compliments and love. My self-created job is to give support and validation to people I don’t necessarily know and I’ve found that I love it. The more I give, the more my light seems to shine. I find that I am attracting kind people around me. I’m finding that I feel generally loved and appreciated more than I ever have in my life and that I truly look forward to every new thing I can create and share with the Seminary congregation at large.

I have found great passion for what I do and I look forward to what the next step on my journey will bring. Thank you all for being there and for being who you are.

Please check out the new courses on the seminary page. The Mystical Christianity course is wonderful, as well as the Shamanism course. And the Metaphysical Healing is very interesting as well.

As always, I appreciate having you as a member of the ULC Seminary. I do my best to keep things fresh for you all and appreciate all your suggestions, assistance and input.

If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know by writing to amy@ulcseminary.org.

Amy Long

ULC Seminary Director

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive and affordable online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, a beginning course on  Wicca, as well as a beginning course on  Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more.

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is a free and lifetime ordination, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. We also make available many free wedding ceremonies for your use, as well as funeral ceremonies and other types of ceremonies.

 

The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program where you can earn the coveted title of Chaplain. We also have a huge selection of Universal Life Church materials to help you with your professionalism and confidence.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and an amazed by the frequent upgrades and new functions of the seminary.
 

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