This Week's Speaker

Rev Cindy Edelson began her Spiritual quest at the young age of 17 and then follower her heart and attended art school in the San Francisco Bay area. 

Years later Cindy was introduced to New Thought wisdom teachings and has been a Spiritual Counselor for over 19 years first through the Centers for Spiritual Living then with Heart Space Teachings in San Jose. 

Rev Cindy was recently a staff minister at Agape Bay Area and has Ministerial duties at Agape International. Rev Cindy is also an Energy Codes Master Trainer and Facilitator.

Rev Cindy has birthed two Ministries, “Letting it Go”, and “Letting it Flow”.  Letting it Go is a ministry where she supports, counsels, encourages, and coaches people how to let go of what no longer serves whether it is an emotion, beliefs or many objects that are cluttering a person’s energy field. 

Letting it Flow is a ministry of creativity where Rev. Cindy teaches paint parties to families, friends, and corporations and has developed a Spiritual Painting experience called “Art from the Heart” where she combines Energy Codes practices for removal of the subconscious belief that “I am not creative” since she KNOWS we are all creative beings!

Rev. Cindy has moved to Salt Lake and is now our full-time senior minister. 

 Zeynep is a mother of 4, wife, lifelong educator, interfaith & community leader, professional artist (Turkish arts & crafts, traditional dance) and Muslim faith representative. 

She has BA in Language and Literature and MS degree in Business Management and Leadership. She has lived in many countries throughout her life while she taught and learned different cultures. 

She came to US in 2011 along with her family where she appreciated diverse & inclusive culture and immediately became active member of the community. 

She has served as Outreach/event Director of Emerald Hills Institute almost 10 years. She has Led and taught weekend school to diverse population. Conducted and led adult classes, art workshops, cooking classes, lectures, panels, exhibits, discussions, luncheons and more. 

She became active member of interfaith community which eventually led her to be Chairperson of Interfaith Round Table. 

She is a founder of awarded interfaith volunteer group “Talk in Action.” 

She currently works at the United Way of Salt Lake as Volunteer Projects Coordinator. 

She received Utah Business Magazine Living Color Gala Diversity & Inclusion award in community engagement category due to her outstanding works bringing diverse population together to create love, harmony and understanding. 

Reverend Donald Graves’ love of life is contagious, his humor infectious and his interactive facilitation and storytelling inspires and compels the willing to become infinitely greater than they previously thought possible. 

Rev Donald retired from pulpit ministry in February 2017, after serving over thirty years as an Ordained Minister with Centers for Spiritual Living. 

He and his wife Jan enjoy settling into their new home in Tucson and traveling. They are developing UltimaVitae, LLC, the purpose of which is to guide individuals and organizations into their magnificence through education and experiential practices that support life mastery and spiritual awakening.

Rev. Myrna Hirst discovered the Salt Lake Center for Spiritual Living in 1998, became a practitioner in 2002, and an ordained minister in 2017. She has served in many capacities at the Salt Lake Center. After graduation she was the founding minister at the Layton Center for Spiritual Living, then returned to the Salt Lake Center in 2021,where she speaks occasionally, teaches classes, and is the Visioning Coordinator.     Visioning is a process that connects us with the Higher Wisdom as we seek answers to life’s questions. The Visioning Core meets regularly to consider the Highest Vision for the Center and share this information with Leadership.     Rev. Myrna has been centered in the Science of Mind philosophy for more than 25 years. The philosophy and its practice has changed her life, and the people at the Center are her family. 

Rev. Nicole Merges brings a light-hearted and relatable approach to teaching and embodying the spiritual principles and practices Science of Mind teaches. With a deep conviction that each individual possesses a unique gift to contribute to the world, she passionately guides others towards exploring and embracing a spiritual life.

As an Ordained CSL Minister and a holder of a Masters of Arts in Consciousness Studies, Rev. Nicole has been dedicated to her ministry since 2009. She has served many roles in the organization, including staff minister of the Salt Lake Center for Spiritual Living, founding minister of a CSL Center, and co-founder of an online education ministry. Her expertise and experience have led her to serve Centers for Spiritual Living Home Office since 2014, where she currently holds the role of Director of Spiritual and Professional Development. In this capacity, she oversees Certificated and Practitioner Education, Professional Development, online education, and the Spiritual Living Circles program.

While Rev. Nicole devotes herself to Centers for Spiritual Living, she also cherishes her leisure time. You may find her exploring nature, foraging for mushrooms, or skiing down the slopes. She deeply cherishes time with family and friends, valuing quality time and connection.

 Lanna Cairns has been a student and teacher of spiritual practices in New Thought and Buddhist communities throughout the country for over twenty years. Cairns has studied with Jack Kornfield, Greg Mullen, Ruth Dennison, and Genpo Roshi, founder of Big Mind meditation. She has a master’s degree in Religious Studies, has written three books, Organizing for Your Brain Type, Every Child Has a Thinking Style, and A Mindful Life and was a licensed spiritual counselor for 12 years with the United Centers for Spiritual Living. Currently she is an educator at Granite School District and founder of “Joan Rosa Productions,” focusing on media that celebrates inspiration and application.

Cairns work, as an organizer, began in 1998 when she created Organized World, a consulting firm specializing in all aspects of professional organization. Lecturing for T.E.C. – a company that educates CEOs around the world and many other Fortune 500 companies (see www.vistage.com), her clients have included: BMW, Kaiser Permanente, Sylvan Learning Centers, Canyon Ranch, MOFO, Harcourt-Brace, Mondavi Winery, Huntsman Cancer Institute, and The Salt Lake City Library. 

She has been featured in The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The Christian Science Monitor, Forbes, Parenting, Self, Cosmo, Science of Mind, Wasatch Woman, andChild have published Cairns’ articles and from 2005–2007 she contributed a biweekly column, “Lanna Cairns’ Organized World,” to the Napa Valley Register. 

Cairns has extensive experience in front of audiences. She’s been a speaker at several national conferences, including those held by NAPO (The National Association of Professional Organizers), NSGCD (The National Study Group for the Chronically Disorganized), at colleges, and at several United Centers for Spiritual Living around the country. She has appeared on ABC, CBC, and CTV. 

A native of Canada, Cairns earned her Masters degree from McMaster University. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband, two sons and two dogs, Hoodoo and Nina, a rescue dog from Romania!

Robert L Eckman discovered the Science of Mind in 1989. He believes that practicing the principles of this philosophy change lives and promote deep personal happiness.

Besides hobbies that include gardening, cooking, listening to Cole Porter albums and reading books, Rob enjoys weeding the garden, doing the dishes and shoveling snow. 

He serves as the manager of an independent bookshop in Salt Lake, is married to Steve and together they are grandpas to three wonderful grandchildren.

Rev. Dr. Joan Steadman is a founding member of the Agape International Spiritual Center and of Agape Bay Area. She has been an ordained Agape and Centers for Spiritual Living minister since 1998. She has served as the Senior Minister of our beloved community since January 2019 after serving as the assistant minister. 

In 2014, she reFIREd, releasing her position as Spiritual Leader at the Oakland Center for Spiritual Living where she served for fifteen years. Previous to that, she was an assistant minister at the Agape International Spiritual Center for two years and a licensed spiritual practitioner for thirteen years where she had a thriving practice.

As a founding member of Agape International, she served in many capacities, including the original Vision Core and the original Board of Trustees. She was the founder and director of One From The Heart, the pastoral care ministry. Under her leadership, the ministry grew and became one of the largest pastoral care ministries in the New Thought movement. While at Agape, she also facilitated accredited classes and many workshops centering in the mystical aspect of New Thought/Ageless Wisdom.

For many years, she has been on the faculty of both the Michael Beckwith School of Ministry and Holmes Institute, the CSL School of Ministry. She created curriculum for Practical Mysticism and Visioning and has taught innumerable classes since the late 1980’s.  Rev. Joan has facilitated workshops and retreats nationwide and has been a sought-out speaker at many New Thought centers and conferences. Additionally, she has authored articles and meditations for various New Thought magazines, including Science of Mind magazine and Inner Visions.

She was inducted into the Martin Luther King Hall of Preachers at Morehouse College and was awarded the Gandhi Ikeda King Award for Peace and Unity in the Community. She received congressional recognition by Representative Barbara Lee in 2014, and in August of 2021, she was a recipient of the Walden Award for New Thought Wisdom. 

Her education includes a BA from Immaculate Heart College and a teaching credential through UCLA. She became a licensed practitioner in 1086 and graduated from Ernest Holmes College, which was then the United Church of Religious Science ministerial school, in 1995.

Aa significant part of her spiritual growth was cultivated in the Immaculate Heart Community where she was a Roman Catholic nun for nine years.

Rev. Joan has two daughters and three granddaughters, all of whom continually teach her how to love unconditionally.

Rev Cynthia Ambriz is an Agape New Thought Minister and graduated from the Michael B. Beckwith School of Ministry in 2020. Prior to this she was licensed through the Agape University as a Spiritual Therapist in 2014. She has a counseling practice which allows her to work with individuals around the world. She is also a Public Speaker, Teacher, Curriculum Designer, Energy Healer, and Author.

Cynthia offers seekers a safe space to go deeper on their individual paths of self-discovery and healing. She guides individuals in learning about and cultivating tools that lead to self-empowerment and embodiment. Cynthia’s commitment to her clients and all those who cross her path is to hold them in a sacred container as they awaken to their own inner greatness. She is committed to assisting individuals heal emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually so that they can access and fulfill their greatest destinies.

She is a Master Trainer of Energy Codes created by Dr. Sue Morter. She teaches individuals how to utilizes the embodiment practices and principles to activate full human potential. Through her workshops, one on one sessions, and courses, she illuminates the relationship between the Mind, Body & Breath aka Spirit and assists the individual in creating a coherent relationship between the three which allows for optimum health, creativity, and joy.

Cynthia has studied with Dr. Sue Morter at Morter Institute and has been certified in the following healing modalities:

· Energy Codes Coach

· Energy Codes Master Trainer and Facilitator

· B.E.S.T. Practitioner

· Spiritual B.E.S.T. Practitioner

Cynthia debuted as an author with her book Life Finds A Way - A Journey of Healing and return to Wholeness. In Life Finds A Way, Cynthia gives a wonderfully honest account of her life so far and tells a beautiful story of finding inner Truth. Through her own experiences, she shares wisdom on how to embody the Real YOU.

Rev. Linda Brewer was ordained for a Counseling Ministry in 1975 in North Carolina. She founded the Kindred Center there in 1980 with a mission to create a supportive environment in which people together could transform their lives. She was a member of the Unity Church for 19 years before moving to Utah and joining the Center in 2002. She was licensed as a Practitioner in 2007. 

After twenty-five years in her Counseling ministry, Linda was called to a new ministry and served for fifteen years as a hospital and hospice Chaplain until she retired in January of 2019. She has been a regular speaker at the Center since retiring and also serves on the Ministry Council as the Sunday Service Coordinator. 

Rev. Brian Diggs has over 20 years of experience leading United Methodist congregations and non-profit organizations into deeper action and commitment to mission. 

He was the director at UMCOR (The United Methodist Committee on Relief) West Office and Depot in Salt Lake City since it opened in 2009. Prior to working with UMCOR, Diggs served as senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City for 10 years. 

Since arriving in Salt Lake City in 1997, Rev. Brian has supported the work and mission of Family Promise and is excited to help lead Family Promise in our continued effort to provide housing and sustainable independence for homeless families. 

Rev. Brian is an ordained clergy person in the Mountain Sky Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and received his M. Div. from the Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. His focus was on liturgy as ethical formation.

Rev. Claire Summerhill

After several full and exciting careers, in insurance claims, as a licensed attorney, and as a college instructor, Rev. Claire Summerhill became an ordained minister with Centers for Spiritual Living in 2019. Since that time, she has filled many roles as a staff minister at Center for Spiritual Living Greater Las Vegas.

Claire’s book, Walking on Water, provides a step-by-step guide for accomplishing things that seem impossible, as it explores the balance and harmony between taking action and waiting in the stillness for possibilities to unfold. 

When asked about what’s hers to do, Rev. Claire says: I am called to live simply and with joy, as I discover and share my own unique gifts and talents, and encourage and support others in doing the same. It is my life’s work to awaken, to inspire, and to serve, as we grow together as a human family into a greater experience of our oneness with all that is. 

Megan Sillito has inspired thousands of people to create meaningful, creative, and lucrative lives and businesses. She organically ignites people’s talents and genius and helps them see where these gifts can engage the world in a profitable way, doing it their way, based on their unique skill set! Using universal principles and her own magic, she playfully introduces you to your “own” map to successful creation and then catalyzes you to turn up the potency required to follow it.  

She runs her own global transformation based company. Her signature event Live Your Magic has been in 8 cities and 4 countries. Her favorite pastime is having deep conversations with world changers. She has created hundreds of live and online programs on a wide range of topics, leadership, happiness, prosperity, creativity, organic work flow, and creating conscious business your way! 

 Rev. James Peak believes learning about and practicing unconditional love is a key to living in a powerful, creative, and joy filled way. He is an Ordained CSL Minister, has served as a Senior Minister of a local community, and is currently the Spiritual Education Program Manager at CSL Home Office in Golden, CO.

Rev. James holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Phoenix and a Master’s degree in Consciousness Studies from Holmes Institute - San Diego.

He enjoys living among the pines in the foothills of the Rockies, hiking, and golfing.

Rabbi Alan serves as the Assistant Rabbi at Spirit of the Desert (Ruach Hamidbar) Synagog in Scottsdale, Arizona, and as the Chair of the North American Interfaith Network (NAIN). He previously chaired Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable, and Sacred Music Night for the 2015 Parliament of the World’s Religions. He has served as a chaplain at St. Marks hospital and has organized many interfaith music events in our region.

Rabbi Alan is a long-time friend of the Salt Lake Center for Spiritual Living. When he first moved to Utah in 1985, he sought out Science of Mind. He had previously been introduced to New Thought by the Living Enrichment Center while living in Oregon. When he first came to the Salt Lake Center for Spiritual Living (then called the Salt Lake Church of Religious Science) he met Raj Harrous (our audio-visual genius) who became his first friend in Utah and has remained a close friend ever since.

It wasn't long before Alan was serving on the Board Church of Religious Science (CORS). On a humorous note, while on the Board, he made a motion to change the name of CORS to a "Spiritual Living Center." No one supported his motion! Then CORS ended up moving to a location that was the "Center" bookstore. And finally, CORS officially changed its name to the Center for Spiritual Living. So, something was obviously put out there into the universe!

Rabbi Alan's rabbinical journey began 25 years ago when he was called as a musician to perform for a Jewish Renewal Community, Spirit of the Desert, related to his Kabbalah Shekhinah CD.

Rabbi Alan emerges from his rabbinical training with a depth of knowledge and experience in the traditions of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Rabbi David Wolfe-blank, Rabbi Sarah Leah Grafstein, and Rabbi Leah Novick.

Music has been part of Rabbi Alan's life since the very beginning. As a baby, he would cry if the radio was not on. While growing up in Rochester, New York, he studied at Eastman School of Music.

Much of the music he currently composes and performs with his band, Desert Wind, includes New Thought principles, especially as elucidated by Ernest Holmes.

He has spoken at "Science of Mind" locations in Nevada, Northern and Southern California, Utah, and Arizona.

In addition to music and spirituality, Rabbi Alan has also expressed his passion for making the world a better place through his study and practice of law.

After earning a BS in Special Education from Syracuse University, at the age of 20 he went on to law school to pursue his interest in the legal rights of disabled people. His first job as an attorney focused on land use and environmental law. He also worked as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Utah before going into private practice.

He is married to his soulmate, Andalin Shekhinah Bachman. Between the two of them, they have three children and nine grandchildren.

Because of his commitment to personal growth, he is always honored to be among the wonderful, like-minded people at the Center for Spiritual Living.