Rebekah A. Dunlap, M.Div.
The Reverend Rebekah A. Dunlap began to fulfill a long-held dream of launching a career as a professional writer during tenure as Director of Advertising and Public Relations for a furniture manufacturing company in Ridgeway, Virginia. Writing articles for national and international furniture trade publications, a byline column for a local newspaper, and copy for national and international advertising programs provided unique opportunities for communication with a varied and expansive readership through the written word.
In 1972 Rebekah received a strong and personal calling to spiritual service and left the corporate world. She received her graduation diploma from Unity School of Christianity, Unity Village, Missouri, and ministerial ordination from The Association of Unity Churches, Lee’s Summit, Missouri, in 1976. While attending the ministerial training program, she worked part-time in Unity School’s Public Relations Department and wrote articles for both Unity and Daily Word magazines. Also during this period, Rebekah wrote two books published by Unity Books: Breakthrough, and The Rainbow Connection.
While serving more than thirty years as a Unity minister, Rebekah served as Senior Minister for eight churches, including the founding of new ministries in Lynchburg, VA; Marietta, GA; and Albany, NY. While active in church ministry, she served on the Association of Unity Churches’ International Board of Directors and on the International Executive Committee. She was Regional Representative for the Pacific Northwest Region, and served on the Standards Committee, Expansion Committee, Youth Services Committee, and Media Support Team.
During this period of time, three more of her books were published by other publishers; and she was “ghostwriter” for two books for a well-known national personality. she was also Senior writer for correspondence study courses for two Unity “Basic” books: What God Is Like and How I Used Truth, and a new correspondence study course, Unity in the 21st Century. She co-authored with The Reverend Dr. Glenn Mosley a book on the history of The Association of Unity Churches: The Association of Unity Churches, International: Its Beginning; Its Evolution; and Its vision for Expansion.
A most meaningful event occurred in Rebekah’s life on October 13, 1994, when she received a letter from Sir John Templeton, asking if she would be interested in working with him as a “ghostwriter” on a new edition of his book, Discovering the Laws of Life. Sir John had read a couple of her books and liked the writing style and felt it would be compatible with his idea for the revision. They met in Nassau at Sir John’s home and, after discussing ideas for the rewrite, Rebekah and Sir John held a mutual feeling of excitement about their working together.
For Rebekah, this began an extraordinary, respectful, and fulfilling communication and working closely, almost on a weekly basis, with Sir John for the next ten years. She was impressed with his expansive visionary intellect, dedicated spiritual views, and his strong belief that religious values are basic and intrinsic for human liberty and evolution for the human condition worldwide. They worked so closely in synch, mentally and in a growing bond of friendship, that their meetings for presentation for ideas for each new book would almost be mirror reflections. Their coordinated working together produced five books. Discovering the Laws of Life grew into Worldwide Laws of Life: 200 Eternal Spiritual Principles. Next came Worldwide Worship, Prayers, and Praise; Wisdom From World Religions: Pathways Toward Heaven on Earth; Why Are We Created? Increasing Our Understanding of Humanity’s Purpose on Earth (Which also became an audio book); and Story of a Clam.
Rebekah has often commented that working with Sir John over the years was a highlight in her life and was like receiving a “spiritual gift,” because she learned so much, and grew in many ways. He became, to her, like a cherished “father figure,” tremendously honored and respected. On several occasions Sir John invited Rebekah to attend his annual Advisory Board sessions as his personal guest. These were occasions of amazement and admiration for the presentations by the brilliant minds in attendance. Also, deep appreciation and gratitude for the opportunity to be a friend of, and co-worker with, such a magnificent human being as Sir John Templeton.