AGNT Leadership Council

AGNT Leadership Council Bios

Rev. Michael Beckwith	Rev. Howard Caesar	Barbara Marx Hubbard	Rev. Argentina Glasgow
Barbara Fields	Rev. Mary Omwake	Rev. Carol Carnes	Dr. Roger Teel
Rev. Wendy Craig Purcell	Dr. Christian Sorensen	Dr. Kathy Hearn	Tom Zender

Michael Bernard Beckwith, D.D. (Agape International Spiritual Center, Culver City) is the Founder and Spiritual Director of the Agape International Spiritual Center, an 8000 member transdenominational spiritual community. A Co-founder and President of Association for Global New Thought, Dr. Beckwith is the originator of the Life Visioning Process, an author and composer. He shares with Dr. Arun Gandhi and Mary Manin Morrissey the national Co-directorship of A Season for Nonviolence, and is an assembly member of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Dr. Beckwith is a keynote speaker throughout the nation. His commitment to world peace has drawn public recognition including awards such as The Gandhi-King-Ikeda Award from Morehouse College, the Humanitarian Award of the National Council for Community and Justice, The Howard Thurman Stained Glass Window Award and many others.

Rev. Howard Caesar (Unity Church of Christianity, Houston, Texas). As senior minister at Unity Church of Christianity for more than 20 years, his inspired messages have helped many find a deeper spiritual meaning in their lives while experiencing happier, healthier and more productive ways of living. As a founding member of the Leadership Council of the Association For Global New Thought (AGNT), Rev. Caesar is recognized as one of the foremost leaders and speakers in New Thought, traveling the world to meet with religious leaders such as his Holiness The Dali Lama. He is a member of the prestigious Board of Preachers at the Martin Luther King Chapel at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, and previously served two terms on the Board of the Association of Unity Churches and on the Board of the International New Thought Alliance (INTA). Rev. Caesar has been recognized with the Voice of Unity Award for Excellence in his 25 years of work in radio and television and is also the 2005 recipient of the Light of God Expressing Award, a top honor given by his peers and the Association of Unity Churches.

Rev. Carol Carnes (Center for Positive Living, Calgary, AB). Currently the senior minister of the Center for Positive Living in Calgary, AB, Rev Carnes carries on the tradition of New Thought to "liberate religious thinking of superstition and dogma." As a member of the leadership council of the Association for Global New Thought, she was inducted into the Board of Preachers of Martin Luther King International Chapel at Morehouse College in 2000. She has participated in the Synthesis Dialogues with HH Dalai Lama in India and Italy and is active in the Season for Nonviolence Campaign convened annually by AGNT.

Dr. Barbara Fields Executive Director, The Association for Global New Thought
Co-founder and Project Director – The Gandhi King Season for Nonviolence 1998-2006; Program Director - 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago; Co-founder and Project Director of the Synthesis Dialogues with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Dharamsala, India, 1999, Trent, Italy, 2001, and Rome, 2004; Co-director, with Dr. William Ury, Harvard Global Negotiation Network’s Abraham Walk Initiative in the Middle East; Conference and Program Director for the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies 1996 (Chicago) and 2000 (Tacoma, WA); Program Director - International Buddhist-Christian Theological Encounter, Purdue University and the Lilly Foundation 1998-2004; Participant - UNESCO Seminar on Religion and Peace, Granada, Spain, 1998. Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, United Church of Religious Science, 2005, and Religious Science International’s first Peace Award in 2003; Recipient of The Peace Museum's 1998 Community Peacemaker Award, in the area of Diplomacy. Serves on the Boards of EarthAction, the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, and La Casa de Maria in Santa Barbara, CA. Co-founder of The Earth Network, a non-profit alternative television organization dedicated to the environment, social action, and the human spirit for which she received the 1994 Visionary Award from the Center For New Television; Contributing author, The Community of Religions (Continuum Press, 1996).

Rev. Dr. Kathy Hearn (Community Spiritual Leader of United Centers for Spiritual Living). Leadership Council member of the Association for Global New Thought. Ordained by Rev. Terry Cole-Whittaker in 1985 and by UCRS in 1989, she founded Pacific Church of Religious Science in San Diego and was Senior Minister for 15 years. She served as Chair of the Organizational Renewal Project and Member of the New Organization Design Team. She recently traveled to the Middle East as AGNT’s representative of the Abraham Path Initiative, and presented at the Parliament of World Religions in Barcelona, Spain, 2004. Dr. Hearn travels the world inspiring people with the Global Heart Vision.

Rev. Argentina Glasgow (Detroit Unity Temple, Detroit, MI). Senior Minister of Detroit Unity since 1993, Rev. Glasgow conducts two Sunday Services and is well known to thousands of listeners on station CKWW 580 AM for her weekly seminar and Sunday Service broadcast. She is currently serving on the Executive Board of Trustees for the Association of Unity Churches, and the Ecumenical Theological Seminary.

Rev. Mary Omwake (Unity of Maui, Wailuka, HI) Senior Minister at Unity Church of Maui. From 1989-1999, Mary served as senior minister for the 1500 member congregation of the Unity Church of Overland Park, Overland Park, Kansas. Under her guidance, Unity Church of Overland Park does community outreach to 2500 children, inner-city adolescent girls and gang members, and over 2500 adults in nursing homes and abuse shelters.

Rev. Wendy Craig-Purcell (The Unity Center, San Diego, California). Wendy is a graduate of the Unity School of Christianity and was ordained in 1980. She is founder and CEO of The Unity Center, a 1500-member spiritual community located in San Diego, California, in 1983. She has been a part of the Association for Global New Thought since 1999 and currently serves as Vice President. She participated in all three AGNT-sponsored “Synthesis Dialogues,” which brought together some of the world’s leading thinkers to dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet in Dharmsala, India in 1999 and in Italy in 2001 and 2004; and traveled to Istanbul, Turkey in November 2006 as part of the planning for the Abraham Path Initiative, in partnership with the Harvard Negotiation Project, to open up a pilgrimage route in the Middle East retracing the footsteps of the prophet Abraham. With a strong interest in Spiritually Motivated Social Action, Wendy & The Unity Center were instrumental in the early formation of the San Diego Department of Peace grassroots group in the fall of 2004. That initial group, Americans for the Department of Peace (AFDOP), now encompasses all of Southern California with The Unity Center providing ongoing support. In addition, Wendy serves on the board of the Foundation for Affordable Housing in San Juan Capistrano. Her service awards include the Gandhi Non-Violence Award from the Tariq Khamisa Foundation and induction into the Martin Luther King Jr. board of Preachers Hall of Fame..

Reverend Christian Sorensen, D.D. (Seaside Church of Religious Science, Encinitas California.) He was the last appointed President of the United Church of Religious Science and their first elected Community Spiritual Leader. Author of "CATCH THE SPIRIT - RIDING THE WAVES OF LIFE" and its sequel: "CATCH THE SPIRIT - FLYING THROUGH LIFE", "The Book of Prayers", "Good Cents" "Free Your Own Tibet" and his newest release, "Soar, Flying Above Turbulent times" His T.V. show, "The Power of One" has been airing on XUPN and will be soon delivered on his website, www.seasidechurch.org.

Dr. Roger Teel (Mile Hi Church of Religious Science, Denver, Colorado). Dr. Roger W. Teel, a leading speaker and spiritual teacher, has served New Thought and the Religious Science ministry for over 25 years. He holds a degree in psychology and religion and the degree of Religious Science Fellow. He was awarded a Doctor of Divinity in 1988 and the Doctor of Religious Science Degree in 1999. Dr. Roger has served pulpits in Oregon, California and, in 1993 returned to his home church, Mile Hi Church in Denver, as Senior Minister. He oversees all aspects of this thriving ministry of over 8000 members and friends. He has been very active in United Church of Religious Science leadership, serving on numerous committees. In 1980, he was elected to the International Board of Trustees and in 1983 was elected Chairman, a position he filled for two years. As his career has expanded, his influence has extended internationally; he lectures and conducts workshops for churches, service organizations, schools, and businesses. Dr. Teel assisted in facilitating the Synthesis Dialogues with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1999 and 2001. He is co-founder of the Association for Global New Thought, and serves on the board of the Foundation for Affordable Housing.

Tom Zender (President & CEO, Unity, Lee’s Summit, MO). Tom joined the Unity executive team in 2001, just 5 days after September 11. With 36 years experience in management, marketing, and strategic development, including executive positions at General Electric, Honeywell, and ITT, Tom has been an officer of three publicly held corporations and a board member of two nonprofit organizations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas. He is the first president of Unity who is not a member of the founding Fillmore family.

AGNT ADVISORY COUNCIL