Center for Action and Contemplation

Brian McLaren is an author, speaker, pastor, and networker among innovative Christian leaders, thinkers, and activists. He graduated from University of Maryland with degrees in English (BA and MA). In 2004, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity Degree (honoris causa) from Carey Theological Seminary in Vancouver, BC, Canada. In 1982, he left a career in higher education to help form Cedar Ridge Community Church (crcc.org). He has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Worship Leader, and Conversations, and his books include: The Secret Message of Jesus, Everything Must Change, Finding Our Way Again, A New Kind of Christian, Adventures in Missing the Point (with Dr. Anthony Campolo), and Church in the Emerging Culture, among many others. He is actively involved in a growing generative friendship among missional Christian leaders (www.emergentvillage.com); serves as a board chair for Sojourners (sojo.net), and is a founding member of Red Letter Christians. Brian is married to Grace, and they have four young adult children. Brian travels extensively, and his personal interests include ecology, fishing, hiking, music, art, and literature. Links to online articles and songs are available at www.brianmclaren.net.

Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, PhD serves as Principal Teacher for the Contemplative Society and an adjunct faculty member at the Vancouver School of Theology. She is the author of six books: Chanting the Psalms, Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of Knowing, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Love is Stronger Than Death and The Wisdom Jesus. She is also responsible for many articles and CDs on the Christian Spiritual Life. She is a past Fellow of the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural research at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN, and an oblate of New Camaldoli Monastery in Big Sur, California.  As well as her role with the Contemplative Society, she is also a retreat and conference leader, teacher of prayer, writer on the spiritual life, and Episcopal priest. Cynthia is passionately committed to the recovery of the Christian contemplative path and has worked closely with Fr. Thomas Keating as a teacher of Centering Prayer, Fr. Bruno Barnhart, and other Christian contemplative masters. She is also committed to working with leaders of other religious traditions.

Shane Claiborne is a founding partner of The Simple Way, a faith community in inner city Philadelphia that has helped to birth and connect radical faith communities around the world. These 'new monastic' communities seek to follow Jesus, to rediscover the spirit of the early Church, and to incarnate the “Kingdom of God” -- standing in stark contrast to the world of militarism and materialism. At the Simple Way, their little revolution is lived out locally, as days are spent feeding hungry folks, doing collaborative arts with children, running a community store, hanging out with neighbors, and reclaiming trash-strewn lots by planting gardens. Shane and The Simple Way do much work to expose the fundamental structures that create poverty and to imagine alternatives to them. Shane graduated from Eastern University, and did graduate work at Princeton Seminary. His ministry experience is varied, from a 10-week stint working alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta, to a year spent serving a wealthy mega-congregation at Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago. Shane serves on the Board of Directors for The Christian Community Development Association (www.ccda.org/). Shane writes and travels extensively speaking about peacemaking, social justice, and Jesus. He is featured in the DVD series “Another World Is Possible” and is the author of the several books including The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President.

Richard Rohr, o.f.m., an internationally known author and spiritual teacher, is a Franciscan of the New Mexico province and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation. He considers the proclamation of the Gospel to be his primary call and the related  themes he addresses include Eco-Spirituality, Scripture as liberation, the integration of action and contemplation, community building, peace and justice issues, male spirituality, and the Enneagram. He is a regular contributing writer for Sojourners and Tikkun magazines. Some of his best known books include: Everything Belongs; Radical Grace: Daily Meditations; Adam’s Return: The Five Promises of Male Initiation; The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective; From Wild Men to Wise Men: Reflections on Male Spirituality; and his latest book The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See is due out in September 2009. Fr. Richard has also been a featured essayist on NPR’s “This I Believe” and a guest of Dr. Mehmet Oz on the “Oprah and Friends” radio show; he also appears in the 2006 documentary, ONE, featuring spiritual teachers from around the world. Check the Mustard Seed Resource Center for all Fr. Richard's works.