BEFORE AGAPE
Tuesday, October 6 | 6:00 PM PT | Online | FREE
This class has finished. The next part is the Transcendent Masters 5 week course. Have a look here.
BEFORE THERE WAS
AGAPE, THERE WAS
AN AWAKENING
As Agape International Spiritual Center celebrates 40 extraordinary years, Rev. Michael B. Beckwith is taking us back—before the global spiritual community, before the teachings reached millions, and before there was Agape.
Because before all of that, there was Michael—the student.
Studying. Meditating. Questioning. Practicing. Encountering extraordinary teachers and opening himself to direct experiences of the Presence of God.
Who were the teachers who inspired the teacher?
Join Rev. Michael and special guests for BEFORE AGAPE: The Teachers Who Inspired Michael B. Beckwith, a free online masterclass exploring the mystics, metaphysicians, spiritual pioneers, books, teachings, and revelations that helped shape his awakening and the consciousness from which Agape would eventually emerge.
40 YEARS LATER,
WE'RE GOING BACK TO THE ROOTS
This isn't simply a history lesson
Rev. Michael will take us behind some of the teachings we know today and into the spiritual influences that accompanied his own journey—from metaphysical principles and spiritual practice to mysticism, surrender, direct revelation, service, and the realization of our Oneness with God.
You'll encounter some of the extraordinary voices that influenced his spiritual development and discover how timeless Universal principles moved through their lives and teachings.
And along the way, another question emerges:
WHO AND WHAT IS AWAKENING YOU?
Because we don't study the masters merely to admire someone else's realization.
We enter their wisdom to activate our own.
As we celebrate where Agape has been and where consciousness is calling us next, come experience a side of the Agape story you may never have heard quite this way before.
H
U
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BEFORE AGAPE
Tuesday, October 6 | 6:00 PM PT | Online | FREE
A Little Over an Hour Featuring Special Guests
Recording Available
Meet Our Special Guests:
Rev. Sheila R. McKeithen, J.D.
Rev. Sheila McKeithen is an attorney, author, spiritual activist, and a leader in the New Thought Christian Movement. Ordained by The Reverend Dr. Johnnie Colemon over 30 years ago and assigned to a pastorate in Jamaica, by her spiritual mentor, The Rev. Dr. Mary Tumpkin; she has emerged as the spiritual leader of Universal Centre, in Jamaica, and the 3rd President of the Universal Foundation for Better Living, Inc.
With a passion for the relevance and practicality of the New Thought Christian Message, her voice is elevated in issues of social justice, forgiveness, health, and well-being as they are God’s will for one and all.
Inducted into the International Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in 2001, she hosts an annual self-care retreat in September for she is mindful that soul care enabled her, 40 years ago, to overcome a medical prognosis of less than six days to live.
Rev. McKeithen’s impactful work has garnered multiple accolades, including the 2026 Jamaican Women Pinnacle Award, and a featured spot in Peter Ferguson’s, Changemakers: 101 Portraits of Women in Jamaica, both of which also honored Jamaica’s First Female Prime Minister, The Honorable Portia Simpson Miller; The 2022 Black Woman in Ministry Award, presented by President Obama’s Ambassador-At-Large for Interreligious Affairs, The Honorable Suzan Johnson Cook. She is also the recipient of the New Thought Walden Award for Interfaith and Intercultural Understanding.
In addition to contributions to film and television, she has authored articles for media in Jamaica and for the former Unity Magazine, INTA Journal, and the Science of Mind Magazine. She is the author of Twelve Steps to your Healing and a children’s book, Johnnie Toots His Horn. A contributing author to Bishop Vashti McKenzie’s, Those Sisters Can Preach, she serves as the current Jamaica Country Coordinator and President of the Jamaica Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Her favorite scripture is Psalm 46:10 and her ministry motto is ‘Give your all to God for God has given it all to you.’
Eisha Mason, ALSP
Eisha Mason is a master practitioner at the Agape International Spiritual Center. For 35 years, she has taught classes and worked in private practice as a transformational counselor, community facilitator, teacher, spiritual activist and published author, focusing on the intersection of social justice, nonviolence, spirituality and the “soul work of social change.”
Eisha Mason has been teaching practitioner training at Agape's University for more than a decade. She co-founded CommonUnity, the community outreach ministries at the Agape International Spiritual Center.
She has created numerous programs that support individuals harnessing the power of “soulforce" for personal transformation, social justice and peacemaking, served as founding executive director of The Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence after spearheading the first Season for Nonviolence in Los Angeles in 1998. Eisha co-founded Acts of Power: The Liberation of the African American Soul training, and Community Healing Forum, to assist affected communities in responding to loss and trauma.
She recently retired from the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker based international peace and justice organization, where she served as the Associate Regional Director/U.S./West Region.
For close to a decade, Eisha hosted radio programs on KPFK (90.7FM). She is a contributor to How to Stop the Next War Now. She is also co-author of 64 Ways to Practice Nonviolence Curriculum and Resource Guide.
Her first book of poetry, Red Door, was published in February, 2023.
Rev. Dr. Soni Cantrell-Smith
Rev. Dr. Soni Cantrell-Smith is the founding Minister of Ahava Center for Spiritual Living in Lexington, Kentucky. She graduated from Holmes Institute under the Direction of Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith in 2006, and was ordained in 2011. Dr. Soni is steeped in the principles of Science of Mind and is a lifelong student of the philosophy.
Dr. Soni began her studies in 1992 at Huntington Beach Church of Religious Science in Huntington Beach, California. For 10 years, she was the music director at Namaste CSL in Long Beach, California. She has co-written a successful musical titled “Last Call,” which has been performed in numerous venues throughout the country.
Dr. Soni has been active in 12 Step work for more than 30 years. She teaches spirituality classes at the Hope Center Rehabilitation for Women and is a co-founder of Bluegrass Rainbow Faith Communities, dedicated to supporting faith communities in becoming open and affirming to all.
Dr. Soni has served the CSL Minister Council for six years, two of those as co-chair. She has served on the CSL Nominating Council as well as the CSL Sacred Activism Task Force. Dr. Soni has been serving the CSL interim ministers’ team for two years. She was the recipient of of the Ministers Meritorious Award in 2023.
Dr. Soni believes we are all spiritual leaders. We, as leaders, must be able to articulate our vision and keep it alive through our faith in it, and we must create a sense of belonging and hope that this vision can transform our world.
Rev. Dr. Derrick Wells
The Reverend Dr. Derrick B. Wells is an author, artist, entrepreneur, corporate CEO, and The Senior Minister of Christ Universal Temple. As a contemporary man of God, his story is one of radical redemption. His process of redemption has played a major role in his commitment to teaching people how to improve their life through the application of principle toward the attainment of success through self-determination.
Reverend Derrick’s ministry was formed from his early life where he endured the pitfalls of a Southside Chicago upbringing and overcame the odds of a life filled with poverty, crime, and hopelessness. Upon hearing, studying, and being mentored by the Reverend Dr. Johnnie Colemon, Reverend Wells went from being “un-churched,” to succeeding Reverend Colemon and being selected as the second Senior Minister in the history of Christ Universal Temple. What sets Reverend Wells apart is his ability to engage his audience while making complex theological concepts and principles practical.
Reverend Wells’ journey from trouble to Truth to transformation has convinced him that anyone else can do the same, regardless of where they are or what barriers exist in their life. This awareness is what fuels his dedication to providing the blueprint for teaching others clear and practical principles of success. As one of the foremost authorities on how to combine spiritual principle and mind potential to produce high performance, Dr. Wells is committed to facilitating the growth and evolution of human consciousness by helping people discover their untouched talents and develop their unlimited potential. He has taught thousands, coached hundreds, and he believes that there are habits that lead to a happy, healthy, high-functioning life; habits that when put into action make each of us masters of our destiny.
A man of purpose, his partner in life, ministry and service is his wife Sylvia. They are the parents of a daughter, Malika and son, Mikael. The family lives, plays, and works in the greater Chicago land area.
Rev. Dr. Coco Stewart
Reverend Dr. Coco Stewart, a founding member of the Agape International Spiritual Center, was a part of the original Vision Core, which met in 1986 and out of which Agape emerged. An ordained minister for over 29 years, Rev. Coco currently serves as a senior staff minister, and is the director of One From The Heart, Agape’s Pastoral Care Ministry that profoundly touches the lives of the community by providing prayer, visitations and other ministrations to persons moving through life’s transitions.
As one who has practiced and lived the New Thought-Ageless Wisdom tradition of spirituality for many years, Rev. Coco is a gifted teacher in Agape’s accredited classes, as well as an instructor in the Agape University school of ministry.
These and additional workshops, such as Joel S. Goldsmith classes, seminars and retreats facilitated by Rev. Coco are saturated with the results of her own inner work and thirty-eight years of private practice as a licensed prayer practitioner.
Rev. Coco was inducted into the Board of Preachers of the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel at Morehouse College in 2000 which honors clergy for their lifetime work in social justice. Rev Coco was honored to be awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity from the Agape Spiritual Center in June 2013. The consistent fuel of unconditional divine love and devotion to Spirit is what fires the surrendered life of service that characterizes Reverend Dr. Coco Stewart.