Barbara Kellogg
“This is my twentieth year as a Unity Truth student, having originally come to Unity seeking a more prosperous life. I’ve worked at the Association of Unity Churches International and currently work as a tour guide at Unity Village and in the Unity Bookstore. It is a true blessing and joy to assist visitors here at Unity, whether it be guiding them on a tour or helping them find books in the bookstore. I also share Truth principles through my storytelling program, “Truth Wrapped in Story,” which I present at various New Thought churches. In my spare time, I enjoy watching baseball games with my husband and spoiling my terrier, when not spoiling my seven grandchildren.”

“I have worked at Unity for 17 years. I began as a secretary in the Development department, primarily supporting James Dillet Freeman. He was a brilliant man, totally dedicated to prayer. I was blessed to have worked for him. One of the most memorable things he said was that all he wanted to do was help people to not hurt so much. If his writing could do that, he felt his work was done.”

“I currently work in a support role for Lynne Brown, vice president of Silent Unity. I consider serving in Silent Unity a privilege and an honor, and I am constantly amazed to see the dedication of each Silent Unity worker. They pour their hearts and love into this work.”

“Through the experience I have written about in “What a Mother’s Day!,” I have a deeper respect and belief in the power of prayer. Prayer from friends and coworkers got our family through these times. For that support, I am forever grateful. I understand the power behind prayer and have witnessed its effects in our lives. The work here has truly helped us to ‘not hurt so much.’

“I have worked at Unity for 29 years and currently serve in Correspondence Processing at Silent Unity. Working at Unity has gotten me through difficult times in my life. The atmosphere, the people, and the work really help to calm my soul.”

“As I write about in “In the Blink of an Eye,” the situation with my daughter has been such a blessing in disguise. She’s gotten to do so many things that she probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do if she hadn’t been blind. You never know when something can be taken away, which is why it is so important to live life one day at a time and to live it to the fullest.”

“I am a Licensed Unity Teacher and have worked in the Silent Unity Telephone Prayer Ministry for 11 years. I have served in the role of senior associate since 2001.”

“Even before I was born, my grandmother wrote to Silent Unity for prayers. And although there was not a Unity church near the small community where I was raised in Michigan, I learned Unity principles from my mother.”

“Our family has been blessed with many miracles. My favorite miracle is my daughter, now a beautiful young woman, who weighed 2 pounds, 9½ oz. at her premature birth. God is good!”

“It has been exciting to return to Unity’s headquarters and to see and experience the movement of Spirit in all of its activities. I am grateful to be a part of what I see and to know that for Unity, the best is yet to be!”

Rev. Phillip Pierson is currently vice president of Unity Institute at Unity Village, Missouri.

He was educated at St. George’s Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island, and Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and in the Army during the Korean War. He worked in refinery sales for Ashland Oil and Refinery Company and was a regional manager for Standard & Poors Corporation before entering the ministry.

Rev. Pierson began his ministry in 1959 as an associate minister at the Unity Church in Seattle, Washington. While serving there, he also began the first Unity ministries in Bellevue, Everett, and Bellingham, Washington. He then took the ministry in Honolulu, Hawaii, where his wife and cominister, Dorothy, joined him. They were responsible for the building of the beautiful Unity Church on the slopes of Diamond Head. In 1967 they moved to the Christ Unity Church ministry in Sacramento, California, serving there until 2002.

While ministering in Sacramento, the Piersons pioneered the popular television show The Best Is Yet to Be. They continued this weekly program, seen in a number of western states, for more than 25 years. During this time they interviewed more than 200 people on the cutting edge of spirituality, including Buckminster Fuller, Dr. Carl Simonton, Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Larry Dossey, and Dr. Norman Shealy.

Rev. Pierson has served on the board and executive committee of the Association of Unity Churches International for many years and was its president in 1971. He has also served on the Board of the Charles and Myrtle Fillmore Foundation and has been its executive director.

He has written for Daily Word® magazine and Unity Magazine® and produced several cassette albums, a videocassette on Teilhard de Chardin’s great work, "The Phenomenon of Man," and one book, "The Spirit of the Best."


“I have worked at Unity for one year as a writer in the Composition Department.”

“To me, Unity is a way of life. It is practical Christianity at its best. The spiritual principles and teachings of Unity resonate within my soul, and they help deepen my conscious connection with God.”

“Writing “Pictures Worth Keeping,” was a cathartic experience for me. I felt compelled to share the lessons I learned with my grandma. I dearly hope that others find something of value in this article as they navigate similar experiences.”


Rev. Thomas Shepherd is chair of Theological and Historical Studies in the Ministry and Religious Studies Department of Unity Institute. An ordained Unity minister, Rev. Shepherd’s first career path took him soldiering, including a tour in Vietnam as a medical evacuation helicopter pilot for which he earned a decoration. After Vietnam, Rev. Shepherd left the Army to earn a B.S. Ed. at the University of Idaho and M.Div. from Lancaster Theological Seminary. He returned to active duty and completed 20 years’ service as an Army chaplain.

Rev. Shepherd has served as senior minister of Christ Church Unity of Augusta, Georgia; assistant executive director and theologian-in-residence for Johnnie Colemon’s Universal Foundation for Better Living; and senior minister of Sunrise Unity Church, Sacramento, California, before joining the faculty at Unity Institute.

Rev. Shepherd writes a popular Q&A column, “I’ve Always Wondered About...,” in Unity Magazine®, and is the author of “Friends in High Places" and "Glimpses of Truth."