Terry Cole-Whittaker
Encyclopedia
Terry Cole-Whittaker, or Dr. Terry, is a New Thought
writer and United Church of Religious Science
minister, and the founder of Terry Cole-Whittaker Ministries and Adventures in Enlightenment.
pageant, becoming Mrs. California and winning third place in the national competition. She later joined the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
and became an opera singer. She would not stay with this position long, however. She went on to start a company, Success Plus, in which she became one of the first conductors of human potential
seminars for corporations, becoming a successful motivational and inspirational speaker.
She went on to earn a Doctor of Divinity
degree in 1973, and was ordained as a minister of the United Church of Religious Science in 1975, and became the pastor of a fifty-member congregation of that church in La Jolla
in 1977. The church grew under her leadership, drawing numbers as high as 5,000 for Easter Sunday, and eventually expanded to include a grammar school, ministry school, and five teaching centers. She also began a television program in 1979, which at one time was syndicated to fifteen television stations in the country.
In 1982, Cole-Whittaker left the United Church of Religious Science and founded Terry Cole-Whittaker Ministries. She continued to be popular, drawing over four thousand people to her weekly services and traveling as a lecturer and workshop leader. In 1985, financial concerns prompted her to cease production of the television show and create a new foundation, Adventures in Enlightenment.
The Foundation later purchased land in Washington to build a retreat center and start an organic farm and started an ashram
and library in India
to teach Westerners traditional Indian religion.
New Thought
New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...
writer and United Church of Religious Science
Religious Science
Religious Science, also known as Science of Mind, was established in 1927 by Ernest Holmes and is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical religious movement within the New Thought movement. In general, the term "Science of Mind" applies to the teachings, while the term "Religious Science"...
minister, and the founder of Terry Cole-Whittaker Ministries and Adventures in Enlightenment.
History
She became familiar with what she calls the "principles of prosperity" through the actions of a teacher in high school. She enrolled in college, where she became the homecoming queen and president of the freshman class. She would later go on to enter the Mrs. AmericaMrs. America
Mrs. America Pageant honors married women throughout the United States of America. Each of the 51 contestants , ranging in age from the 20s to 50s, earns the right to participate in the national event by winning her state competition. These state events are under the direction of Mrs. America state...
pageant, becoming Mrs. California and winning third place in the national competition. She later joined the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera was an American theatre/opera company in Los Angeles, California. Founded under the motto "Light Opera in the Grand Opera manner" in 1938 by impresario Edwin Lester, the organization presented fifty seasons of theatre before closing due to financial reasons in...
and became an opera singer. She would not stay with this position long, however. She went on to start a company, Success Plus, in which she became one of the first conductors of human potential
Human Potential Movement
The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
seminars for corporations, becoming a successful motivational and inspirational speaker.
She went on to earn a Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....
degree in 1973, and was ordained as a minister of the United Church of Religious Science in 1975, and became the pastor of a fifty-member congregation of that church in La Jolla
La Jolla, San Diego, California
La Jolla is an affluent, hilly seaside resort community, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California within the northern city limits of San Diego. La Jolla had the highest home prices in the nation in 2008 and 2009; the average price of a standardized...
in 1977. The church grew under her leadership, drawing numbers as high as 5,000 for Easter Sunday, and eventually expanded to include a grammar school, ministry school, and five teaching centers. She also began a television program in 1979, which at one time was syndicated to fifteen television stations in the country.
In 1982, Cole-Whittaker left the United Church of Religious Science and founded Terry Cole-Whittaker Ministries. She continued to be popular, drawing over four thousand people to her weekly services and traveling as a lecturer and workshop leader. In 1985, financial concerns prompted her to cease production of the television show and create a new foundation, Adventures in Enlightenment.
The Foundation later purchased land in Washington to build a retreat center and start an organic farm and started an ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
and library in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to teach Westerners traditional Indian religion.
Published works
- What You Think of Me is None of My Business (1979).
- How to Have More in a Have Not World
- Inner Path from the Goddess Within
- Dare to Be Great (2001)
- Creating Your Destiny – A Remarkable Guide to Making Decisions that Give You Happiness and Prosperity
- Every Saint Has a Past, Every Sinner a Future:Seven Steps to the Spiritual and Material Riches of Life
- The Inner Path from where you are to where you want to be
- Love and Power in a World without Limits
- Live Your Bliss (2009)