About the Authors

Phillip O. Thomas

Phil Thomas was ordained as Bishop by Praise Covenant Interdenominational Fellowship (PCIF), an affiliation of independent, Bible-based churches on the East Coast of the United States. He serves 12 PCIF churches in Virginia.

Bishop Thomas was born in inner city Baltimore to a mother who suffered from MS, an absent father, and a grandmother who made sure he spent most of his childhood in church. He gave his life completely to God late in high school, and spent several years touring the Mid-Atlantic region preaching and performing with a gospel band. In 1999 he gave up a successful career as telecom account executive at Bell Atlantic to become full time pastor of Highview Christian Fellowship, which is currently located in Fairfax, Virginia.

Bishop Thomas earned a Bachelors degrees in Biblical Studies and Biblical Counseling from Washington Bible College in Lanham, Maryland, and The Christian College Seminary in Independence, Missouri, where he also completed the Masters of Divinity degree. He received a Doctoral degree from Florida’s Jacksonville Theological Seminary in 2008. He has traveled and done ministry work in Africa and India. He and his wife Cindy have three grown children and three grandchildren.

Teri Murphy

Teri Murphy has been fomenting discussion since she told her parish priest at age 13 that she was starting an independent teen group. There they could discuss forbidden topics like abortion.

She fell gently away from Catholocism. But she sought a new relationship with the Infinite after an intensive personal growth workshop in her thirties. With her husband, Andy, she discovered New Thought at Celebration Center for Spiritual Living in Falls Church, Virginia. There they practiced the philosophy, “There is a power for good in the Universe; it works through my thinking.”

Much as they loved community life there, parts of it came to feel out-of-balance. Then on vacation in the Bahamas they visit a church where their souls were shaken as the praise rattled the roof. And that’s where our story picks up.

Teri’s professional career spanned several government agencies and private consulting as a communications trainer. Since the passing of her husband, she continues living in Arlington, Virginia. She has served on church and community boards and has founded several wisdom-related Meetup groups.

Teri writes about adventures related to this book at her Substack, Afoot in Both Worlds.