MEET OUR NEW SENIOR MINISTER

Starting on August 17, our new Senior Minister will be Rev. Dr. Rick Belous.

Rick has been the Senior Minister at Unity centers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Roanoke and Lynchburg, Virginia. He currently serves as an Advisor to Unity Worldwide Ministries.

His passion is about Unity’s links to world religions and spiritual paths. Rick is a noted speaker who can bring home complex metaphysical principles and apply them to modern situations that we all face.

At all three of his previous spiritual centers he was able to significantly increase membership, and attract more Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Zers. This led to many more children and parents in the congregations, and a revitalization of Youth and Family Ministry programs.

He co-chaired the Unity Worldwide Ministries task force that reformed ministerial education. During Covid Rick’s church pioneered a model that was followed by many other Unity churches. They held “parking lot” services, and broadcast the audio into people’s FM car radios. “It was almost like a drive-in movie theater, only because of Covid we didn’t serve popcorn,” he notes.

Rick also has a passion for social justice and neighbor helping neighbor. For example, while he was in Lynchburg, the congregation put in and stocked an outdoor refrigerator which serves the community 24/7.

Prior to his call to ministry, Rick was the chief economist for the United Way movement. He has also served as an Advisor to two U.S. Presidential Commissions.
 
Rick was adjunct professor at George Washington University in business and economics, and he has authored and/or co-authored 13 books on a wide range of economic and social topics. He is a graduate of Columbia University, George Washington University, and Unity Institute & Seminary. He has a Ph.D. in economics and an M.A. in theology and religion.

Rick loves hiking, reading, and creative writing, classical music, and the Grateful Dead.