Grand Opening of the Founding Church of Scientology in Washington DC
This past weekend has been huge for my family, as it marked the opening of the new Founding Church of Scientology in Washington, D.C.. In addition to being arguably the most important individual Church of Scientology in the western hemisphere, it also happens to be our local church. In the run-up to the opening, my wife & I have been down there pitching, helping with as many parts of the opening event as we could. With all of the pre-event preps, the Grand Opening on Saturday, and all of the post-event flurry over the last 2 days, yes – it’s only now that I’m finally getting to write about it.
The event itself was outstanding (as you can see above from the ribbon cutting). Tons of Scientologists and non-Scientologists came in from all over, and I got to reconnect with tons of old friends who hadn’t seen me since we had the baby.
The speakers were amazing, capped by Chairman of the Board RTC David Miscavige‘s speech dedicating the building. He quite concisely stated why the building is so important, but also what’s so important about all of us now making full use of the building to bring solutions & help to the everyday people, though leaders and politicians in the DC area.
We of course brought our baby to the event, dressed for warm weather, and strapped to my chest on the BabyBjorn (despite the fact that I was wearing a suit – so classy!). She just loved the event. She insisted on being front-facing and able to see the speakers when the event was happening, and then toured the building with Kat & I. Out of the 7 massive floors of the new building, she stayed wide-awake for 5 of them, smiling & giggling and meeting approximately 1000 effusive guests along the way. At 1001 though, she hit “people overload” and just fell straight asleep.
That worked out fine, as Kat & I were then able to tour the rest of the building & meet tons more people who got a chance to see a cute, sleeping baby. Boy, that new church is big. But more significant than its size is the sheer number of different areas where it’s set up to help people. There are training rooms, seminar spaces, places to educate people about human rights and the dangers of drugs, and it just goes on and on. Lastly, of course, there was the Chapel – where I’m excited to be able to have the naming ceremony for our daughter sometime soon. Who knows, maybe we can be the first naming ceremony there!
Hi, just wanted to let you know that I think you have a very cute baby 🙂
Thanks!