I am a second-generation reader, as are most of my six brothers and sisters. Since my earliest childhood, our lively family dinner times were often filled with questions about non-breathers, Andon and Fonta, Lucifer, gravity and time and black holes, and Catholics. I have worked in marketing, advertising and product development for over thirty years, concentrating in marketing research, behavior, motivation, and memory. I am looking forward to getting to know more readers and truth seekers, and to learn how The Urantia Book Fellowship can better serve the needs of our growing community!
I received a copy of The Urantia Book from my father (K. David Schlundt) for my thirteenth birthday and have been a student of the book ever since. I live in Ashland City, Tennessee (just outside Nashville) with my wife Zada Law. I am an Associate Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University. I have been on the faculty at Vanderbilt University since 1985 and split my time between teaching and research. I was trained as a clinical psychologist and have devoted my career to research in health psychology. I am especially interested in the role of behaviors (eating, exercise, and stress management), in the treatment and prevention of disease, and in better understanding how contexts (emotions, thoughts, and places) influence these behaviors. My research has also focused on health disparities, community-based participatory research, program evaluation, behavioral interventions, and psychological and behavioral assessment.
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Beth Challis is a long-time student of The Urantia Book, having discovered the book in 1979. Since 1980, she has been an active member of Urantia Book Society of Oklahoma. She credits The Urantia Book with giving her a world view that offers personal peace on this crazy, mixed-up world we live on. She has been married to her husband, Michael, for 43 years and together they raised 3 children and now have two grandchildren. Beth spent her professional career in two areas: water chemistry and accounting. Having been retired since 2012, Beth has been able to devote her time to activities she enjoys: family and grandchildren time, reading, gardening, movies, traveling and Urantia activities.
I hope The Urantia Book's message of love and brotherhood spreads throughout the planet, so we can eventually move into the era of peace and brotherhood, and all God's children on this strife-torn planet can come to know the love of our Father and our brother Jesus more deeply. I feel called to a greater mission and to support this organization that has been an important part of my life for many years. I have reached a point in my life where I have the time, energy and skills to dedicate myself to serving our Father in a greater capacity.
I am pleased and honored to have the opportunity to return to the work of the revelation as a member of the Fellowship’s General Council after an absence for personal reasons of some twenty-five years. Hopefully I have acquired some skills and experience in the meantime that will be useful to our excellent team. The Urantia Book came into my life in spring 1975 near the end of a two-year high school teaching commitment (math and physics) at Cornwall College in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Its arrival was a critical answer to years of frustration and angst, which started in my late teens, over the apparent inability of anyone, including the churches, to provide answers to the most basic questions about the meaning of life and the cosmos. The first paper I read when I cracked open the book upon its arrival was on the Supreme Being; I was hooked. It was not long after that I realized that Jesus is who he said he was, the Son of God and the Son of Man. I haven’t looked back since. I am at your service. I live in Northern Ontario, Canada, with my wife Martine.
Lara Amyx has been involved in the Urantia community for over twenty-five years. Originally finding the book at a friend’s father’s house when she was twenty-one, Lara has been Conference Chair for the Florida Students of The Urantia Book (FSUB) annual gatherings, for the last six years of their active administration. She was also Secretary for FSUB. She has been Chair of the Fellowship’s Membership Committee and Chair of the Finance Committee. Lara is married to Daniel Amyx, another active Urantia Book reader who is Chair of the Membership Committee. The two of them own and operate two optical shops on the Treasure Coast of Florida. Not only are they growing their businesses but they are using it in personal ministry.
Raised a Christian, Stephen has been a Buddhist and a Muslim, has studied metaphysics, pagan religions, and has worshiped with many of the world’s religions and Christian denominations. He has spent much of his life seeking and embracing their honorable values and all they all have in common. In 1975 Stephen found a new and better way to understand God and was able to rise above his objections with organized religion. Jesus of Nazareth became his only hero and still is. That year he also committed his artistic talents in the service of God. Twenty years later ART4GOD was born. Currently he shares his experiences on a daily live Facebook video called Closet Church. Not being a fan of committees, Stephen joined as a General Councilor because of the remarkable integrity of the men and women he has met and decided to attempt to make a contribution with this excellent group of fellow servants. Stephen is currently serving as a member of the Publications Committee as an adjunct member of the Interfaith Committee.
Tom Allen grew up in Bartlesville Oklahoma and is a lifelong believer in the love of Jesus and God, and in the teachings of the Urantia papers since 1973. As a twenty year old college student, Tom became heavily involved in the early Urantia Brotherhood generation under the tutelage of Berkeley Elliott and others in the First Urantia Society of Oklahoma. Tom has served in many offices in the FUBSOK (now Urantia Book Society of Oklahoma) and one previous nine-year term in the General Council from 1985 until 1994. Tom is mostly retired as a registered nurse but still teaches nursing part time at Oklahoma City University. Tom and Karen have raised four boys. Tom wishes to rededicate his energies into the service of improving The Urantia Book Fellowship as an organization. Tom now serves a nine-year term in the General Council beginning in 2018. Tom describes his role as Judicial Chair of the Fellowship to be a peacemaker and justice provider amongst us all. Robert's Rules will be strongly advised as will the interpretations of the Constitution of the Fellowship. The Judicial Committee will be thoroughly investigative of any issue brought before our body. You may reach him personally at tommykaren1@gmail.com, or tom.allen@urantiabook.org.
I have been a student of The Urantia Book for forty-eight years and a member of the Oklahoma Urantia Society since 1971. I served as President in 1973 and was given a service award in 1972. I have served on the General Council for twenty years, being a member of the Executive Committee for most of that time. On the Executive Committee I served as Vice President, Judicial Committee Chair and International Fellowship Committee Chair. I have given workshops and presentations at many conferences, including all four Scientific Symposiums. I introduced The Urantia Book to Russia in 1995. More recently I have joined a group of UB readers and started a medical clinic associated with the Free Schools in India. I am a medical doctor living in Fort Smith, Arkansas. This year I left my surgical practice to accept a position with the Veteran's Administration. This leaves me more time for service to give back to this organization that has encouraged my spiritual journey, and to help make it more inviting to the next generation of Truth Seekers. My hope for the Fellowship is that we dedicate ourselves to planting the seeds for the spiritual harvest of future generations.
Daniel was raised Catholic. As he matured he asked questions that the church could not answer, and inevitably he left the church in search of “the Real” God. After years of studying the world's religions, he found The Urantia Book in a bookstore in 1978, and has since been involved in the Urantia community. Dan was a Founding Member, Vice President, and two-time President of the Florida Students of The Urantia Book (FSUB), an independent group of readers who held annual conferences in the State of Florida. He also helped develop, and was the first President of The Agondonter Boot Camp Society (ABCs) of Florida. Daniel has done presentations on Business Ethics based on Urantia Book teachings at different groups in the continental US, a presentation on the shift from the informational age to the new paradigm of spiritual community, and a number of collaborative efforts at conferences and retreats. He and his wife Lara, own two optical shops in Florida, and have mixed “spiritual ministry” and a retail practice in a uniquely successful manner.
I've been a reader since 2009 after being first introduced to the book in Honduras in 2008. I am presently living in Georgia, USA and am employed as an arborist. I also serve as the Treasurer of the International Fellowship Committee.
A student of the Urantia Book since 1982. A lifelong pianist & composer. A former Music Director/ Composer (2 Emmy awards) and audio post supervisor at CBS television in NY. Also an Interfaith minister with an MDiv. from All Faiths Seminary. Formally served on the GC for 13 years, 5 years on the EC as Education chair and recently completed a 6 year term as Associate Trustee for the Urantia Foundation. Continues to serve in the Foundations MSGP (Mustard Seed Grant Program) Current work is predominantly ministerial, centered around media that matters.
Canadian from birth, I moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1976. Within months after arriving I discovered The Urantia Book and immediately knew it was the answer to my prayers. I attended the Anchorage study group for many decades. My professional career as an elementary teacher was a perfect fit for me and brought me great joy. I enjoyed exploring the grandeur of Alaska. My family has since moved to the beautiful state of Oregon where we go camping, hiking, and on daily walks with our dog. In the winter I spend time in sunny Yuma, AZ. I’m grateful to be in our community and I love to be involved with the work of the revelation especially in the gathering of readers for fellowship and study.
Geoff Taylor describes himself in this way: “I am a 72-year-old iterative, innovative, experimentalist techie with a background in Aeronautical Engineering. I had several pilots’ licenses, built one jet and crashed one ultra-light. My career as engineer on turbine engines started in Winnipeg Canada, went to Dallas, TX then to LA. I grew up Anglican but had dismissed God because I could not see why he needed me. At age 40 after being introduced to The Urantia Book by PhD physicist Irwin Ginsburg I had an “awakening” which rekindled my early Christian roots and took me back “home” to Winnipeg but not before I had traveled the world, been inside three Space Shuttles and won a couple of Design awards (the ego was getting too big to manage). Back in “home” I started Vista Medical with my brother, invented stretchable pressure sensors for the prevention of bed sores and a few other doo dads. Having sold the business, retired and lost my wife of 43 years to cancer, I am now working on the cure. Crashing that ultra-light in 2003, focused me on the things that matter most, relationship with people, cooperation and harmony. Check out my personal web page www.ubgeoff.com for pictures and my “Theory of Everything," incremental improvement in all things.”
I found The Urantia Book, by what feels like angelic intervention, in 1974, and have been a reader and believer ever since. I soon joined the Rocky Mountain Spiritual Fellowship, attended up to three study groups per week, helped with a number of regional UB conferences, and attended triennial conferences throughout the country. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the wonderful friends I have gained in my spiritual travels, and my personal relationship with God and my eldest brother, Jesus, have been my foundation through everything I do. I was a high school English teacher when I lived in Colorado until 1998; then I moved to Minnesota and became a full-time psychologist, co-hosting a study group for fifteen years. I have two sons who still live in Colorado, so I get to visit often.
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Michael has been reading The Urantia Book since his teens when his parents presented him with one. He professionally works with computers by day and spreads the good word of God night and day.
Having very diverse parents (impoverished North Carolinian father and affluent Japanese mother) and seeing from their angry/hating behaviors how not to live, plus attending a few sessions of catechism—that was all I needed to unconsciously become a born again atheist at an early age, with rather different concepts about what a father is. Now, as a recovering born again atheist, I have been enjoying listening to The Urantia Book 3 or 4 times each year. (It only takes about 120 hours each time, so that’s only 80 minutes a day for 3 months each time.) Hearing The Urantia Book makes me think things I didn’t know I needed to think. Also, as a hyperdimensional tool, it transforms my mind in ways that allows me to hear more deeply meaningful information each time I listen to it, thus expanding my mind in ways I will never be able to unthink. After many years at Hewlett-Packard as a Systems Engineer and a lifelong ministry as a jazz composer/arranger/performer, I now live in an intentional community south of Coeur d’Alene Idaho in off-grid earth-sheltered domes with my wife Jena Lassiter, where she gardens in our year-round earth-sheltered greenhouse, and I work ClickUp Tasks for the Fellowship all day long. I am very excited to ever improve at serving the Fellowship.
Agustín Arellano has participated in more than 800 radio and television programs related to the teachings of The Urantia Book in addition to facilitating a myriad of workshops. He is one of the founders of Urantia Radio: The Light of Revelation, and is currently the vice president of Urantia Radio. He is also the founder of Urantia Television: A Voice for All. He is currently vice president of the company and content producer in five weekly programs.
I grew up in southern California in a Unitarian Universalist agnostic/atheist household. In 1976 I had an awakening to God when I was 18, and almost immediately after that, I was introduced to The Urantia Book. I studied the book and nearly every subject presented within it for many years with several different study groups. Life, family, and career eventually dominated my time, and my active studying waned. I was greatly disturbed by the organizational turmoil within the Urantia movement. In the last decade, my spiritual hunger reasserted itself, and I began with a new earnest to study the revelation with fresh eyes. I am eager to serve and have been looking for ways to help with the work of the movement. I study with the Walnut Creek, CA group, and I am the Study Group Chair in the Golden Gate Circle Society. I am honored to serve on the General Council, and I am actively working with the constitutional review process. I also provide technical support help to the Urantia Book Historical Society.
Duane Johnson is a retired journalist who now primarily writes poetry, He has published two volumes of poetry and is working on another. He also has published a short novel entitled, Herald of the Resurrection. He lives in Topeka, Kansas, and is married to a retired social worker. He has been a reader of The Urantia Book since 1978, and is active in Heart of America Society.
I am currently teaching philosophy at Ivy Tech Junior College in Indianapolis. I have two sons and three grandchildren. I worked for the Urantia Book organizations headquarters in Chicago from 1979 to 1991. Currently I am serving a second 9-year term on the General Council. Previously, I have served as Vice president and also as chair of the Interfaith Committee. Also, I have served in all offices of and am currently President of the Orvonton Urantia Book Society. Finding the book in 1970, I have been reading it for almost 50 years, and my spirit lights up when I read it now just as it did when I first found it! How many books can you say that about! I have been a speaker and workshop leader at numerous Urantia Book conferences. Also, I created a CD which is a beginner’s guide to the practice of daily communion with our heavenly Father. I have been and continue to be very blessed!
My name is Riula Deoto. I am married to Willy Deoto for 25 years and am mother of two teenagers. I have been a dental hygienist for 19 yrs. Solonia our daughter is 16 yrs old and Gabriel our son is 14 yrs old. I like to read, go to the beach and hang out with our Urantia family. A reader since 2009; presently living in Georgia, USA; employed as an arborist.
Sally is a third-generation reader, having received a copy of The Urantia Book from her grandparents, Clyde and Florence Bedell, while in utero. She started reading it on her own in 1982 and today is surprised when she finds a page without any underlining. Sally has background in music, restaurant industry, therapeutic massage, and travel, with a BS in Sports and Health Sciences. She has lived overseas, traveled to many countries and delights in learning about and experiencing other cultures. She is excited to get to be part of this group of spirit-led people impassioned about the dissemination of this magnificent work, and helping to bring its joy to all corners of the globe. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, enjoys the outdoors, and loves to spend time with her four grown children and granddaughter.
I started reading The Urantia Book in 1981 after several years of seeking for an inspirational spiritual source. The Urantia Book’s ideas were incredibly inspiring to me, especially the vastness of the description of God which replaced the childish model I had developed from my Presbyterian upbringing. What a life-shaping book it has been for me. I became interested in working with The Urantia Book Fellowship in 2018 when discussing the Fellowship with Cristina Seaborn and my husband, Albert. When I heard about an opening on the General Council, a strong feeling came over me that everything I had ever done up to that point in my life may have been preparation for me to participate in the Fellowship. I’m so enthusiastic about serving with this organization to help the world learn more about Urantia concepts, ideas that can help so many experience more joy in their lives.
Cristina is a world-class fiddler, violinist, composer, and teaching artist living in Minnesota. Through many Urantia conferences, she has found her place as a performer and music director for the spiritual upliftment of audiences. She served as the Publications Committee Chair, Gratitude Committee Chair, member of the Social Media Committee, and serves as an adjunct member of the Interfaith Committee.
