A Quick Note
I am currently on a personal pilgrimage in Spain hiking the Camino De Santiago. Follow my progress.
About Reverend Towles
Reverend Steve Towles
Rev. Stephen Towles is an ordained Unity Minister who has served in 4 Unity Centers over a period of 26 years. He served in Sacramento California, Reno Nevada, Seattle Washington and Unity of South Sound in Federal Way prior to becoming the Minister of Unity Spiritual Center of North Idaho beginning October 2018. He also spent several years working directly with Seniors and their families helping them to find housing and care for an elderly loved one. He is a native of the Silver Valley and Coeur d’Alene and a founding member of this ministry. He is also a certificated Peacemaker for the Unity World Wide Ministries and received his peacemaking training at the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center in Lombard, IL.
He says, “My mission is to see the good in everyone and everything and call it forth into expression”. He goes on to affirm that, “Unity is way of thinking that brings spirituality into our everyday life experience. We understand that Religion is about someone else’s existential experience and Spirituality is about our own existential experience of the divine presence. When we begin to embrace and understand our own divine nature, we become free to be who we have come here to be. Our life becomes more fulfilling, our hearts more peaceful, and our accomplishments more profound. Every Sunday we gather to celebrate and to heal in our Sunday services. We are creating a spiritual community of those who seek to bring the divine presence within them consciously into their daily life. Through our classes we empower people to a meaningful, productive and prosperous life. I would invite you to come and be part of our spiritual community. We accept all races, creeds, and life styles openly into our community.”
Rev. Steve can be reached at minister@unitycenter.org, or you can call the center at 208-664-1125 to speak to him personally.
He says, “My mission is to see the good in everyone and everything and call it forth into expression”. He goes on to affirm that, “Unity is way of thinking that brings spirituality into our everyday life experience. We understand that Religion is about someone else’s existential experience and Spirituality is about our own existential experience of the divine presence. When we begin to embrace and understand our own divine nature, we become free to be who we have come here to be. Our life becomes more fulfilling, our hearts more peaceful, and our accomplishments more profound. Every Sunday we gather to celebrate and to heal in our Sunday services. We are creating a spiritual community of those who seek to bring the divine presence within them consciously into their daily life. Through our classes we empower people to a meaningful, productive and prosperous life. I would invite you to come and be part of our spiritual community. We accept all races, creeds, and life styles openly into our community.”
Rev. Steve can be reached at minister@unitycenter.org, or you can call the center at 208-664-1125 to speak to him personally.
Track Reverend Steve's Progress
The Journey to Self
Over 1½ years ago I decided that in my pending transition to another decade in life I wanted to do something significant, something that was hard, that challenged me, that stretched me physically, emotionally and spiritually. It was not a thrill I was looking for, or something that was over quickly, it was something that took time and patience and focus and determination and grace. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone for a time and do something that required me to live moment to moment. I wanted to experience a new culture first hand. For these reasons and more I chose to follow the “Way of Saint James” and to walk 500 miles in 30 days in northern Spain. It is a path of Pilgrims and has been traveled by seekers of spirit since the middle ages. As you read this article, I will be on my journey from St. Jean Pied de Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain where the bones of Jesus brother St. James are buried beneath a Cathedral.
I have headed off on spiritual journey’s in the past, but never alone and never with such a physical challenge before me. To me this is an adventure of a lifetime and regardless of what occurs I know that I will be changed at depth in some meaningful but as yet unknown way. I also know that I will be carrying the consciousness of all of Unity Spiritual Center of North Idaho with me and I will be very much in prayer about what is next in our ministry of service. My passion is for this ministry to fully step into its highest level of service and powerfully impact in our community and beyond. I wish I could tell you exactly what that is or could be, but often just knowing that something excellent is possible is enough. So I am going to hold the intention for the highest and best for each person who is part of our congregation and for those who have not yet found us. They say it takes one million steps to complete the journey and each step is different in some way. Mehmet Murat ildan said, “For a spiritual journey, you don’t have to meditate or visit a temple or listen to a guru! Just live a misty morning while the sun is rising!”
L.M. Browning, in Seasons of Contemplation: A Book of Midnight Meditations says, “In the beginning we seek truth. In the middle we seek reason. In the end we seek peace.” We know every journey has a beginning, a middle and an end. But the end is then a new beginning for when we begin to see life through a new lens, through the “eyes of the divine” we are truly at peace.
During my journey across northern Spain you will be able to follow my progress on a large map that will set up in our entry hall. Your ongoing prayers will be meaningful and welcome and much needed. Of all the research I have done for this journey it is clear that it is quite different for everyone and yet it is very much the same. It sounds a lot like our journey through life and perhaps it is a microcosm of the macrocosm of our life. Most people find that the reasons they started the journey often fade into the background as the actual reason for the journey comes forth into consciousness. I leave with a clear mind and an open heart so Spirit can teach me what I need to know for this next phase of my life.
I hope my journey inspires each person to find their own journey, their own path, their own gift, and their own passion. I have three passions in my life with an overarching passion for my connection to the Divine, they are my relationship with Kari, my children and family, and my relationship with Unity Spiritual Center of North Idaho and being a part of creating something special. I send much love and joy to each of you. An unknown author wrote: “The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.”
I have headed off on spiritual journey’s in the past, but never alone and never with such a physical challenge before me. To me this is an adventure of a lifetime and regardless of what occurs I know that I will be changed at depth in some meaningful but as yet unknown way. I also know that I will be carrying the consciousness of all of Unity Spiritual Center of North Idaho with me and I will be very much in prayer about what is next in our ministry of service. My passion is for this ministry to fully step into its highest level of service and powerfully impact in our community and beyond. I wish I could tell you exactly what that is or could be, but often just knowing that something excellent is possible is enough. So I am going to hold the intention for the highest and best for each person who is part of our congregation and for those who have not yet found us. They say it takes one million steps to complete the journey and each step is different in some way. Mehmet Murat ildan said, “For a spiritual journey, you don’t have to meditate or visit a temple or listen to a guru! Just live a misty morning while the sun is rising!”
L.M. Browning, in Seasons of Contemplation: A Book of Midnight Meditations says, “In the beginning we seek truth. In the middle we seek reason. In the end we seek peace.” We know every journey has a beginning, a middle and an end. But the end is then a new beginning for when we begin to see life through a new lens, through the “eyes of the divine” we are truly at peace.
During my journey across northern Spain you will be able to follow my progress on a large map that will set up in our entry hall. Your ongoing prayers will be meaningful and welcome and much needed. Of all the research I have done for this journey it is clear that it is quite different for everyone and yet it is very much the same. It sounds a lot like our journey through life and perhaps it is a microcosm of the macrocosm of our life. Most people find that the reasons they started the journey often fade into the background as the actual reason for the journey comes forth into consciousness. I leave with a clear mind and an open heart so Spirit can teach me what I need to know for this next phase of my life.
I hope my journey inspires each person to find their own journey, their own path, their own gift, and their own passion. I have three passions in my life with an overarching passion for my connection to the Divine, they are my relationship with Kari, my children and family, and my relationship with Unity Spiritual Center of North Idaho and being a part of creating something special. I send much love and joy to each of you. An unknown author wrote: “The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.”
Track My Progress
April 22, 2019 - Started off my route in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France (near the border of France and Spain).
