Frequent Speakers

(People who have spoken several times during the last year.)

Special Guests

Rev. Ron Moor. After acting as an Associate Minister for Spirit United for several years,  Ron continues to be an active member and a favorite speaker, who leads our service 6+ times a year. He is a hands-on healer, teacher, and ordained minister with over 20 years experience working with clients and students across the country. He studied for eight years with noted healer Rosalyn L. Bruyere and for three years was lead pastor at her Healing Light Center Church and Seminary. He has also studied extensively with Carl Rogers at the Center for the Studies of The Person, at Manly P. Hall's Philosophical Research Society, and with Roger Weir at the Shared Presence Institute. In 1989, Ron founded the Center for Wholeness where he offers classes on healing, spiritual growth, and private healing sessions.

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew is a writing instructor and spiritual director living in Minneapolis.  She is the author of Swinging on the Garden Gate: A Spiritual Memoir, Writing the Sacred Journey:  The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir, and On the Threshold:  Home, Hardwood, and Holiness, a collection of personal essays.  She is a recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board artists’ fellowship, the Loft Career Initiative Grant, and is a Minnesota Book Awards finalist.   www.spiritualmemoir.com

Patricia Enstad

Nic Askew is a film-maker and a writer.

Rev. Courtney Grathwol

Alan Berkowitz, PhD, is a well-loved speaker, known for his wealth of knowledge and warm and engaging manner. He is a noted scholar, researcher and public speaker who is passionate about enhancing and promoting social justice, health and well-being in our hearts, homes and communities. He has been a student at Wisdom’s Goldenrod Center for Philosophic Studies in Hector, NY for over thirty years, where he studied the perennial wisdom traditions with its founder, Anthony Damiani, and where he has taught classes and workshops, served on the Board of Directors, and lived as a resident.  In addition, Alan is connected to the work of Paul Brunton, serving as his personal assistant towards the end of his life, Trigueirinho and the Figueira community in Brazil, where he lectures regularly, and Raphael and Ashram Vidya in Italy.

Rev. Jan Skogstrom, Founding Minister and Minister Emeritus, Spirit United Church.

Jan Skogstrom is a Licensed Psychologist, teacher, and minister, having attended the University of Minnesota for a Bachelor’s degree, the University of St. Thomas for a graduate degree, and Sancta Sophia Seminary for ministerial training, and where she engaged in the study and practice of Ageless Wisdom teachings for over twenty years.  Twenty-seven years of her teaching and psychology career were spent at a local community college as the founder and director of the Human Services Program. In 1999 Jan was the founding minister, along with many coworkers, of Spirit United Interfaith Church, serving as the Lead Minister until September 2005, when she retired, becoming Minister Emeritus. Jan’s personal mission is to use her knowledge, skills, experience, and wisdom to facilitate personal and planetary transformation by living a soul-centered, honest, mindful, and joy-filled life, and increasing her capacity to love unconditionally – herself, others, and planet Earth.

Mel Duncan has done grass roots organizing for peace, justice and the environment for over 30 years. Issues that he has worked on include: peace in Central America, living wages, peace conversion of weapons industries, corporate welfare reform, opposition to nuclear waste storage at Prairie Island, and opposition to public financing for a baseball stadium. He helped found three important organizations: the Minnesota Jobs with Peace Campaign, Advocating Change Together (a self advocacy organization of people with developmental disabilities now in its 23rd year), and the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action (MAPA). Paul Wellstone was another co-founder of MAPA. They also worked together on a long shot U.S. Senate race in 1990. Mel has also brought medical supplies to the people of Iraq.
As a Bush Foundation Community Leadership Fellow, Mel spent 1 1/2 years studying the connections between grassroots organizing and spirituality which ended at Plum Village, a Buddhist monastery in southern France where Thich Nhat Hanh lives. Mel is currently the Executive Director of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, which is composed of trained professional peacekeepers from around the world.

James Ulness, long-time Professor of Psychology at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, has integrated the best of main stream psychology with Eastern and Western spirituality. The Humanistic Psychology of Maslow and Rogers, the Depth Psychology of Carl Jung, the Transpersonal Psychology of Michael Wasburn and Ken Wilber, the Psychology of Self-determination of Edward Deci, the methodology of Assagioli’s Psychosynthesis, with the insight of Spiritual Science in the work of Rudolf Steiner has given Dr. Ulness his unique approach to the study of human nature and the social order.  He is particularly interested in helping people who are having unusual experiences of a psychic, spiritual, or mystical nature understand what is happening and thus be better able to integrate these into their personality in a healthier way.

Rev. Barbara Everett is a spiritual teacher, intuitive counselor, astrologer, and independent minister.  She founded the Aquarian Light, a successful spiritual center in Minneapolis. MN.  Barbara now offers seasonal events, weddings, ceremonies, and personal appointments in Edmonds, WA.  Barbara's e-mail address is:  wisdomreadings@usa.net.
 

The Brothers Frantzich. Tumbling pioneers in the revolution of Love, The Brothers Frantzich (fran-zik) cast the true image of brothers in harmony up toward the transcendent image of peaceful harmony between cultures and religions. Their hearts, music and style bridge the gap between the thrill and sensuality of  Saturday night and the sacred hours of Sunday morning.
They are the founders of Feed Them With Music, an organization promoting artists, events and concerts, which donate 15% of profits toward feeding starving people globally. They are also the founders of Wild Christ, which is committed to waking our sleeping culture from its spiritual nap with sacred ritual and the vibrancy of the arts.
The Brothers Frantzich are deeply committed to the elevation of love through music and harmony. Visit: www.brothersf.com.

Deborah Graham has served as a certified teacher for the International Network of Esoteric Healing since 1998 and has taught classes both nationally and internationally. She has extensively studied healing and metaphysics, specializing in astrology and holistic health.  Deborah maintains a private practice in East Lansing, Michigan, offering classes, energy balancing sessions, and astrological consultations utilizing her empathic and intuitive skills.

Rev. Carol E. Parrish Harra. Long recognized as an inspired spiritual leader, Carol has stimulated many people to rejoice in their oneness with God. Many find hope in her lucid explanations of how certain fundamental truths that underlie all religions guide us in these changing times. Her presentation of the esoteric aspects of early Christianity, free of doctrine and adornment, reinforces our acceptance of the Christ. Ordained in 1971, Carol left a promising business career to devote herself to her ministry and lecturing in the human potential movement. Through the years, so many of her students have become teachers and ministers, she is known as a "master teacher of teachers." Having directed the Villa Serena community of Sarasota, Florida, for several years, she was led by spiritual guidance in 1981 to establish the community of Sparrow Hawk Village in the foothills of the Ozarks near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where she is president of Light of Christ Community Church and academic dean of Sancta Sophia Seminary. Carol is the author of several excellent books, and has won awards for her work. Learn more at www.caroleparrish.com.

Richard Smoley is one of the world's most distinguished authorities on the mystical and esoteric teachings of Esoteric Christianity. He is the author of Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition; The Essential Nostradamus; and Forbidden Faith: The Gnostic Legacy from the Gospels to The Da Vinci Code. He is also author of Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions. He is the former editor of Gnosis magazine and is currently editor of Quest Books. Visit his website: www.innerchristianity.com.

Rev. Nita Wolf received her Master’s Degree in comparative world religions and interfaith ministry credential in January 2007. She completed the two-year course work at the Psychosynthesis Institute of MN.  She is a licensed family educator and teaches full time. Nita has worked in “people programs” in various ways for 40 years. She lives in Northfield with her husband. They have 5 children and 7 grandchildren.