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Commissioner's spiritual journey includes mention in USA Today

By WILL VAN SANT
Published March 30, 2007

When Pinellas County Commissioner Bob Stewart, then a lifelong Presbyterian, began attending First Unity Church in St. Petersburg two years ago, he had no idea it would land him on the cover of USA Today's Life section.

Yet there was the 69-year-old Stewart and his wife, Carol, hands clasped and raised with other First Unity parishioners in a photograph splashed above the fold in Thursday's edition of the newspaper, which claimed a circulation of nearly 2.3-million last year.

Stewart said he knew a story was going to appear because he had spoken with one of the newspaper's reporters. But he was still somewhat shocked when he finally got a look at the photograph of him and his wife.

"I said, 'We are in living color on USA Today,' " Stewart recalled.

The story used the St. Petersburg church to explore how The Secret, a current self-help juggernaut in both DVD and book forms, shares a message with Unity churches, which took root in America in the late 19th century. Both The Secret and the church share the belief that positive thinking can be life-changing.

The USA Today article noted that First Unity's bookstore had sold 860 copies of the book, which has been championed by Oprah Winfrey.

The Bible is a principle text for the roughly 100,000 people who regularly attend the more than 600 Unity ministries in America, but the church is broadly inclusive in both its origins and practices.

Early members were closely associated with the Spiritualism movement, which flourished in this country from the mid 19th to the early 20th century. And today, the church still promotes an open-mindedness about spiritual practices, stressing meditation as well as prayer.

Stewart said his wife urged that they attend First Unity. At first, his rigid Presbyterian upbringing made Stewart skeptical of how things were being done at his new place of worship.

But now he goes to First Unity, which has 621 members, every Sunday that he's in town. And he leaves feeling uplifted.

"It's been an eye opener and a mind opener for me," Stewart said. "It's not doctrinaire. It really allows the individual to find their own comfort zone when it comes to spiritual messages."

[Last modified March 30, 2007, 00:54:31]