Reverend Sky St. John became an ordained Unity minister in 1995. He was minister of Unity Church of Omaha, Neb., where they grew from a congregation of 50 to nearly 500. In July 2005 Sky returned to Hawaii as minister of Unity Church of Hawaii.

Sky spent the majority of his adult life in Honolulu where he was a public school teacher for 13 years before answering the call to become a Unity minister. He also had a very successful entertainment career, performing at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for 15 years and producing several professional recordings.

He became a registered nurse and worked for two years in the last existing leper colony in the United States, on the island of Molokai. After teaching nursing at the college level, Sky formed a nursing education company called Operation Nightingale, training international nurses from all over the world.

As founder and owner of Conscious Pursuits, Inc., Cindy Wigglesworth bridges a solid business background with her passionate beliefs about the importance of integrating our spiritual and work lives.

Cindy's spiritual foundation comes from a lifetime study of philosophy, psychology, religion and related sciences. Her latest studies have included Jungian Psychology, the science of consciousness, quantum physics and the major world religions. With a personal library of over 800 books, she can always be found with a book nearby and educational audiotapes in the car!

Cindy has gained a reputation as an expert in the field of "spirit at work" and speaks regularly on the subject.

Alan Nelson is the executive editor of Rev! Magazine, plus a 20-year veteran pastor, church planter, trainer and student of leadership who is curious about impacting lives and the church. He has a doctorate (Ed.D.) in leadership and is the author of a dozen books and over 100 articles. Alan's official title is "Pastoral Ministry Champion" at Group Publishing in Loveland, Colo.. He is the author of a dozen books, including Me to We.

Nearly every minister in America is wondering about one of two things: How can I get my congregation unstuck? or How can I take it to the next level? Research shows that in healthy churches, over 90 percent of people are actively involved in serving; and in unhealthy churches, around 11 percent are. The minister-centered church results in clergy burnout, lack of spiritual growth, and marginal commitment emotionally and financially.

Join Alan for a practical, concentrated interactive session on how to move from a minister-centric ministry to an empowering one that unleashes your congregation's potential.

John Shelby Spong, whose books have sold more than a million copies, was the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2001. A longtime champion of progressive Christianity, Spong is a visionary voice in the religious community, calling people to step beyond boundaries of tribe, prejudice, gender and even religion to create a new humanity. His latest book, Jesus for the Non-Religious (Harper San Francisco, March 2007), expands his vision for a radically reformed Christianity, peeling away dogma to reveal the essence of Jesus. It is a new, deeper and more powerful exploration of the Jewish Jesus, about which he first wrote in his classic This Hebrew Lord.

John Shelby Spong's lifelong quest to rescue the church from irrelevancy has led admirers to hail him as champion of inclusive faith and detractors to vilify him as a heretic. It is not a desire to destroy faith, however, that drives Bishop Spong, but rather the longing of a "God-intoxicated" mystic to enter the mystery that is Jesus Christ. "Jesus stands not only at the center of my faith but at the center of all that I am," he says. "My commitment, however, is to the reality of Jesus as a God experience, not to the reality of the traditional explanations."

Lynne Twist – a global activist, fundraiser, speaker, consultant and author – has dedicated her life to global initiatives that serve the best instincts in all of us. She has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and trained thousands of fundraisers to be more effective in their work.

She has spent more than three decades working in positions of leadership with many global initiatives including: ending world hunger, protecting the world's rainforests, empowering indigenous peoples, improving health, economic, and political conditions for women and children, advancing the scientific understanding of human consciousness, creating a sustainable future for all life.

Lynne Twist and her husband are co-founders of The Pachamama Alliance, an organization with the twofold mission of:

• Preserving the Earth's tropical rainforests by empowering the indigenous people who are its natural custodians.
• Contributing to the creation of a new global vision of equity and sustainability for all.

Her keynote addresses:

• Catalyze individuals to become successful, effective leaders and team members.
• Help people reclaim their lives and their relationships by letting money become an expression of their highest selves.
• Enlighten today's business leaders about their opportunity to not just lead their company but to play a key role in the most influential and dominant institution of our age – business

 

Brian Robertson founded Ternary Software in 2001 and led the company as CEO for seven years before transitioning into his current chairman of the board role. During his tenure as Ternary's CEO, he built the firm into an award-winning provider of software development services, earning local recognition as one of the fastest-growing private companies and best places to work in the region and international recognition as one of the world's most democratic workplaces and for embracing the full human spirit in the workplace. At Ternary, Brian pioneered an innovative approach to corporate governance and management called Holacracy^TM, which has now become an international movement. In 2007 he founded Holacracy training and licensing firm HolacracyOne, where he serves as chairman and currently focuses much of his time. Beyond his day-to-day work with HolacracyOne, he leads many of the organization's trainings and workshops, and his writings and speaking engagements provide a voice to the Holacracy movement across the world. His latest articles and writings can be found at www.holacracy.org.

Marilyn Muehlbach, current Chair of the Board of Trustees says, "I am a Unity minister, graduated from a university with Baptist roots, was raised as a Methodist, and baptized in a Presbyterian church!" She will share her vision for the future of Unity.