OUR 2019 RETREAT

The 2019 UMMAS retreat was titled: “It’s Time to Fly” and featured two amazing keynotes:

Rickie Byars and
Rev. Linda Martella-Whitsett

Rev. Linda Martella-Whitsett

A spirited messenger bringing an audacious message for our times, Rev. Linda Martella-Whitsett is an ordained Unity minister and New Thought leader who champions our Divine Nature and our capacity to be the light of the world.

Winner of The 2011 Best Spiritual Author competition, Linda Martella-Whitsett is an inspiring, respected Unity minister and spiritual teacher. Linda’s message about our Divine Identity inspires people across cultures and faith traditions to meet life’s circumstances with spiritual maturity.

Rev. Linda Martella-Whitsett is the Vice President of Silent Unity, the 24-hour prayer ministry of Unity Worldwide Headquarters. She served as the senior minister at Unity Church of San Antonio. Rev. Linda also served Unity Church of Omaha as Youth Education Director, Licensed Unity Teacher, and Associate Pastor over seventeen years.

Rev. Linda is a highly regarded role model in the Unity Movement. She has taught classes at Unity Village, as well as other Unity churches, and has mentored other Unity Ministers in Unity’s Field Licensing Ministerial Training Program.

Linda’s books, How to Pray Without Talking to God: Moment by Moment, Choice by Choice and Divine Audacity: Dare to be the Light of the World, are available on Amazon.com and on her website at www.ur-divine.com.


Rickie Byars

An amazing, inspiring New Thought singer-songwriter whose song “My Oh My, It’s Time to Fly!” is the inspiration for our 2019 retreat theme.

Rickie Byars is one of the most acclaimed and beloved singer-songwriters in the genre of inspirational/New Thought music. Through her three-decade career as both a solo artist and as founder /director of the world-renowned Agape International Choir, Byars’ deeply soulful and heartfelt songs of spiritual renewal, uplift and empowerment have struck a powerful chord with audiences around the globe and she has built an impressive international following. Indeed, the vibrations of “realness” in her music are so strong that they resonate with everyone from residents of L.A.’s Skid Row to South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, all of whom she has had the honor of performing for, the latter on five different occasions.

Byars’ charismatic joy and authenticity on stage ensure that she is in high demand to appear in concert and perform at festivals and conferences.

Several of her songs, “I Release”, “We Let it Be”, “The Spirit of God is Upon Me” and “Wholly Holy Way” are considered to be modern classics of inspirational/New Thought music.

Rickie Byars has released nine CDs as a solo artist including “Let My Soul Surrender”, which was accompanied by a book of autobiographical stories written by Byars, and her latest “My Oh My It’s Time To Fly”, available on her website at www.rickiebyars.org.