CATEGORIES

Sharing God's Word from My Heart

Londa Richardson is the chief financial officer and corporate board secretary for the Tennessee Church of God of Prophecy. She is also manager and rental liaison for Hickory Hills Retreat and Conference Center in Dickson, Tennessee. Londa began preaching at 17 years of age and is a licensed COGOP minister. She runs highly successful retreats for the adults of Tennessee as state director of Thrive. She has pastored five churches and held state leadership positions in four states. She has been a city clerk as well as the president of both a local ministerial association and a chaplain’s association. Londa and her husband, Dwight, have been married 51 years and have two sons, Jeremi and Tyler, and three granddaughters, Laken, Eden, and Noa.

Jesus, Center of the Sermon A David and Goliath Case Study

Simon Rock ministers in the COGOP in Erlangen, Germany and is academic dean of THS, a theological school that is passionate about equipping the next generation of leaders. He holds a MA in Biblical Studies from Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. He is married to Mutave Rock and has two daughters, Cara and Talitha. He is passionate about leading people deeper into the things of God.

Thus Says the Lord

Dr. Elias Rodriguez is a member of the faculty and instructor for the Center for Biblical Leadership. He has served as pastor and traveled and taught extensively throughout Latin America, Western Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, North America, and Africa. He has been a member of the Church’s Assembly Committee for Biblical Doctrine and Polity since 2006 and serves as its secretary. Dr. Rodriguez earned a Master of Divinity degree from Church of God Theological Seminary (now Pentecostal Theological Seminary) in 2007 and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2014.

The Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:1–9 MSG

Treasures in Jars of Clay

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV). What a privilege it is to preach and teach from God’s Word!

UNITY IN A WORLD OF DIVERSITY

BRIAN JONES explores unity in a world full of challenges and diversity. Through different analogies and his own personal experience with meditation, he finds effective ways to achieve unity through the silence of the heart.

Spirituality

DR. ZACH BUSH is a renowned, multi-disciplinary physician and educator on the microbiome as it relates to human health, the environment, and our interconnected future. Here he extends this worldview into the spiritual realm and the field of consciousness, so as to co-create a sustainable and regenerative future for all of us, and understand the role of humanity in the greater scheme of things.

Women & Spirituality

Mirabai Bush is the author of Working With Mindfulness, co-creator of Google’s “Search Inside Yourself” program, cofounder of the Center for Contemplative Mind and Society and a founding board member of the Seva Foundation. She teaches contemplative practices, and has facilitated retreats, workshops and courses on spirit and action for over 20 years. To commemorate International Women’s Day, Mirabai spoke with Purnima Ramakrishnan on March 6, 2021.

Katara McCarty – Exhale

Katara McCarty is the source and inspiration for Exhale, a well-being App for Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color. In December 2020, she was interviewed by Mamata Venkat about her life-long journey creating resources for some of the most marginalized people in society, and her approach to spirituality.

What is Success?

Dr. Ichak Adizes shares what true success really means and what is needed to find success in everything we do.

The Ber Tree

V. RAMAKANTHA, Ph.D., is a former Indian Forest Service officer and member of the Green Initiative at the international Heartfulness Center, Kanha Shanti Vanam, India. Having spent most of his working life living in forests and jungles, in tune with the natural world, he shares his knowledge about some of the amazing medicinal plants of India, in this case the Ber Tree.

Decision-Making versus Implementation

DR. ICHAK ADIZES explores the different qualities and skills needed to make a decision and then to implement it – when to be open-minded and when to be closed-minded, and how to find a common interest so that all stakeholders can work together to implement a decision.

THE ZERO BALANCING POINT

JANMARIE CONNOR explores some practical ways to create harmony and balance where there is tension, conflict and disagreement. How can polar opposites coexist?

Feeling, Sensitivity and Consciousnes

ROS PEARMAIN, Ph.D., has been integrating the fields of psychology, psychotherapy and spirituality, through both practical and philosophical approaches, for over 40 years. Here she explores the way a spiritual practice opens up the levels of feeling and sensitivity, as we expand into deeper and deeper levels of consciousness, and how our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies are integrated through the heart.

Creating Balance FINDING YOUR COLORS AMIDST THE BLACK AND WHITE

MAMATA VENKAT opens up about the challenge of finding selfcompassion and self-acceptance in a world of judgment and criticism. She also offers 10 tips from her own experience about how to cultivate a self-nurturing approach to life.

TOO MUCH STUFF? FLOW AND F.L.O.W.

Inspired by Benedictine simplicity, BECKY GARRISON looks for ways to keep her space less cluttered.

RIGHT NOW, WE'RE ALL DYSREGULATED

Yoga teacher and somatic counselor HALA KHOURI shares ideas for moving toward self-regulation.

The REST Story

Despite a high-pressure job producing films, Tracee Stanley had everything under control. Prioritizing her own wellbeing made her more effective and efficient at work—which gave her time and space to prioritize her own wellbeing.

PEERING INTO THE FUTURE OF RETREATS

Retreat centers are ready to invite guests back onto their properties, but what that means may be vastly different in 2021 and beyond, even after the pandemic is under control.

6 SECRETS FOR PLANNING A RETREAT FOR A GROUP OF FRIENDS

You’ve envisioned it for ages—escaping for a retreat with a group of dear friends. You’re laughing together in terry-cloth robes and mud masks. Or maybe your gang is at a wilderness retreat, journaling around a fire pit. Perhaps your group is together deepening a faith practice, experiencing a festival, or traveling in an exotic locale. But getting your squad off on a retreat can easily become a logistical challenge (ever heard the term herding cats?). Here are six secrets for turning a “maybe someday” dream into a concrete, and pleasurable, reality.

WOUNDS AND THE WOMB

JULIE PETERS explores how to heal a relationship with the sacred womb, a place of death, life, and possibilities.

BE SQUIRRELY

Giant squirrels, giant lessons? Animal chaplain SARAH BOWEN explores what squirrels can show us about mindfulness.

5 PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF RETREATS

The rustic, historic property once offered hot mineral soaks in private rooms with big clawfoot tubs and one of the best and largest wood-burning saunas in the States. Days frolicking between the steaming hot mineral baths, a cold creek, and the sauna—and nights spent without phone or wifi in a simple cabin in the woods. Hot tea, a warm fire, and a cool stack of magazines: My kind of bliss.

A REVOLUTION OF COURAGE

Find inspiration to love another day with these selections from S&H.

Great books from our S&H contributors!

WANT: 8 STEPS TO RECOVERING DESIRE, PASSION, AND PLEASURE AFTER SEXUAL ASSAULT

Who Will You Be?

Identity is a version of reality we experience according to the vision we are using.

Toward Zero and Beyond

ALAIN DESVIGNE is the CEO of a leading solar company, the Amarenco Group. He strives to contribute to sustainability in every field of life. Here he explores the nature of reducing and minimalizing our use of resources in the world, by working on our reaction emissions and inner climate changes.

The Birds of Kanha

RAJESH MENON is a photographer from Delhi, who specializes in images from nature. Here he shares some of the beautiful birds of Kanha Shanti Vanam, the 1300 acre property outside Hyderabad, India, that is the international headquarters of the Heartfulness Institute. It is also a green sanctuary.

Giving More, Taking Less

FRANCOIS BOUDERLIQUE learnt about the basic principle of Nature – to give more than you take – when he left a high-powered banking job in Paris to live and farm in Kutch, India. He realized that his understanding of eco farming was colored by his past and he needed to open his eyes to a new reality.

Visioning a Re-new-able Year

FLASHBACK: It’s December 31, 1999. Flushed from dancing, I’m perched on the steps of the Hilton Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, filled with anxiety about Y2K and the chaotic world around me.