Peacemakers Speak

Our Work Is Not Done Until Everyone Has Experienced Peace!

2011-11-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

Dear Peacemaker,

Do you remember what first drew you to The Peace Center? I’m so grateful you decided to follow your inner compass, take a risk and attend one of our events. Maybe in the meantime you found a glimmer of peace, a new friend, a community of like minded people. Maybe you were one of the many we served who changed your life because of something you discovered at The Peace Center.

This is what our work is about. This is where the miracle happens. One person is drawn in, that person reaches out to another and invites them. That person makes a decision to show up, invest in themselves and discovers a wealth of inner and outer experiences of peace. Our work is not done until everyone has experienced peace first hand. We have our work cut out for us!

We’ve had a good year….world class teachers and presenters blessed our centers with their programs. Our membership went up slightly and our sphere of influence has expanded beyond our walls to include a growing online community. Many of our services are provided to participants regardless of ability to pay. These are benefits that are exclusive to our community, and perhaps we take these for granted.

Even with an all volunteer staff, we are stretched to cover our basic operating expenses. If we are to keep our Center open, we must raise the necessary funds to pay for it and the value it brings to the community. We know that these economic times present struggles for many non-profit organizations. Despite these challenges we want even more to keep bringing our work to individuals and the community. To be perfectly frank, $35,000 annually is required to pay the basics such as rent, utilities, phone, Internet and garbage. Currently, we do not accrue sufficient funds from our membership fees, donations, classes, events, and other programs to cover these expenses.

There are many paths to success and here are some ways you can help:

·         Become a supporting member of The Peace Center. If you are a former member, renew your membership. Our supporting membership fee for 2012 is $50/year. All new members and renewing members will receive a premium gift as a token of our thanks.

·         Make a financial contribution that will help to sustain our future. Any contribution will help.

·         Join the Sustainer’s Circle. Support The Peace Center on a weekly or monthly basis – whether you are personally participating or not – to provide ongoing, reliable support for our Center. To join the Sustainer’s Circle, go to http://thepeacecenter.info/Support-Us.html and select your preferred level of ongoing support.

·         Invite someone new to attend an event or class with you. Invite someone to attend our Sunday morning program.

·         Volunteer your time to helping around the Center. Our Center manager, Steve Flowers would welcome you with open arms.

The Peace Center community begins and ends with you. You can express your commitment by sending a donation today, in any amount, so that we can continue to be fiscally viable and responsible. When you choose to step up to volunteer, or bring in someone new, you are adding to the community.

You are a gifted person and your time, talent and financial support are gifts to our community. We offer a space for you to share your gifts - won’t you share your gifts with us now?

Thank you for all you do to bring peace to your world.

Namaste,

Margo Ruark

Executive Director

P.S. One hundred percent of your contribution is tax deductible and all of it will be used to fulfill the mission of The Peace Center. A receipt will be sent to you for tax purposes upon request.

PPS. Old School Donations - write a check and put it in the mail.

Make all checks payable to The Peace Center

Mail contributions to:

The Peace Center
P O Box 98,   Berwyn, IL 60402-0098

An Eighty Percent Failure Rate is Not Acceptable

2011-05-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of a series on the Social Franchising of Peace Centers International, Inc.

When I was finishing my ministerial training in 2002, we were required to attend a week long intensive where the experts in our denomination walked us through the secrets of church management. Since we are a small denomination, candidating for open pulpits was a slim prospect for the flood of new ministers. What was presented to the class was the opportunity to start a church from scratch. This also was the growth strategy for the denomination…”church planting” as it is called in some circles.

“For those of you starting new works, eighty percent of you will fail within five years,” the instructor told us. “That’s par with all new business start ups.” He went on to say, “this is a franchise without an operating manual.” I asked why there was no operating manual, which, “par with new franchise openings” would more than quadruple the odds of success.

He said, “Success or failure doesn’t lie in the presence or absence of an operating manual. It lies in consciousness. If you don’t have what it takes in consciousness for the ministry, you will pick the wrong location, you’ll pick the wrong Board, you will have the wrong ad message, people won’t find you no matter what you do.”

“Your job,” he continued, “Is to build consciousness. If you’re supposed to succeed, you’ll succeed. If you’re supposed to fail, you’ll fail. It is consciousness that prevails.”

On the one hand, what he was saying was true for an individual. On the other hand, what I heard him saying was that the denomination on the whole was OK with an 80% failure rate! I’m sure that simplified life in the Growth and Development Department…or frustrated the hell out of them. But writing off an 80% failure rate to individual consciousness was perhaps an attitude that paved the way for the cancellation of 67 PeaceCenters, who were enrolled but not supported to succeed or grow. It would stand to reason that we need to support growth if we expect to, well, grow.

I believe consciousness has changed since that time, at least mine has. It has changed up to a greater vision of what Peace Centers can be and do, and how they can operate as a mighty force of good in the world. There is an organizational consciousness of success that is as committed to the success of its affiliates as it is to the mission of peace itself! Would you agree that THAT would make a difference?

Yes, I believe that consciousness is what creates growth and sustainable success, yet consciousness leaves evidence! A consciousness of growth and sustainable success is evidenced by a standard operating procedures manual, for example, that has been tried and tested in the marketplace. I believe that consciousness allows us to choose and select best practices and collect them in one place for the benefit of all. I believe that those who desire to succeed and who are in need of practical support will, through their consciousness, connect with these proven solutions and THEN IMPLEMENT THEM.

That day in 2002 was indeed a strange launch to a wonderful career, but it gave rise to many key decisions I made since then. I decided that I could be the first to go through the discomfort of trial and error, not begrudgingly, but consciously and deliberately, to take copious notes on what worked, what didn’t, and why. And I would gladly do the research, and “pay the tuition” in the school of the marketplace, in order to show others how to build consciousness for success of their centers in very specific ways. Why? Because when it comes to transforming lives and making a difference on the planet, an 80% failure rate is simply not acceptable.

You’ve built your consciousness and I know you will continue to do so. Yet, if despite your efforts, you are tired of endless trial and error in your calling to create more good in the world, there are several steps you can take now to demonstrate more success:

The easiest place to start is with a visit to our website www.peacecentersinternational.org where you can learn more about our social franchise, Peace Centers International, Inc.
You can join the conversation on Twitter! @PeaceCentersInt
You can write to us about your experiences trying to replicate your own nonprofit enterprise at margo@peacecentersinternational.org
You can join our Million and ONE campaign - donate just $1 to help peace grow FAST! Go here for more info: http://www.peacecentersinternational.org/Donate.html
You can become a social franchisee of Peace Centers International, Inc.

Begin by making an appointment to visit our “mother store” in Berwyn, IL and meet directly with me!

Margo Ruark, President

Peace Centers International, Inc.

6833 Stanley Avenue

Berwyn, IL 60402

Email: margo@peacecentersinternational.org

Phone: 708-749-8888 (office) 773-339-4696 (cell)

Franchise The Peace Center?

2011-04-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

How I Got the Idea for the Social Franchise Peace Centers International, Inc.

In 1993, I had the opportunity to visit Don Boroian of FranCorp in Olympia Fields, IL. He had visited the Entrepreneurship class I was attending at DePaul's Graduate School of Business a couple years before. He invited the class to explore the benefits of franchising their business concept and predicted that in 20 years, 75% of retailing would happen through franchising.

When I asked him about nonprofits he said he never heard of that before, and it hadn't been done before, because the point of a franchise was to maximize owner profits quickly through replication. Part of me said, "I'm going to be the first one."

In 1993, I was working in the wellness industry in a new company I started with a partner, of which I owned a 40% share. Don was offering a free seminar where you could learn more about franchising and share your business plan with him and the FranCorp team. They would evaluate your plan and let you know if franchising was right for you.

He talked about the operations manual as the secret to success of franchises...which was phenomenal at the time - a 90% success rate after five years, compared to 20% success rate for conventional start-ups. He said that the willingness to write an operations manual was the acid test for those who were going to make it and those who would be left in the dust.

I liked Don's comparison of entrepreneurs and musicians. "Very few people can sit down at a piano and play a masterpiece by ear. Most musicians require sheet music to play the masterpiece. Margo, you are the one who hears the music and plays it by ear. You will help others play the masterpiece by writing the sheet music for them, the operations manual." I knew he was right. I knew there was "music" on the inside of me wanted to express through a franchise, and there was a ton of sheet music to write. I just didn't know what at the time. And I needed my partner's support to write the sheet music.

I showed Don the business plan for our company and he told me it was "squeaky clean." Then he asked, "do you have a profitable prototype that is up and running, a mother store?" We were operating out of a shared office space in a loft and we had a virtual storefront before it was cool. In the 90's they called it a "corporate image program." The franchise model of that day wasn't going to work without a "brick and mortar" mother store, Don told me.

"Come back when you have a profitable prototype and mother store," he said. He gave me a copy of his book, The Franchise Advantage, which I read cover to cover. I went back and told my business partner about the days events and the advice I received. My partner believed I wasted the day at FranCorp. He wasn't going to participate or support the writing of any operations manual when there were sales to be made. I could understand, sort of. It's a choice every entrepreneur has to make. I believe it was the wrong choice as in two years our quarter of a million dollar company folded.

"Maybe not this wellness business, but I'm going to franchise something just for the thrill of it. Just for the joy of seeing it grow, just for the joy of hearing the music played. Something that only I can do." After nearly two decades, the music never left.

Maybe you feel the same way. Maybe you have “music” in you, that if only others could hear it, the world might be a better place. I believe the time has come to rapidly replicate nonprofit solutions to the world’s greatest problems in the form of a social franchise.

If you are interested in becoming part of this rapid replication of good in the world, there are several ways you can get involved now.

· The easiest place to start is with a visit to our web page www.peacecentersinternational.org where you can learn more about our social franchise, Peace Centers International, Inc.

· You can join the conversation on Twitter! @PeaceCentersInt

· You can write to us about your experiences trying to replicate your own nonprofit enterprise at margo@peacecentersinternational.org

· You can join our Million and ONE campaign - donate just $1 to help peace grow FAST! Go here for more info: http://www.peacecentersinternational.org/Donate.html

You can make an appointment to visit our “mother store” and meet directly with me!

Margo Ruark, President

Peace Centers International, Inc.

6833 Stanley Avenue

Berwyn, IL 60402

Email: margo@peacecentersinternational.org
Phone: 708-749-8888 (office) 773-339-4696 (cell)

Beloved Community - Thoughts for Global Oneness Day

2010-10-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

Ernest Holmes once said, "No one yet knows what might happen if a group of a thousand persons, gathered together for mutual benefit, should unitedly agree and without dissent or argument, fully accept simply and directly, that there is a Healing presence in the midst of them. . . Let us form a united front, create a great pool of faith, and from the power generated through this collective thinking, broadcast the message to the whole world."

No one yet knows what might happen. Who’s dying to find out? Actually we all are. This "one thousand," that I am going to call The Beloved Community, is that community where we are living in agreement and fully accepting the power of peace and love in our lives and that this power is the unifying factor that makes this community vital and alive and flourishing. I want it. I want it real bad….who else does?

In order for this vision of the Beloved Community to come to pass, we must embrace Unity as its fundamental principle. In order for us to proceed, we need to accept and embody the idea that everything that exists emanates from One Cosmic Source of energy and intelligence. The first principle fundamental to an understanding of life, including all human experience, is that the whole universe, of which man is a part, is spiritual in its essence. Stated in the simplest way, this means that a Cosmic energy and intelligence is the creative power of all that exists. This power must be an eternal, singular and unifying life principle underlying and interpenetrating all phenomenal manifestations, so that all that exists in our objective world-whether mineral, animal, or human-is in reality not only a creation of the One Principle, but in fact and truth must be a manifestation or incarnation of this Principle.

Those are the principles, what does that mean for me? You might be asking. My point is moving our application of these principles from "me" to "we," because it is when we move from me to WE that Beloved Community can come into existence. We can't have a community with just "me."

In the September 2010 edition of Science of Mind Magazine is a fascinating article written by my favorite brain scientist, Andrew Newberg. He writes how that in his studies using brain scans when two people meet they instinctively try to mirror and match each other at the level of brain waves. Before we are even aware of it, we are uniting with other people. By the time we become aware of it and start formulating opinions about it, the connection is already made. It is only the ego that jumps in and makes its case for separation.

The words "Beloved Community" were coined in the early 1900’s and made immortal by Dr. Martin Luther King in a sermon he made in 1959 where he associated the Beloved Community with Agape love and said, “ this type of love can transfom opponents into friends. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men.” He talked about his revolution in terms of a “revolution of values.” And this love “as the ultimate conquerer” of injustice, prejudice, and oppression of every kind.

In the last generation, we have seen more and more people rally to the idea of Beloved Community. Who are we here at the Peace Center today, but this new breed of spiritual revolutionary, equipped with timeless principle and modern science who are in tune with the global collective consciousness of unity? And WE can make it happen! I invite you to join me in accepting this idea into consciousness so that it can flourish here, at the Peace Center right where we are. Who’s coming with me today????

New Thought Shapeshifting

2010-09-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

Spiritual Liberation: Fulfilling Your Soul's PotentialI’ve been reading Michael Beckwith’s book Spiritual Liberation and he briefly speaks of shapeshifting in New Thought terms, which immediately caught my attention. I wanted to share some of my reflections with you as well as a report of my recent experiences shapeshifting. I gave a half hour talk on this subject at The Peace Center on Sunday, September 20th. Here is an excerpt:

What Michael Beckwith is describing with the word 'shapeshift' and what I am describing today is not action based on superstition, werewolf or vampire legends, pushing our willful agenda, or manipulating people or conditions. It is the intention of the individual that makes the shape shifting experience something holy, something divine, and something that serves Spirit.

Now, the shapeshifting that is of interest to New Thought is the ability to shift raw energy from thought into concrete form. And energy is all around us, energy is never-ending, cannot be destroyed or eliminated, only shifted into forms.

Take a a glass of water for example. If given a glass of water, you cannot destroy it; it is impossible to destroy the water. If poured out, the water becomes part of whatever you pour it into or onto. If evaporated, it later becomes rain. If drank, it becomes part of the body then waste that is recycled into the Earth. In other words, like all other things, it cannot be destroyed. Nothing can be destroyed. All is ever-beginning, never-ending. All things merely shift shape. This very strongly suggests that energetic shape shifting is a natural state of existence.

The fundamental principle of New Thought shape shifting is the realization that everything is energy. Everything that is alive….and everything is alive at some level, the protons and neutrons spin around at lightning speeds. Everything is energy. We are energy. Only energy can impact energy. Therefore we can influence our relationship to the physical world through energy. We influence the physical world only because we believe we can. So having said that, we need three things to shape shift:

First, the acceptance that energy is the building block and sustainer of all that exists. Ernest Holmes, the founder of The Science of Mind, never called himself a shapeshifter, but we was very close personal friends with energy. Second, is the conviction that an individual may energetically influence his or her inner and outer world. Third: marshaling energy through ones intent is the action necessary to shapeshift and bring about desired transformation.

Energetic shapeshifting is one of the world’s oldest forms of healing and transformation. Shapeshifting legends exist in most major civilizations of the world and in many sacred texts in the lives of the saints and prophets. Shapeshifting occurs in two forms: spiritual shapeshifting which transforms or reshapes the patterns of one’s consciousness; and physical shapeshifting which the shaman shifts his or her actual physical shape into the shape of another living creature, such as assuming the form of a jaguar or snake in order to perform deep spiritual work and come back to human form to share the wisdom they learned.

I’m not going to deny that shamans can shapeshift into a real animal and return to the human world at will. I wouldn’t doubt it for anyone here. That is the part that excites us and stirs the fantasy. However, it is the former that we can actually do today and accomplish much today while we fantasize about the latter.

Do you want to hear the rest? Get the audio file here: http://www.thepeacecenter.info/Video-and-Audio-Products.html

Are You Enthusiastic?

2010-09-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

Spiritual Principle teaches us that at our core we have everything we need. Yet many of us affirm, “I do not.” Even after we take prosperity courses and inner peace classes, we complain about our problems. And we go and find people who’d agree with it. We write on our Facebook pages, “I really have a problem.” And we magnify the problem rather than opening ourselves up for a solution.

Ernest Holmes would not listen to his student's complaining and would tell them, “It’s your problem, not mine.” "Here you’ve studied it all and you don’t even know what Principle is. Take the beginners class over again!”

School is in session now for most of our children. If you ever watch children on a playground, you see a beautiful thing with the noise, and hollering and running around at recess time. Isn’t that wonderful? I'd like to think that Jesus and Buddha and the great peacemakers throughout the ages had that enthusiasm. It makes you wonder as we get older, What happened to ours? There’s a little boy and a little girl in all of us. What happened to it? What happened to our enthusiasm?

We know what it will take to be successful in our movement. Yes, the leaders and the Boards have to be enthusiastic, but so do the members. We require an enthusiasm for a philosophy that can bring peace. Are you enthusiastic? You know when you are enthusiastic when you can't wait to get to work, to be with your family, to go out with your friends. Let's transfer that enthusiasm to our inner life of developing a more peaceful consciousness.

On that note, Andrew Harvey will also be visiting the Peace Center on September 23. He is author of The Hope and founder of Sacred Activism. Purchase his book here or at the event for signing.

Try something new this fall - show up, take a class, go within, and get excited about what you find!

Inspiration is Perishable

2010-08-12T19:57:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of a series of postings based on ideas from the book Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (Random House, 2010)

"We all have ideas. Ideas are immortal. They last forever. What doesn't last forever is inspiration." (p.271)

We all want to be inspired and impassioned about something--we know it's power. So we wait for inspiration and passion to show up and transform our lives without any real effort on our part. I compare waiting and watching for inspiration to waiting and watching for UFOs. Hey, it could happen....

There is a lesser known Chinese proverb that summarizes the need for us to get out of our comfort zone and move forward when we are apprehended by inspiration. It goes, "Man will stand for long time on hill with mouth open before roast duck flies in."

Can you imagine standing on the side of a hill feeling hungry for roast duck, and simply opening your mouth expecting one to land there? It is silly right - even childish. You know intuitively you'd be standing there an eternity before satisfying your hunger. Yet, many of us go through life just that way. We wait with our proverbial mouth open waiting for the right job, the right relationship, more money, more peace and harmony without really doing anything about it. We wait for others to satisfy our hunger.

We would all benefit by getting out of this eternal waiting mode, get out of the child's position and assume responsibility for making ourselves happy and fulfilled. If there is something we need to learn, learn it. If there is someplace we need to be, be there. If there is a decision to be made, make it. If there is a letter we need to write, write it. As we begin to respond to our own hunger, and take responsibility for satisfying it, wonderful things begin to happen. We find ourselved inspired! We lighten up, we experience an interesting new freedom. People come out of the woodwork to help us. Only as you move away from that hillside hoping a roast duck will show up, do you experience that you don't have to do it all yourself and it is a magical thing.

What do you want to make real? When we start answering that, we open ourselves to living larger, as a true citizen of creation. As a Hyatt ad once went, "Having your dreams fulfilled can be more therapeutic than having them analyzed." Dreams come true by taking that first step in the general direction of their fulfillment.

They say inspiration is perishable because it has a short shelf life. It prefers to act now, not later and it won't wait for you. If it grabs you, grab it back and make some magic in your own life and in the lives of others.

Decisions are temporary

2010-07-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

This post is part of a series based on the book Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (Crown Business 2010).

"Decisions you make today don't need to last forever. It's easy to shoot down ideas, interesting policies or worthwhile experiments by assuming that whatever you decide now needs to work for years on end. It's just not so...Decisions are temporary."

Sure, it was a bitter pill when the Peace Center's co-director, Mike Gerdes, resigned. For a moment all our shared visions, decisions, and dream for a flourishing spiritual center flashed before me. After all, we DECIDED to do this together.

"But what if???" "What happens when?" I was not enjoying the futurizing. I was making up problems before they were a real problem. I was practicing the worst kind of meditation...worry. Most of the things we worry about never happen. It's the negative anticipation that takes the biggest toll on well being, even if the thing we worried about actually happens.

Part of me actually thought the vision we made in 2006 needed to work for 10 years or more. I'm sure many leaders do the same thing of going through lots of hours of visioning, Board meetings, creating buy in for the vision among the members, planning to arrive at a lasting decision about the direction of the organization. Do we have to go through all that again? Sure. Why not? Isn't that what it's all about? Growth. Change. Moving on.

This experience was just another example that decisions are temporary. I'll be the first to admit that we get attached to our decisions, as we attch to the world views that produced them. We become stagnant, undbending, unable to make quick decisions and to act quickly = innovate. I've noticed when I approach a problem or challenge with the attitude that I can change my mind at any time, progress begins to happen more quickly and is a lot less boring.

Pay attention to today and worry about tomorrow tomorrow. Jesus said that in the Sermon on the Mount. So did the great philosopher king Marcus Aurelius when he said, "Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present." All the great sages and mystics through the ages have echoed the same idea. This is a different idea than preparing for the future. I'm not saying don't prepare for the future. Preparing for the future is one of those decisions you make about a certain project you are working on today.

Be present for today. Otherwise you'll waste energy, time and money fixating on problems that don't materialize and miss the jewels of the present moment that await your discovery. Mike's departure creates a new now, rich with it's own treasures to discover. That is what I am focusing on today. What wants to happen now? When it reveals itself, I will decide from a place of peaceful contemplation which amazing path of adventure to take.

Make a Dent in the Universe

2010-06-02T05:42:00.000-07:00

This post is part of a series based on the book Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (Crown Business 2010).

"To do great work, you need to feel that you're make a difference. That you're putting a meaningful dent in the universe. That you're part of something important." (p.31)

People can think what they want to think, but I find it increasingly more perturbing that they would use the mass media to criticize things they obviously don’t understand, in an obvious unconscious way. Take optimism for example. It's been taking a beating lately. Optimists, such as those practicing the principles of New Thought, have been taken to task for being merciless boobs, and for wanton consumerism. Misunderstandings of optimism and positive thinking are not just coming up in our conversations around the water cooler. They are coming out in best selling books that a perhaps gullible, cynical, and spiritually starving public is educating themselves on. We have to challenge it in a compassionate, loving way. We have to stand firm in what we know to be true.

What I’m suggesting is that we may need to consciously and deliberately use the media as well, to publish and disseminate messages of truth. Like my friend Brent Hunter (@brentnhunter) who uses Twitter to send out positive, uplifting messages to his following of 95,000 people. He sends an affirmative message every hour of the day. That's a lotta good vibes impacting the quantum field. Joe Wolfe, another friend of mine sends uplifting, inspirational books to prisoners. So far this year, he's responded to 300 requests.

What are you doing? It is easy to criticize, especially from afar. It is easy to point out errors. It’s easy to get good at fault-finding. Some may claim they are just “being honest.” Honest about what? The tyranny of their wet blanket worldview? Ignorance of the possibility of good things happening? How about their own fear of failure? How about unconscious habit? That is a most "unintelligent use of intelligence" as Ernest Holmes, one of my favorite philosophers, often said.

We can challenge limited ideas as they come up. If we can do this, we have taken the second step to making a difference. What is the first step? The first step is to get centered, prayed-up, aligned with Source, or however you want to call it. My tradition of Mental Science calls it Spritual Mind Treatment, a form of affirmative prayer. We all want to make a difference. And it is in the affirmative prayer that we begin to make a difference. As St. Francis of Assissi is often quoted to have said, “Pray without ceasing, and if necessary use words.”

Spiritual mind treatment isn’t well-wishing on a person or situation. We are not hoping it will make a difference. I am not criticizing the sincerity of any petition for good or improvement in the world. What I am stating that when I do a treatment, I am doing so as a conscious and deliberate act which renders specific and deliberate results. I do not believe in a Supreme Being which acts more favorably for one than for another. I do not ask for anything in a prayer. I accept something. And that is what makes a dent in the universe...no it rearranges the universe, in my experience. Instead of hoping something will happen, we are endeavoring to know that it has happened or is happening. This is what makes positive mental practice make such a difference in our lives. And for those of us who take the time to study such teaching will know that that those who criticize it, do not know what they criticize.

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, give to life from that place of authentic giving. And that is what we teach at The Peace Center. That is a precious gift to the world and we all have something to give that will make a difference. So I urge you to find it. Take the time, pray the prayers and find what is yours to offer and offer it. The world becomes a better place when you do.

Rework - for the spiritual entrepreneur: IGNORE THE REAL WORLD

2010-05-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

I decided to take on a longer blogging project and over the next few weeks/months to write a spiritual adaptation of Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson's new book Rework. I find their ideas on running a company and leadership refreshing and invigorating. What I'm aiming to do here is write on how one might apply these ideas to leading a spiritual enterprise like a church or spiritual center. What I'm aiming to do here is applying these ideas to not just the enterprise, but to the one enterprising. As within, so without.The authors claim that Rework shows us a better, easier way to succeed in our business. Let's find out!

"IGNORE THE REAL WORLD"

"That would never work in the real world." You hear it all the time when you tell people about a fresh idea. This real world sounds like an awfully depressing place to live. . .Don't believe them. . .The real world isn't a place, it's an excuse. It's a justification for not trying. It has nothing to do with you."

What the authors are suggesting here is a fundamental reassessment of the marketplace from something that is hostile, to something that welcomes and embraces your ideas and your very presence. If we were to take the "facts" of the economy, business startup failure rates, and the white collar crime rate as "truth" why bother? That is just what so many of us do. We die with our music still inside us. We die while we are still living. We die believing someone else's truth, we die believing a lie.

Truth is whatever we accept as true and these truths make up our world view of everything. If you find yourself surrounded by naysayers and wet blankets, it is a sign that it is time to establish a new truth. This might be the hardest work you ever do. "But I say my affirmations," you say. Affirmations are not truths, they are reminders of truth. They aren't the truth until you accept them as true. So if you say, "My sales soar today," and nothing happens perhaps you are perhaps throwing a single new idea at a fossilized critical mass of "real world" world view. Changing a truth takes commitment, and it is the only process that changes anything.

If you are having challenges changing your "real world" truths (that suck) into vibrant truths that actually work on your behalf, creating a more enriching life for you and those you love, then reach out for crissakes. It's time.

If You Think Your Neighbor is a Slimeball, Consider This....

2010-03-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Some years ago, a college biology major was amazed at how her grandmother's houseplants thrived. Her grandmother claimed that she didn't do anything particular with the houseplants other than sweet-talk them. At school, our biology major wanted to prove or disprove the validity of the impact of human interaction with life forms that didn't have a brain or nervous system. She placed petrie dishes of slime mold in optimal growing conditions of climate, temperature, and humidity to get a "control group." Then she placed identical slime mold in identical conditions in the "experimental group."

She and her friends sweet-talked the experimental slime mold group at regular intervals for one week. They would praise the mold and compliment it for doing such a fine job of growing and proliferating. Sure enough, the slime grew and proliferated at an accelerated rate over the control group slime mold. Another student wondered if sweet-talking plants helped them grow, what would cursing and yelling at the plants do? So another experimental group was formed, again with optimal climate, temperature and humidity conditions. Only this group was exposed to regular intervals of students shouting obscenities, condeming, and cursing the slime mold. This went on for a week, until the slime mold shriveled and died---even under optimal growing conditions.

If our words and intentions have this impact on plants that have no brains, just think of what impact our words and intentions have on someone or something we care about. If you want to have a peaceful neighborhood, begin cleaning up your words and intentions about and towards your own family members and neighbors. Even if you think they don't have a brain, they get it.

Thirsting for offline community

2010-02-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

I was talking to another spiritual leader friend of mine about social media and the time we spend getting the word out, keeping our fingers on the pulse of the community, and sharing. Of course we wonder if we're doing anyone any favors by offering all this spiritual stuff online for free. Is it growing our communities? Are people being served?

What we came up with is that you can get information about spirituality from the internet, and you can get contacts with people near and far. But spirituality and even more importantly spiritual experiences come through connection with a live community and a living spiritual practice.

The problem is that many people assume because they can get streaming video of an inspirational speaker or a webinar online, that this can take the place of showing up physically in a group of people. I'm not dissing the Internet by any stretch, but I do think we're all in for a change.

My prediction for the next couple years for growing our peacemaking and spiritual communities....
As being online becomes the norm for social networking, people will thirst for offline community.

Yes, thirst and hunger. I predict that the ready availablilty and vast quantity of free information isn't satisfying the soul's need for acceptance and connection. The mass practice of using the Internet to get something for nothing, especially in the spiritual realm is running the end of its course. The idea of a spirituality that is about collecting information without giving any part of yourself, or changing anything about yourself isn't working out well for a good many folks. My prediction is that it is draining people dry. Just like fast food actually starves the body for real nutrition, point-and-click spirituality is starving the masses for some real spiritual food. I predict that right here in this community, hundreds if not thousands will be forced to put on their coat, find their keys and drive to a brick and mortar location where people just like them are gathered to experience something wonderful and uplifting together. And experience it they will! And it will feel great!

I'm telling you I would never had made any spiritual breakthroughs or progress in life if it wasn't for the groups I committed to along the way. By showing up on a regular basis something began to take shape on the inside of me. As others respected and supported me, I was able to learn to respect myself enough to rid my life of abusive relationships, bad habits, and self sabotaging behavior. In our groups, we practiced our principles and skills with each other, we supported each other, we had an authentic connection with each other. I made friends, I became accountable, I helped others become accountable. I learned about sacred commitment and ovenant. I contributed, I became reliable. I stopped looking for the rock and found it within myself, in my own life. I celebrated with others as they found their rock too.

For those of you who are frequent visitors to sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Meetup.com, you know how much time it can consume, especially if you are an organizer trying to create some movement out there in the quantum field. These venues aren't going away, as their value for information dissemination can't be beat. As a blogger and site adminsitrator, I find benefit in the expressive outlets these tools offer me. Self expression is good.

Just remember "information" is not where the real action is. The real action is in commiting, joining up, connecting with other people and quenching the thirst that can only be found in community.

Now start something wonderful for yourself! Close this window, and do whatever it takes to meet with a real live person.

A FESTIVAL OF PEACE - February 26-28 2010

2010-02-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

A FESTIVAL OF PEACE

By Robert C. Koehler

Tribune Media Services - reprinted with permission.

“I ran away from my foster mother, became homeless, lived on the street for three years. Because I was handicapped I couldn’t get into an apartment building to get out of the snow. Your skin feels like it’s on fire when you’re that cold. I’d stand in the doorway, where bright lights shine on the manikins, and psych myself into believing I could feel the heat coming off the light bulb.”

We get, in all, twelve minutes of Daisy. The above words are a condensation of one of those minutes. The other eleven are just as intense, just as shocking — but spiritually soaring, as this wheelchair-bound woman — she contracted polio after swimming in a polluted lake — talks matter-of-factly about a life that seems like it should be broken beyond repair. She talks about her abusive father, the beatings, the flowers on the bedspread (her only toys), her “bright light” spiritual vision in an iron lung. Her words made me cry, not because of the horror, but because she was so happy, so full of a transcendent gratitude for nothing less than life itself.

This short film, by Jack Major, is called “Daisy.” It’s one of 34 films that make up the second annual Peace on Earth Film Festival, which will be held on the last three days of February at Chicago’s Cultural Center. A schedule for the event will be posted soon at peaceonearthfilmfestival.org.

The festival is (amazingly) free of charge, and features a joyful diversity of documentaries, student films and animated shorts from all over the world, united thematically under the rubric of “peace.”

All of which begs a fascinating question: What is peace? A film festival that celebrates it has to come up with a working definition. Nick Angotti, who founded the festival in 2008, kept coming back to the word “story” when we talked about it. The review committee looked at 194 submissions; the ones they selected all told a slice of the human story, compellingly if not always slickly.

“We do have films that pictorially are not the best, but the stories are amazing,” Nick said.

After looking at a number of the films myself, in whole or in part, I would add the word “truth” to this working definition. I started to realize, as I reviewed movies on topics as diverse as dumpster diving, Holocaust remembrance, Iranian teen rappers, a Muslim man’s alienation in post-9/11 America, and two preschool boys’ innocent discovery of race, that there was a certain sensitive consciousness at work or at play in each one, stirring the raw truth. The result could be joyous, searing, darkly comedic, or all of the above.

This is a film festival with a mission.

“Peace on Earth Film Festival,” the mission statement reads, “is a not-for-profit film festival whose primary objective is to raise an awareness of peace, nonviolence, social justice and an eco-balanced world as possibilities, by bringing attention to independent films from around the world. Through the power of motion pictures, POEFF endeavors to enlighten and empower individuals, families and communities to step out of the ignorance of conflict, violence and divisiveness into the light of communication, compassion and understanding.”

Part of the festival’s mission is to bring peace awareness to young people — to let them hear the stories of their contemporaries and wake them up to the power and significance of their own stories. Thus, before the festival officially opens, some 600 Chicago schoolchildren, in several groups, will get a chance to screen a number of the student films, vote for the best one and engage in dialogue about what they saw.

The spirit of this is summed up in the words of Margaret Wheatley, who is quoted on the festival’s website: “You can’t hate the one whose story you know.”

As well as the 34 films, which range from feature-length to several minutes long, the festival will include several panel discussions. In one of them, some of the filmmakers whose work is featured will talk about their craft and the potential of the medium of film to promote — create — peace. A second panel (which I have the honor of moderating) will be composed of Chicago-area peacemakers, who will talk about the work they’re doing in their communities.

“Peace, as we have seen, is not an order natural to mankind: it is artificial, intricate and highly volatile. All kinds of preconditions are necessary,” writes military historian Michael Howard in The Invention of Peace.

He means this, I think, as a statement of hope, stripped of illusion. Peace is possible, but we have to work at it. Indeed, we have to invent it. And crucial to the process is the work of filmmakers, whose job is to tell the stories of those who already have.

Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. You can respond to this column at koehlercw@gmail.com or visit his Web site at commonwonders.com.)

P.S. A mini Peace on Earth Film Festival will be shown at The Peace Center in Berwyn in April. Stay tuned for details.

The Very Good Soldier

2010-02-04T06:43:00.000-08:00

I received this story in my email and felt moved to share it. The story originally was published in "The Witchita Eagle" November 10, 2006 but has a timeless appeal. Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt's wife, Mindy, said that this little Iraqi girl's entire family was executed. The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head...but they failed to kill her. She was cared for in John's hospital but continued to cry and moan. The nurses said John was the only one who seemed to calm her down, so John spent the several nights holding her while they both slept in that chair. The girl was later released to a surviving relative.

He is a real Star of the war, and the hero of peace. You don't see things like this in the news, and it just goes to show you that every person anywhere can make a difference in the life of someone even if it is one little girl.

Beyond Cynicism

2010-02-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Chosing to live life with a positive mental attitude is not without its challenges. What do you do when bombarded with cynicism and sarcasm? Just as you are committed to positive living, there seem to be those equally commited to negativity...there are such unfortunates and they find you for a reason!

There are a couple of observations we can offer. First is to recognize that cynicism comes from despair. The way to approach a person in despair is with compassion. When people needing compassion find you as the giver of compassion--give it away freely! The second is that just as Divine Intelligence is alive and well on the inside of you, it is also alive on the inside of your friend. Speak to that enlighted part that is at peace and you will be amazed at how readily it responds.

If the despaired tyrade continues, there are a couple of useful peacemaking phrases which we have found to work well. The first one is "I got it." The person ranting oftentimes just wants to be heard and will stop once this is acknowledged. The second one is "I'll let ya." It allows the ego that needs to be right the freedom to think that it is without furthering the conflict. Both phrases create a window through which right thinking can emerge.

Remember those in our midst suffering from cynicism are our mirrors and bless us in a way, with an opportunity to heal that part of ourselves that can succumb to despair.

Like this? subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.thepeacecenter.info/

Center director spreads peace in Berwyn, Suburban Life Dec. 7, 2009

2009-12-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/berwyn/archive/x1355822235/Center-director-spreads-peace-in-Berwyn?popular=true

The Tweet Heard Around the World

2009-10-23T02:19:00.001-07:00

“Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly to venture on wider seas where storms show Your mastery. “ Sir Francis Drake

Brent N. Hunter is busy. Unknown to most, Brent Hunter is one of the leading peacemakers-gone-viral making a difference on Twitter, although he might tell you he is just a guy with a book to sell. In the last year, he has tweeted 6136 times about peace to a following of over 42,000 other people on Twitter worldwide. Recently, he’s used Ernest Holmes, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Mohammed Ali, Abraham Lincoln, and Oprah. That a lotta peace rippling throughout the quantum field from someone we don’t know. Brent invites us to join his conversation @brentnhunter.

Over the last year, Twitter—the portable mini-blogging tool usable on cell phones--has exploded 15 times to 50 million worldwide unique visitors. Likewise, Facebook has grown 175% in the last year with the highest growth in the women over age 40.

What looks like a tsunami of information overload could catapult peacemaking and metaphysical spirituality into the next dimension if we handle it right. With social networking, the “nudge evolution” is happening, one tweet at a time, one person at a time.

Take for example Barry Stevens who runs a Science of Mind Study Group in Costa Rica. He writes, “Facebook is an excellent tool for building a group of friends who are working on a project, taking a course, and so on. It allows for the creation of a group easily and gives us the ability to include videos, audio clips, photos, etc. easily. It is great for groups to develop thoughts together.”

John Karn and Jeff Radcliffe live hours from a Science of Mind center in America’s rural south. John writes, “the Global Friends Yahoo group is life saving. It helps me to stay in principle (my goal is 24/7 be in principle). Also I've found a virtual church through this group. Podcasts are heavenly for me. “

Jeff adds, “Facebook has been a wonderful addition to my spiritual life. What I like best about social networking is that I can get a taste of what everyone else is doing in their personal lives as well as at church, and I've learned about organizations and events I might otherwise have missed. Plus, to see the friends of friends and discover connections I didn't even know were there...how cool is that?!”

Rev. Angelica Taggart in Langley, British Columbia, Canada is an avid participant in LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. She blogs, has a You Tube channel, writes on Barak Obama’s Facebook wall, circulates inspirational video clips to 600 of her closest friends and sends uplifting affirmations to her growing Twitter following. Sure, she posts events happening at her spiritual center but most of all, she listens. She says, “Facebook is like people-watching on my front porch. If I see someone pass by I haven’t heard from for awhile, I invite them in for tea.”

My advice for using social networking, There are real people out there who crave more than your latest press release. Listen deeply and whisper back.

You'll find me on Facebook and we can talk on Twitter @thepeacecenter. Or leave your comments and thoughts here!

Left in the Printer Bin: Response to Sedona Sweat Lodge Deaths

2009-10-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

I was packing up the other night when I noticed this article in the printer bin at the Peace Center. White Grizzly was giving rattle smudgings and volunteering at the store that day, and must've left it there. The deaths at last week's sweat lodge were very disturbing to Peace Center staff and several of us sat in the coffee shop discussing how something so spiritually deliberate could go so wrong. Sure, we know that life is eternal, and it happened 2000 miles away....but when fingers start pointing to all practitioners of nondualist spiritualities or all use of Native American ceremonies by the general population, it is felt personally everywhere.

The article entitled "Lokota Nation Statement on Sweat Deaths in Arizona" is by Lakota Chief Arvol Looking Horse who talks about the difference between his people's purification ceremony and the commercialized sweat lodge. We join Chief Looking Horse in his deepest compassion for those families and loved ones for their loss.

Chicago Peacemaker Wins Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Chicago's own President Obama who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this morning. Here is an excerpt from his unforgettable address in Cairo last June, where his fate as a peacemaker was sealed. Welcome to the club, President Obama - your presence here delights us!

...And I believe that America holds within her the truth that regardless of race, religion, or station in life, all of us share common aspirations - to live in peace and security; to get an education and to work with dignity; to love our families, our communities, and our God. These things we share. This is the hope of all humanity.

Of course, recognizing our common humanity is only the beginning of our task. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all....

If anyone reading has an idea about "what acting boldly in the years ahead" means on a personal level, post it here.

Read more or view entire speech on video at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/04/obama-speech-in-cairo-vid_n_211215.html

This Just Out---a NEW conservative interpretation of the Bible

2009-10-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

Check this video out - as usual, Colbert gives a clear perspective on an important topic!!!

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/251994/october-07-2009/tip-wag---conservapedia--louvre---honda-unicycle

Forgiveness is a journey to the center

2009-10-01T23:41:00.000-07:00

I'd heard it thousands of times. "There is no such thing as sin. Nothing I could ever do or say or think could shake God's love for me. Nothing in this world can separate me from God - no person, place, or thing." There is one exception perhaps, and that person would be me. So the first person to forgive in any circumstance would be myself. OK fine.

I can't say it didn't matter that I'd heard it thousands of times. I can't say either that my prior attempts at self-forgiveness were ineffective. I can't say that all those hours journaling, confessing, processing with counselors, therapists, and peers were in vain. I can't say that saying "I'm sorry, I messed up. Please forgive me." to the other was unnecessary.

I can say that asking God to forgive me was unnecessary. It took 30+ years, but I got it.

Indulge me....Thirty years ago, I did something that I judged as "betrayal." Even worse, somewhere along the line I equated this act of betrayal of another as betrayal of the Institution of Trust altogether. Not only did I fail to have a good excuse for my actions, but the betrayal was completely inexcusable. Maybe even unforgivable.

While a very creative route for a young mind to take, none of this was Spiritual Truth. It was a teenager's limited interpretation of an independent morality. Some would have forgiven themselves for not knowing any better and moved on. I was not equipped to do that at the time. Thus I created a journey back to wholeness through the vehicle of betrayal. I wonder how many others have been sitting in this boat with me.

I remember writing in my journal after one of my more teeth-rattling guilt trips that my innermost wish was to run hide in an ashram or convent and not emerge until I was done forgiving myself for my litany of sins. I knew God wasn't going to punish me, but I kept punishing myself and getting into all kinds of drama. I knew I was doing it, not God. It was I who was attracting the punishing partners, bosses, neighbors, and jerks in traffic, and I couldn't make it stop.

The other night I had a dream where the one I thought I'd harmed those many years ago and I were together in a beautiful garden having a lovely dinner at the center of the Earth. I can not describe how beautiful it was in words for I would never get to my main point. . . .

In this dream (which I now accept to be an intervention of Spirit), I realized that the only betrayal issue alive in me was self-betrayal. It was not alive in the other person and not alive at all in the reality we were now enjoying. I could simply let it go and embrace the moment, which I did. The joy I was experiencing in my dream from this release radiated into my waking hours and has stayed with me now for several days.

Now, if a client came into my office and asked me to interpret this dream for them, I would tell them that a tetonic shift in consciousness had taken place wherein self-forgiveness had been embodied and subjectified at the very core of their being. That whatever damage the client thought they inflicted on another or the Institution of Trust itself or even God was now made whole the only place it really mattered, on the inside of them. I would assure my client from the depths of my faith, that from this point forward, they will experience a life largely free of the old tendency of self-condemnation and subsequent punishment.

As they leave my office I would tell them "Very, very well done!"

Suffice it to say I never made it to the convent. Something better happened - I woke up from the really really bad dream of separation from God and my fellow human beings. My secret to awakening? Gee, I wish I could break down into "teachable components" exactly what I did so that I could teach others how to achieve the indescribable inner peace. I wish I could write a book on this, so millions could end their suffering by reading my step by step process. I wish I could offer a 30 day money back guarantee, but it doesn't work that way. "Poco a poco" as they say in this neighborhood. Gently, little by little is how it worked for me.

Knowlege comes to us one of two ways: through revelation or bitter experience. This is what I know through both paths - Inner peace comes with self-forgiveness. As I repeat a million affirmations of innocence and preciousness, a chip flies away here, another one there. With each prayer, journal entry, confession, and inspirational book, tiny shifts occur. Something greater is carved out, and we wake up dining in the glorious inner sanctum of peace, joy and unity.

Thinking back over the whole past 30 years...where it started and where I stand today, I conclude my inner peace is worth it. The center of the Earth is awesome. Come find me here.

I'd love to hear about your self-forgiveness journey. Write what it took for you here.

UnionLeader.com - New Hampshire news, business and sports - Selectmen may see backlash to anti-yoga vote - Sunday, Sep. 20, 2009

2009-09-23T17:24:00.001-07:00

UnionLeader.com - New Hampshire news, business and sports - Selectmen may see backlash to anti-yoga vote - Sunday, Sep. 20, 2009

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The Purpose of Spirituality

2009-09-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

For many years I have been teaching a class that I call "Spirituality That Works." The point is that spirituality is supposed to add something to your life, that life should be better because you are on the spiritual path, or that at least you could acquire some tools or healthier attitudes to deal with life more effectively. When "The Secret" came out, it added the additional layer of getting stuff. You could use your spiritual power to get external rewards. In fact, it has led us to believe that if we are in possession of the right concepts, we have an advantage over those who don't know what we know.

Lately, it has dawned on me that while this has been a major selling point of metaphysical teachings, it is also one of the largest impediments to spiritual growth. By "this" I am referring to the notion that we think we deserve external rewards for walking a spiritual path. When things go well, we assume the path is working. When things hit the fan, we assume it's not. So, we tried harder, we read more books, we went to more classes, we practiced religiously and yet there was no outward effect we could count on. It is at these crossroads where many abandon the spiritual path because it doesn't work.

For me, I had to ask myself a most painful question--WHAT AM I DOING? I recognized that in the midst of my spiritual doings, that I of myself can do nothing. In a moment of clarity, I remembered something I heard once from the Course in Miracles: "Your worth is not established by teaching or learning. Your worth is established by God. Nothing you do or think or wish or make is necessary to establish your worth."

So what then is the purpose of spirituality if it doesn't work to get stuff and make life work? Are we all bound to find less and less value in it only to eventually abandon it or jump on another bandwagon?

No--there is one thing that will preserve spirituality as something that will never lose its value: and that is to use one's spiritual power to love God. Our sprituality is not about us, it is about a connection with God. The world can not be controlled by our affirmations that it can be. But if we seek the Divine simply to have a deeper experience of the Divine, a wonderful, delightful purification of the mind begins. We begin to find Peace, Love and Harmony right where we are, no matter what is happening around us. We begin to experience it at the core of our being.

Ernest Holmes wrote that "As deep cries unto deep, so my thought cries unto Thee and Thou dost answer. I am renewed and refreshed; my whole being responds to Thy love, and I am complete in Thee." I don't know about you, but for me, completeness is its own reward.

Reinventing Myself for Greater Living

2009-07-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

At a luncheon the other day with a group of minister friends, one said, "and there's Margo reinventing ministry!" I was a little taken, a little embarrassed, as I had just asked another minister who visited my center for feedback on her experience. Six people were there in attendance including us.

I blurted out to the other, "Well, its adapt or die!" If there was ever a time I wanted to take back words, it was then. I knew that wasn't right, and it wasn't the impression I wanted to leave. It wasn't a comment heralding the gospel of greater livingness I teach, yet there it was out there.

Reinventing ministry? Moi? Geez, with six in attendance on Sunday, I was barely making it. We'd moved six times in the past three years. I felt that every change we had made was about surviving the next phase. It was about keeping on keeping on somehow, some way. Never giving up. Trying something else. Trial and error over and over. Feeling mostly error with a few successes thrown in to break up the monotony. Lots and lots of tears had been shed over feelings of failure, and the anxiety of running out of strategies, tactics, books, advice of mentors, and even visioning ideas to try. How do they do it? Those others who have 200, 300 or more showing up?

As the tears ran down my face, I could no longer contain myself. I was encircled by my friends who whispered the most supportive loving things in my ear. "Its never about teaching the program or to how many, it's who you become in the process." "Church is a front for the inner transformational process. If you didn't do ministry, you couldn't transform yourself the way you deeply want it."

"Consciousness of ministry is not measured by the collection plate or in numbers. It is measured in the lives you touch and how they touch others."

One shared a story about a minister who almost lost his church charter because he only had two students enrolled in classes. He persevered knowing he had something of value to offer those who would most benefit from his classes. One of those students went on to be the president of the organization. Thousands were touched during his administration.

Yes, I am reinventing ministry. I have reinvented myself and of course the ministry will by definition have to change. I used to pride myself on my mastery of the material, but did it touch people and help them transform their lives? One of the ways I've changed is to give up "doing church." Instead, I have been focusing on holding the space for transformation to take place. The really important thing is connecting on a heart level with those who can benefit from what we offer and leading a transformational process. It seems to be working out, after one month of being open (this time). To see how it's panning out, you can check out our website at www.thepeacecenter.info. You can keep informed by joining our mailing list or joining the dialogue here. You might just show up and change an old idea for the thrill of it.

It sure is a lot more fun when I look at it this way. I am energized, I am uplifted and I'm eager to meet up with my two students real soon. I have something to share that will touch them deeply. In so doing, I will be most touched of all.