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Elected Leaders

Society representatives elect thirty-six General Council members to lead efforts to spread the teachings of The Urantia Book and to serve members of The Urantia Book Fellowship and all people who are interested in the teachings of The Urantia Book. The General Council usually meets twice a year, one of the meetings being optional. Most General Council members serve on committees. The General Council members elect eight Executive Committee members who meet roughly every two weeks. There are also many committees who meet to help the spread of the teachings of The Urantia Book. To find out more about the governance and goals of The Urantia Book Fellowship, please refer to our Constitution and By-Laws.

Meet our general council                  



Sue Snider Seccombe (President of the Fellowship - Executive Committee)

I am a second-generation reader, as are most of my six brothers and sisters. Since my earliest childhood, our lively family dinner times were often filled with questions about non-breathers, Andon and Fonta, Lucifer, gravity and time and black holes, and Catholics. I have worked in marketing, advertising and product development for over thirty years, concentrating in marketing research, behavior, motivation, and memory. I am looking forward to getting to know more readers and truth seekers, and to learn how The Urantia Book Fellowship can better serve the needs of our growing community!



David Schlundt (Vice President of the Fellowship - Executive Committee)

I received a copy of The Urantia Book from my father (K. David Schlundt) for my thirteenth birthday and have been a student of the book ever since. I live in Ashland City, Tennessee (just outside Nashville) with my wife Zada Law. I am an Associate Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University. I have been on the faculty at Vanderbilt University since 1985 and split my time between teaching and research. I was trained as a clinical psychologist and have devoted my career to research in health psychology. I am especially interested in the role of behaviors (eating, exercise, and stress management), in the treatment and prevention of disease, and in better understanding how contexts (emotions, thoughts, and places) influence these behaviors. My research has also focused on health disparities, community-based participatory research, program evaluation, behavioral interventions, and psychological and behavioral assessment.



Beth Challis (Secretary of the Fellowship - Executive Committee)

Beth Challis is a long-time student of The Urantia Book, having discovered the book in 1979. Since 1980, she has been an active member of Urantia Book Society of Oklahoma. She credits The Urantia Book with giving her a world view that offers personal peace on this crazy, mixed-up world we live on. She has been married to her husband, Michael, for 43 years and together they raised 3 children and now have two grandchildren. Beth spent her professional career in two areas: water chemistry and accounting. Having been retired since 2012, Beth has been able to devote her time to activities she enjoys: family and grandchildren time, reading, gardening, movies, traveling and Urantia activities.



Trudi Cooper (Secretary General of the Fellowship - Executive Committee)

I hope The Urantia Book's message of love and brotherhood spreads throughout the planet, so we can eventually move into the era of peace and brotherhood, and all God's children on this strife-torn planet can come to know the love of our Father and our brother Jesus more deeply. I feel called to a greater mission and to support this organization that has been an important part of my life for many years. I have reached a point in my life where I have the time, energy and skills to dedicate myself to serving our Father in a greater capacity.



Brent St. Denis (Treasurer of the Fellowship - Executive Committee)

I am pleased and honored to have the opportunity to return to the work of the revelation as a member of the Fellowship’s General Council after an absence for personal reasons of some twenty-five years. Hopefully I have acquired some skills and experience in the meantime that will be useful to our excellent team. The Urantia Book came into my life in spring 1975 near the end of a two-year high school teaching commitment (math and physics) at Cornwall College in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Its arrival was a critical answer to years of frustration and angst, which started in my late teens, over the apparent inability of anyone, including the churches, to provide answers to the most basic questions about the meaning of life and the cosmos. The first paper I read when I cracked open the book upon its arrival was on the Supreme Being; I was hooked. It was not long after that I realized that Jesus is who he said he was, the Son of God and the Son of Man. I haven’t looked back since. I am at your service. I live in Northern Ontario, Canada, with my wife Martine.



Lara Amyx (Fellowship Team Chair - Executive Committee)

Lara Amyx has been involved in the Urantia community for over twenty-five years. Originally finding the book at a friend’s father’s house when she was twenty-one, Lara has been Conference Chair for the Florida Students of The Urantia Book (FSUB) annual gatherings, for the last six years of their active administration. She was also Secretary for FSUB. She has been Chair of the Fellowship’s Membership Committee and Chair of the Finance Committee. Lara is married to Daniel Amyx, another active Urantia Book reader who is Chair of the Membership Committee. The two of them own and operate two optical shops on the Treasure Coast of Florida. Not only are they growing their businesses but they are using it in personal ministry.



Lila Dogim (Worldwide Team Chair - Executive Committee)

I hope that The Urantia Book and, especially it’s teachings, will saturate the peoples of this world. My hope and belief is the Fellowship will continue growing into vibrant worldwide organizations.



Jena Lassiter (Media and Communications Team Chair - Executive Committee)

I started reading The Urantia Book in 1981 after several years of seeking for an inspirational spiritual source. The Urantia Book’s ideas were incredibly inspiring to me, especially the vastness of the description of God which replaced the childish model I had developed from my Presbyterian upbringing. What a life-shaping book it has been for me. I became interested in working with The Urantia Book Fellowship in 2018 when discussing the Fellowship with Cristina Seaborn and my husband, Albert. When I heard about an opening on the General Council, a strong feeling came over me that everything I had ever done up to that point in my life may have been preparation for me to participate in the Fellowship. I’m so enthusiastic about serving with this organization to help the world learn more about Urantia concepts, ideas that can help so many experience more joy in their lives.

My BS degree is in Computer Science. I worked at Hewlett-Packard (HP) for decades and had my own web design business for ten years. I have experience with website design and development, product definition based on user needs, user interface design, storyboarding, integrating ideas from multiple sources, creative problem solving, defect tracking, project management, leading continuous improvement methods, search engine optimization, software development, and creating technical documentation. I also have a background in team facilitation and managing conflict constructively. At HP I led an Inclusivity Task Force for some years to help a predominantly white male culture learn to value and integrate cultural, gender, and ethnic diversity. Besides spending time working with the Fellowship, I enjoy gardening and enjoying time with my amazing husband.



Tom Allen (Judicial Committee Chair - Executive Committee - Ex Officio)

Tom Allen grew up in Bartlesville Oklahoma and is a lifelong believer in the love of Jesus and God, and in the teachings of the Urantia papers since 1973. As a twenty year old college student, Tom became heavily involved in the early Urantia Brotherhood generation under the tutelage of Berkeley Elliott and others in the First Urantia Society of Oklahoma. Tom has served in many offices in the FUBSOK (now Urantia Book Society of Oklahoma) and one previous nine-year term in the General Council from 1985 until 1994. Tom is mostly retired as a registered nurse but still teaches nursing part time at Oklahoma City University. Tom and Karen have raised four boys. Tom wishes to rededicate his energies into the service of improving The Urantia Book Fellowship as an organization. Tom now serves a nine-year term in the General Council beginning in 2018. Tom describes his role as Judicial Chair of the Fellowship to be a peacemaker and justice provider amongst us all. Robert's Rules will be strongly advised as will the interpretations of the Constitution of the Fellowship. The Judicial Committee will be thoroughly investigative of any issue brought before our body. Tom has been appointed Chair of the Select Committee to Investigate Constitutional Revision (SCICR). This select committee has an assignment to investigate and recommend constitutional changes to the General Council by 2024. You may reach him personally at tommykaren1@gmail.com, or tom.allen@urantiabook.org.


Cristina Seaborn (Publications Committee Chair)

Cristina is a world-class fiddler, violinist, composer, and teaching artist living in Minnesota. Through many Urantia conferences, she has found her place as a performer and music director for the spiritual upliftment of audiences. She currently serves as the Publications Committee Chair, Gratitude Committee Chair, member of the Social Media Committee, and serves as an adjunct member of the Interfaith Committee.



Daniel Amyx (Membership Committee Chair)

Daniel was raised Catholic. As he matured he asked questions that the church could not answer, and inevitably he left the church in search of “the Real” God. After years of studying the world's religions, he found The Urantia Book in a bookstore in 1978, and has since been involved in the Urantia community. Dan was a Founding Member, Vice President, and two-time President of the Florida Students of The Urantia Book (FSUB), an independent group of readers who held annual conferences in the State of Florida. He also helped develop, and was the first President of The Agondonter Boot Camp Society (ABCs) of Florida. Daniel has done presentations on Business Ethics based on Urantia Book teachings at different groups in the continental US, a presentation on the shift from the informational age to the new paradigm of spiritual community, and a number of collaborative efforts at conferences and retreats. He and his wife Lara, own two optical shops in Florida, and have mixed “spiritual ministry” and a retail practice in a uniquely successful manner. 



André Radatus (International Fellowship Committee Chair)

Born and raised Roman Catholic with two sisters and two brothers by his Polish and Latvian war-refugee parents in southern Ontario, Canada, André emigrated to Denver in 1980 to teach learning-difference youngsters in a school founded and fostered by three Urantia Book students. He taught there for fifteen years and has been in education in one way or another ever since. During 2012-2013 he spent a year-and-a-half immersed in the French language and Québec culture studying Le Livre d'Urantia with francophone readers in the Laurentians. He has since returned to the Front Range of Colorado, where he now resides. André has three adult children: son, Michael, and daughters Vanessa and Yvana; two in Denver, one in Seattle—all happily married or partnered. He has come to an awareness that dogs are not the same as grandchildren but has yet to experience just how.

The Urantia Book’s truths have spoken compellingly to André since March of 1976. He has attended study groups regularly and continuously since 1978 wherever study groups have been available. André is a trustee, Curriculum Co-chair, and instructor for Urantia University Institute. He is a weekly co-host of The Cosmic Citizen webcast on BlogTalkRadio sponsored by The Urantia Book Fellowship. While The Urantia Book may be “too much to digest” for many, our world is starving for wont of its elevating and livable truth. We must get these truths into the hearts and minds of our fellows “as fast as we can but as slow as we must.”



Geoff Taylor (General Councilor)

Geoff Taylor describes himself in this way: “I am a 72-year-old iterative, innovative, experimentalist techie with a background in Aeronautical Engineering. I had several pilots’ licenses, built one jet and crashed one ultra-light. My career as engineer on turbine engines started in Winnipeg Canada, went to Dallas Tx. then to LA. I grew up Anglican but had dismissed God because I could not see why he needed me. At age 40 after being introduced to The Urantia Book by PhD physicist Irwin Ginsburg I had an “awakening” which rekindled my early Christian roots and took me back “home” to Winnipeg but not before I had traveled the world, been inside three Space Shuttles and won a couple of Design awards (the ego was getting too big to manage). Back in “home” I started Vista Medical with my brother, invented stretchable pressure sensors for the prevention of bed sores and a few other doo dads. Having sold the business, retired and lost my wife of 43 years to cancer, I am now working on the cure. Crashing that ultra-light in 2003, focused me on the things that matter most, relationship with people, cooperation and harmony. Check out my personal web page www.ubgeoff.com for pictures and my “Theory of Everything," incremental improvement in all things.”



Michael Buselli (General Councilor)

Michael has been reading the Urantia Book since his teens when his parents presented him with one. He professionally works with computers by day and spreads the good word of God night and day. 


Riula-Deoto-Urantia-General-Council
Riula Deoto (General Councilor)

My name is Riula Deoto. I am married to Willy Deoto for 25 years and am mother of two teenagers. I have been a dental hygienist for 19 yrs. Solonia our daughter is 16 yrs old and Gabriel our son is 14 yrs old. I like to read, go to the beach and hang out with our Urantia family. A reader since 2009; presently living in Georgia, USA; employed as an arborist.



Jill Strunk (General Councilor)

I found The Urantia Book, by what feels like angelic intervention, in 1974, and have been a reader and believer ever since. I soon joined the Rocky Mountain Spiritual Fellowship, attended up to three study groups per week, helped with a number of regional UB conferences, and attended triennial conferences throughout the country. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the wonderful friends I have gained in my spiritual travels, and my personal relationship with God and my eldest brother, Jesus, have been my foundation through everything I do. I was a high school English teacher when I lived in Colorado until 1998; then I moved to Minnesota and became a full-time psychologist, co-hosting a study group for fifteen years. I have two sons who still live in Colorado, so I get to visit often.



Michael Painter (General councilor)

I am currently teaching philosophy at Ivy Tech Junior College in Indianapolis. I have two sons and three grandchildren. I worked for the Urantia Book organizations headquarters in Chicago from 1979 to 1991. Currently I am serving a second 9-year term on the General Council. Previously, I have served as Vice president and also as chair of the Interfaith Committee. Also, I have served in all offices of and am currently President of the Orvonton Urantia Book Society. Finding the book in 1970, I have been reading it for almost 50 years, and my spirit lights up when I read it now just as it did when I first found it! How many books can you say that about! I have been a speaker and workshop leader at numerous Urantia Book conferences. Also, I created a CD which is a beginner’s guide to the practice of daily communion with our heavenly Father. I have been and continue to be very blessed!



Duane Johnson (General Councilor)

Duane Johnson is a retired journalist who now primarily writes poetry, He has published two volumes of poetry and is working on another. He also has published a short novel entitled, Herald of the Resurrection. He lives in Topeka, Kansas, and is married to a retired social worker. He has been a reader of The Urantia Book since 1978, and is active in Heart of America Society.



Agustín Arellano

Agustín Arellano has participated in more than 800 radio and television programs related to the teachings of The Urantia Book in addition to facilitating a myriad of workshops.  He is one of the founders of Urantia Radio: The Light of Revelation, and is currently the vice president of Urantia Radio.  He is also the founder of Urantia Television: A Voice for All. He is currently vice president of the company and content producer in five weekly programs.



Albert Einstein Lassiter (General Councilor)

Having very diverse parents (impoverished North Carolinian father and affluent Japanese mother) and seeing from their angry/hating behaviors how not to live, plus attending a few sessions of catechismthat was all I needed to unconsciously become a born again atheist at an early age, with rather different concepts about what a father is. Now, as a recovering born again atheist, I have been enjoying listening to The Urantia Book 3 or 4 times each year. (It only takes about 120 hours each time, so that’s only 80 minutes a day for 3 months each time.) Hearing The Urantia Book makes me think things I didn’t know I needed to think. Also, as a hyperdimensional tool, it transforms my mind in ways that allows me to hear more deeply meaningful information each time I listen to it, thus expanding my mind in ways I will never be able to unthink. After many years at Hewlett-Packard as a Systems Engineer and a lifelong ministry as a jazz composer/arranger/performer, I now live in an intentional community south of Coeur d’Alene Idaho in off-grid earth-sheltered domes with my wife Jena Lassiter, where she gardens in our year-round earth-sheltered greenhouse, and I work ClickUp Tasks for the Fellowship all day long. I am very excited to ever improve at serving the Fellowship.



Stephen Sawyer (General Councilor)

Raised a Christian, Stephen has been a Buddhist and a Muslim, has studied metaphysics, pagan religions, and has worshiped with many of the world’s religions and Christian denominations. He has spent much of his life seeking and embracing their honorable values and all they all have in common. In 1975 Stephen found a new and better way to understand God and was able to rise above his objections with organized religion. Jesus of Nazareth became his only hero and still is. That year he also committed his artistic talents in the service of God. Twenty years later ART4GOD was born. Currently he shares his experiences on a daily live Facebook video called Closet Church. Not being a fan of committees, Stephen joined as a General Councilor because of the remarkable integrity of the men and women he has met and decided to attempt to make a contribution with this excellent group of fellow servants. Stephen is currently serving as a member of the Publications Committee as an adjunct member of the Interfaith Committee.



Oluwatooni Oyeyemi (General Councilor)

Hailing from Basel, Switzerland, Toni is a truly dedicated man with a deep joy who wants to help create a curriculum to be easily understood by childrenhe really wants to serve. He hopes that the Fellowship can grow as a borderless community that reaches every religion, race, and language.

He says about himself: I have benefited greatly from the Fellowship and the book. I believe I have some knowledge and experience to share and contribute. I consider service the next step in my journey. I am a pastor and have served in ministerial positions for over fifteen years. I am very committed to the study of The Urantia Book, personal devotion, and personal growth. I have excellent teaching and administrational skills, and am also comfortable with financial statements. I have a good exposure and understanding of other religions as well.



Alvin Lockett (General Councilor)

Alvin lives in Gastonia, North Carolina, and was previously on the General Council. He works as a tutor for children in grades 3-6, has experience with non-profits and a good awareness of Robert's Rules of Order. Alvin helped to start a project which feeds 1,400 children a day in southern Arkansas. He has been reading for forty-nine years and after tending to many projects now wishes to return to the Fellowship as a General Counselor again with renewed purpose and drive. He hopes that The Urantia Book continues its important role as the fifth epochal revelation in the spiritual uplift of the planet and provides spiritual satisfaction and refuge for truth searchers worldwide.

Of himself, he says: I have been a student of the book since 1972. I was an early instructor in what was then the inauguration of the Urantia Book Internet School. I have given numerous workshops, presented topical addresses at conferences, served as a minister and teacher for Sunday services, done radio and television interviews on behalf of the Fellowship, worked book fairs, participated in over five study groups, shared and discussed The Urantia Book with hundreds of readers and searchers of truth, and published several articles.



Michael Perrie (Outreach Committee Chair)

My spiritual path began as a mystic in my early 20's, when I was given a copy of The Urantia Book, and my journey has ever since slowly developed into an increasing outer expression of sharing the story of Jesus' sweet message of love.

Just before that time, I was inspired to pick up the Bible I had been given in the Episcopal church, and to read anew the Red Lettered words. I read them as if I had never heard them beforeas if I was sitting on the hillside listening to this man Jesus, and asking myself, “What is it he wants me to know?” ... “What is it that he really wants me to understand?” This sparked a deep and fervent spiritual quest, and it was not long after that a good friend handed me a copy of The Urantia Book.

My love of learning has led to a study of the Course in Miracles, with which I led study groups in North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, and Oregon for over twenty years. Afterwards I followed my inner calling to become an ordained minister in 2013, and now work at the world headquarters of the Unity movement in Unity Village, Missouri.

When not pursuing my spiritual life I established two East coast jewelry businesses; worked as a crew foreman rehabilitating low income housing in Virginia; sold home mortgages, mutual funds, and life insurance; purchased everything from nuts and bolts to financial enterprise software; and wrote contracts for new city parks and street car construction, as a senior procurement officer for local government in ‘Keep it Weird’ Portland, Oregon.

After coming upon the book almost fifty years ago in upland Virginia, the understandings that it has imparted of the great adventure into the Divine that we are every one engaged in has enlivened all of my days.



John Lange (Finance Committee Chair)

I have been a student of The Urantia Book for forty-eight years and a member of the Oklahoma Urantia Society since 1971. I served as President in 1973 and was given a service award in 1972. I have served on the General Council for twenty years, being a member of the Executive Committee for most of that time. On the Executive Committee I served as Vice President, Judicial Committee Chair and International Fellowship Committee Chair. I have given workshops and presentations at many conferences, including all four Scientific Symposiums. I introduced The Urantia Book to Russia in 1995. More recently I have joined a group of UB readers and started a medical clinic associated with the Free Schools in India. I am a medical doctor living in Fort Smith, Arkansas. This year I left my surgical practice to accept a position with the Veteran's Administration. This leaves me more time for service to give back to this organization that has encouraged my spiritual journey, and to help make it more inviting to the next generation of Truth Seekers. My hope for the Fellowship is that we dedicate ourselves to planting the seeds for the spiritual harvest of future generations.



Devon Landis (Youth and Young Adult Committee Chair)

I've been a reader since 2009 after being first introduced to the book in Honduras in 2008.  I am presently living in Georgia, USA and am employed as an arborist.  I also serve as the Treasurer of the International Fellowship Committee.



Jackie Koury (Education Committee Chair)

Canadian from birth, I moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1976. Within months after arriving I discovered The Urantia Book and immediately knew it was the answer to my prayers. I attended the Anchorage study group for many decades. My professional career as an elementary teacher was a perfect fit for me and brought me great joy. I enjoyed exploring the grandeur of Alaska. My family has since moved to the beautiful state of Oregon where we go camping, hiking, and on daily walks with our dog. In the winter I spend time in sunny Yuma AZ. I’m grateful to be in our community and I love to be involved with the work of the revelation especially in the gathering of readers for fellowship and study.



Ruthie Wenger (General Councilor)

After a lifetime of exposure and engagement with Urantia Book readers due to her parents, Ruthie began studying The Urantia Book about 10 years ago, and was one of the beta-testing students in Urantia University Institute's inaugural Teacher Education Program. In addition to her duties as a General Councilor, she currently serves as President of the Grand Canyon Society of Urantia Book Readers, Chair of Urantia Family Life, and she co-produces the “Our Merried Life” podcast with her husband as a part of Symmetry of Soul.

She brings two decades of experience as a performing musician and educator, as well as a number of years in various administrative roles.



Tom Vasile (General Councilor)

I am married, have three children and live in Bear Valley Springs-a community in Tehachapi, California. In 2013, I retired after 22years serving as a Psychology Professor and Counselor at Bakersfield College where I taught: Introductory Psychology, Applied Psychology, Career and Life Planning, and Educational Planning. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of San Diego (USD) in 1976, a Master of Arts degree in Counseling from the University of Nevada-Reno in 1978, and from 1983 to 1989, did extensive post-graduate work in Counselor Education at Oregon State University where I trained and supervised Master level counselors. I completed all the coursework and testing to earn a PhD, but did not complete a dissertation, so I do not have PhD. Currently I lead a Urantia Book study through Zoom on Sunday evenings. I provide Counseling to Urantia Book students over Zoom. I serve as the President/leader of an Italian Men’s Retreat, Past-President of the Urantia Association of Los Angeles, member of the Fellowship’s Web Content/Stepping Stones committee and the Urantia Family Life Committee. I’m 72 years old. I was raised in an Italian Catholic family, but rejected the Catholic Church while studying it for confirmation in the Catholic Church. I studied the Bible in college and on my own until I determined that it was not the word of God. After a lot of prayer and searching for spiritual guidance, I had The Urantia Book delivered to my door by my next door neighbor in 1975. I have been a student of the fifth epochal revelation ever since then.


Douglas Burns (General Councilor)

I grew up in southern California in a Unitarian Universalist agnostic/atheist household. In 1976 I had an awakening to God when I was 18, and almost immediately after that, I was introduced to The Urantia Book. I studied the book and nearly every subject presented within it for many years with several different study groups. Life, family, and career eventually dominated my time, and my active studying waned. I was greatly disturbed by the organizational turmoil within the Urantia movement. In the last decade, my spiritual hunger reasserted itself, and I began with a new earnest to study the revelation with fresh eyes. I am eager to serve and have been looking for ways to help with the work of the movement. I study with the Walnut Creek, CA group, and I am the Study Group Chair in the Golden Gate Circle Society. I am honored to serve on the General Council, and I am actively working with the constitutional review process. I also provide technical support help to the Urantia Book Historical Society.


Sally Annabella (General Councilor)

Sally is a third-generation reader, having received a copy of The Urantia Book from her grandparents, Clyde and Florence Bedell, while in utero. She started reading it on her own in 1982 and today is surprised when she finds a page without any underlining. Sally has background in music, restaurant industry, therapeutic massage, and travel, with a BS in Sports and Health Sciences. She has lived overseas, traveled to many countries and delights in learning about and experiencing other cultures. She is excited to get to be part of this group of spirit-led people impassioned about the dissemination of this magnificent work, and helping to bring its joy to all corners of the globe. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, enjoys the outdoors, and loves to spend time with her four grown children and granddaughter.


Eileen Laurence (General Councilor)

Born into the Methodist tradition in Delaware, Eileen read the Bible cover to cover and was not happy with some of the information there. She moved into other protestant and Jewish faiths as a student at the Juilliard School of Music. Tony Tambuerllo introduced her to The Urantia Book while they were on tour together. She married Peter, a non-observant Jew, and was looking for a religious text that we could share in our family life. The Urantia Book became our anchor.

She's been a member of the Urantia Society of Greater New York for countless years and has chaired the Translation Oversight Committee, helping to foster 5 translations: 2 Korean, 1 Turkish and 1 Russian. Recently she served as president of USGNY.



Dana Bredemeyer (General Councilor)

What a blessing to be on this planet at this time. I was thrilled when introduced to the revelation by my good friend in high school over fifty years ago, and have been a dedicated student and study grouper since that memorable night. I have served in several roles on the General Council, the Executive Committee, and in two societies. Career wise, I spent twenty years as a software engineer at Hewlett-Packard, and have run my own consulting business focused on software and system architecture for the last twenty-five years. I have traveled extensively for work and with family, and look forward to all the free travel associated with being on the Council.


Larry Geis (General Councilor)

After a 12 year hiatus it’s a great pleasure to rejoin the general council. When I first encountered our big blue book in the fall of 1970, it’s immediate authenticity rang a truth bell for me. Since then, furthering the dissemination of this fifth epochal revelation has been the primary goal of my life, taking precedence over career building a CPA practice and materialistic striving. “Selfless service” has its own reward.

Study groups, gatherings, conferences, committee work, international excursions and public outreach at expos and book fairs all contributed to my satisfaction for service. And meeting All You beautiful humans, shining examples of light and life…(words fail). It is my hope that the Fellowship will continue to connect, coordinate, encourage, enable and empower those who feel led to participate in disseminating these teachings to a waiting world.



Sonny Schneider (General Councilor)

My journey with Jesus started on Hollywood Blvd. back in 1971. I had grown up in beach towns along the southern California coast but now at the age of 25, I was looking for something more than the surf scene.

As I was walking down this street one bright day, there was a man standing on the corner with a bible held high in the air and saying, ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’. He went on preaching, but just those words, it is more blessed to give than to receive, struck deep within me as I had just experienced that blessedness the night before for the first time in my life. I reasoned that if Jesus knew this most profound truth way back then, then maybe I should know more about Him. So again, for the first time in my life, I turned inside and asked Jesus to send me more information about himself as I had found the bible to be of little help.

My next winter was to be spent in a small cabin 2000 feet up a mountain on Salt Spring Island off the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This cabin had no electricity, no running water, and was 10 dirt road miles to anywhere. As we were to spend the next 5 months snowed in, I gave my roommate, Dolphin, all my money, $85.00 for food for the winter as he was going to Vancouver for his winter supplies. He came back with some food, a very nice guitar, and a Urantia Book he had bought with my money as he thought I might like something to read over the winter. Jesus had answered my prayers! I often read 10 to 14 hours a day for the next 5 month. Then I put it in my backpack where it traveled with me for many years.

I joined the Urantia Brotherhood in 1979 after meeting many UB readers at a conference in Vancouver put on by our local study group, as I was then living in the big city. Folks I met there from Hawaii invited us to come and visit their community in Captain Cook, on the Big Island. We accepted this invitation and lived there for the next 20 years, raising three children and hosting a UB study group. It was there I discovered the 90 hours of Bill Sadler Jr. lectures on 16 old reel to reel tapes in a box in a barn that had not been opened in many years. Soon, our local study group took on the task of editing these tapes onto cassettes. With the help of these wonderful lectures, I soon felt I had enough of a unified ignorance of the Foreword to teach it to others and the Fellowship International conferences allowed me to do that. At the end of each class I would ask who would like a copy of these Bill Sadler Jr. lectures and I ended up sending out over a thousand of these cassettes. Along the way, I started a U-Tube channel with over 40 hours of Bill’s lectures.

After the passing of my life partner, Bendi K Poppel, who is the best poet this planet has ever seen and a 50-year reader of the UB, I put together a book, CD and DVD of her divine Urantia based poetry and I hope you all get to read it someday. Over the last year and a half, I have written seven Urantia based articles, six relating to the Foreword and one on listening to the Urantia Book. Lately, I have been attending local fairs and flea markets to share the Urantia Book with others. A few of our Society ladies also attended with me and they were of tremendous help! Having two or three voices and experiences together greatly multiplied our effect on the listeners.

I have been a member of a study group whenever possible in my long life as I enjoy sharing these truths with others!


Executive Committee

President - Sue Snider Seccombe

Vice President - David Schlundt

Secretary - Beth Challis

Treasurer - Brent St. Denis

Secretary General - Trudi Cooper

Worldwide Service Team Chair - Lila Dogim

Fellowship Service Team Chair - Lara Amyx

Media and Communications Service Team Chair - Jena Lassiter

Judicial Committee Chair–Tom Allen

Committee Chairs

Interfaith Committee Chair–Barbara Newsom

Outreach Committee Chair–Michael Perrie

International Fellowship Committee Chair–André Radatus 

Finance Committee Chair–John Lange

Judicial Committee Chair–Tom Allen

Membership Committee Chair–Dan Amyx

Publications Committee Chair–Cristina Seaborn

Education Committee Chair–Jackie Koury

Youth and Young Adult Committee Chair–Devon Landis

The Urantia Book Fellowship is an international organization serving the following countries

The Urantia Book is currently available in twenty-five languages and several additional translations are currently in-progress. As a result, The Urantia Book Fellowship supports the global network of readers and interested parties and has a current focus in the following countries and locales:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Antarctica, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Caribbean Netherlands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Curacao, Cyprus, Czechia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia (FYROM), Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, The Bahamas, The Gambia, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.


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