Our service on

March 24, 2013 ~ Devotional Chanting for Trust, Wholeness and Surrender

Speaker

Rev. Bonnie Rose

Senior Minister
Photo of Rev. Bonnie Rose

Rev. Bonnie is the Senior Minister of the Ventura Center for Spiritual Living. She was born in New York, graduated from Duke University with a degree in Nursing, and then received a degree from the North Carolina School of the Arts in Vocal Performance.

Rev. Bonnie worked in New York for several years as a Nurse, Opera Singer, and Actress. In 1992-93, she performed in the National Tour of a Broadway Show and then decided to move to Southern California. She attended the North Hollywood Church of Religious Science, became a practitioner there, and then received a Master of Divinity from Holmes Institute.

Rev. Bonnie served as a staff minister at NHCRS for two years, prior to being led to Ventura Center for Spiritual Living. A gifted speaker and visionary, Rev. Bonnie offers dynamic leadership to transform lives and helps make the world a better place. Rev. Bonnie is dedicated to calling forth the best in all beings and working together to create a culture of kindness. Ventura Center for Spiritual Living is a journey church, where participants engage in an ongoing discovery of how to live fully and abundantly in the Infinite.

Rev. Bonnie currently lives in Santa Paula with her husband Hugh, Vizsla Dogs - Stella and Bartok and many other animals. You may contact Rev. Bonnie at either revbonnierose@venturacsl.org or office@venturacsl.org.

Musician

Karen Mitchell

Singer
Photo of Karen Mitchell

Karen Mitchell is one of those rare individuals who is musical at the molecular, sub-atomic level. The creation of melodies and lyrics are as natural to her as breathing. To quote a line from the hit NBC series, "Medium" even among the special, she's special.

Karen entered the world with some serious artistic DNA in the family gene pool. Her mother was a classically trained vocalist, her late grandmother was a poet and journalist; her late uncle, Red Mitchell is regarded as one of the world's foremost jazz bassists, and her father, Gordon Whitey Mitchell is also an important jazz bassist, as well as an Emmy-winning comedy writer.

Karen Louise Mitchell was born in New Jersey (yes, she's a bona-fide Jersey Girl!), but moved west (along with her two siblings) to Los Angeles when she was only three, so that her father could pursue his television writing career. Karen displayed her uncommon musical ability very early. She could (quite literally) sing before she could speak in complete sentences, and was composing fully-realized songs on her tiny ukulele by the age of five. All of the Mitchell kids were encouraged musically, and a typical family game usually involved some sort of ear-training or other honing of essential musical skills.

Throughout her scholastic career, Karen focused on her musical pursuits, and in Junior and Senior High School was consistently the leading light of the choir, being asked to perform numerous solos with all of the performing ensembles available. Some of her early musical influences include artists as diverse as James Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Dan Fogelberg and Earth, Wind & Fire. By the age of fifteen, she was already working four to five nights a week with a busy Top 40 cover band, and essentially supporting herself. Her charm, effervescence, stage presence and gorgeous blonde-Celtic good looks made her irresistible to audiences, and she worked with several successful pop bands, functioning as front woman, vocal arranger and musical director.

In addition to her love of performing, Karen also began to develop as a composer and lyricist. As she entered young adulthood, her unique writing style began to emerge, a distinctive and refreshing style and perspective filled with hope, honesty and spirituality. She also quickly developed a love of, and talent for working in the recording studio, and began to be an in-demand Los Angeles studio singer, booking numerous recording sessions for notable film and television producer/composers, such as the Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated John Debney.

The release of Karen Mitchell's first solo CD, "In This Moment" has been a true labor of love. She has carefully surrounded herself with first-rate instrumentalists and engineers, and created compositions and arrangements that reflect her positive outlook. Her infectious, charming and melodic style insures that we'll enjoy and be inspired by more of Karen Mitchell's work for many years to come.

In addition to her many live performances in and around the Los Angeles area, she is also currently the Musical Director of the La Crescenta Church of Religious Science, and a member of Neale Donald Walsch's international organization, Humanity's Team as well as the New Thought Music Association and the Positive Music Association.

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