http://www.sparkandfoster.com

Video by Spark & Foster Films. Filmed on a Sony XDCAM PXWX180, a Sony XDCAM PMW100, and a Sony CineAlta PMWEX1R. Edited in Final Cut Pro X.

"I'm Brandon Duke. I'm a board member on the volunteer Unitarian Christian Alliance board. I work on the social media subcommittee, which means I help curate the Unitarian Christian Alliance Facebook group and YouTube channel, which means I'm probably in the running for being called a 'heretic' the most times by people I haven't met, although Dr. Dale Tuggy and a few others might also be in that running.... But when I'm not arguing with people online, I enjoy being married to my wife Melissa and raising our son Cole. My day job is in IT, and involves telling boomers 'no, click the OTHER right button.' Because I spend a lot of times in discussions about the Unitarian Christian Alliance, I often hear this question: 'What's the deal with the Unitarian Christian Alliance? We get the Unitarian part. We get the Christian part. But what's up with the Alliance part? Why not a denomination, monarchy, federation, or rebellion? Why an alliance? Simply put, an alliance is the right tool because denominations already exist, a federation binds its members too tightly together thus forcing them to give up too much sovereignty, a monarchy doesn't work for us because we already have a king (Jesus Christ), and a rebellion doesn't have an end in mind because it's solely focused on overturning the status quo. An alliance is the right tool for us. In this talk, I want to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of an alliance, and what winning looks like for us. There are many great alliances in history. In this talk, I'm going to focus on the practical, pragmatic, realworld implications of alliances. I'm going to draw six lessons from the most famous alliance of the twentieth century: the alliance between the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union that helped defeat Nazi Germany in World War II. First, a few caveats. My use of national military alliances is for purposes of analogy only. I am no in way advocating violence of any kind. I am not saying that trinitarians are equivalent to Nazis. Our opposition isn't persons, but ideas. We are in a metaphorical war with trinitarianism, but not trinitarians. Our weapons aren't guns and tanks. They're arguments. Victory isn't about overcoming trinitarians, but persuading them. Alliances are foreseen by visionary leaders. In World War II, both Churchill and Roosevelt saw World War II coming. Appeasement of Germany led to German aggression, rather than securing the peace that was hoped for. Churchill recognized that victory would require alliance building. In a speech in the summer of 1940, Churchill spoke to the House of Commons. Some people refer to this as the 'their finest hour' speech. Churchill said: 'We shall go on and continue to assemble the group of united, determined and heavily armed nations who have the will to persevere to the end, who will be joined by others as time goes on, who will never parley or make peace with Hitler and his accomplice Mussolini. Roosevelt, for his part, saw the need to support Britain as an ally. Even though the rest of the country was solidly isolationist, Roosevelt pursued the alliance at significant personal risk to himself, because he recognized the importance of doing so. The Unitarian Christian Alliance was formed by visionary leaders as well. In 2018, I was a baby unitarian and I was attending my first ever unitarian event. That event changed my life because I met people like Dale Tuggy, Keegan Chandler, and Sean Finnegan for the first time in person. I was able to listen as they talked about the unitarian movement, the needs of many isolated unitarians looking for fellowship, and the importance of restoring Christianity back to an authentic understanding of who God is and who Jesus Christ is. That weekend, I found not only the meaningful fellowship my heart craved, but something bigger: a mission of service to God. I stood in a parking lot on a hot Georgia night swatting mosquitos, listening to Keegan and Sean talk about what would become the Unitarian Christian Alliance. Alliance building is an act of humility. It's done by visionary leaders who recognize the limits of what you can do alone. It's an act of courage, taking the first step and absorbing the criticism of those who don't share the vision. One of the major tasks of great leaders is to convert rivals into allies. Alliances are forced by a common foe. The common foe brings together participants who would have been otherwise unwilling to participate. As Benjamin Franklin once said, 'We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.'"