Purpose = Passion + Service

Saturday, September 1st, 2012, 5:15pm EDT

Author and theologian Frederick Buechner says that “purpose is where your deepest gladness and the world’s hunger meet.”  What are you most passionate about in life?  Where are your talents most needed in the world?  Come explore these questions with three spiritual thinkers on three distinct tracks:

• Alex Cook is an artist and singer-songwriter focused on spiritual celebration
• Heather Libbe is a Christian Science practitioner fresh out of college
• Traci Fenton is CEO of a global organization promoting democracy in the workplace

This live chat will be streamed live from the CSO Summit in Lebanon, MO, where hundreds of college students will be gathered over Labor Day weekend.  Tune in and SEND IN your questions and comments!

Alex Cook is a singer/songwriter and muralist from Boston. Alex’s diverse labors in the arts, as an elementary school teacher, and prison chaplain influence and deepen his musical voice. Alex Cook has made it his life’s work to express spiritual hope, power, and the beauty of God through music. After a 10 year career as a muralist and public artist, Alex knows from experience that “beauty saves lives.” It is with this conviction that he crafts his songs. He looks deep into Spirit, and draws from its rich resources melodies, stories, and words that reach the longing heart. In his performances as in his recordings, there is a wide spectrum of spiritual color. At one moment his music is profoundly serious and honest, and in another, it is filled with humor and friendly relation. Alex’s musical ministry is heartfelt and powerful. His songs take us somewhere very spiritual. Click here to read more about Alex Cook, and his music and his artwork.

Traci Fenton is the Founder and CEO of WorldBlu, whose mission is championing the growth of democratically-run companies worldwide. She became an entrepreneur shortly after college. Traci is currently working on a book on how freedom, rather than fear and control, can be practiced within a business environment. She frequently addresses audiences on organizational democracy and freedom-centered leadership and has shared her message with individuals from over 100 countries, in forums and for organizations such as TEDx, South by Southwest, Yahoo!, Fox Interactive Media, the CIA, and Harvard University. Traci has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, US News and World Report, The New York Times, the BBC and dozens of other media around the globe. Click here to read more about Traci and WorldBlu.

Heather Libbe is a recent graduate of Principia College. Her interest in comparative religion led her to spend six months of her senior year studying abroad in India and Nepal, as well as the Middle East. After graduation, Heather worked for the Euphrates Institute, a non-profit focused on improving relations between the Middle East and the West. Heather also helped out with two college-level Religion classes, visited and corresponded with an inmate in southern Illinois, continued to be a part of CSO committees, taught Sunday school, played with kids at the local day care and spent time with college faculty, staff and students. Heather is now a Christian Science practitioner.

Christian Science lecturer and President of The Mother Church, Chet Manchester, is the host for this chat.