Gary Simmons, Th.D.

Rev. Dr. Gary Simmons is a renowned peacemaker and spiritual leader whose teachings and ground-breaking Integral Model of Ministry are transforming church organizations and helping church leaders to more fully express their Divine calling, energize their spiritual communities and expand their capacity to carry out their mission with greater integrity and congruence.

In 2008, building upon 18 years of peacemaking and spiritual conflict resolution work, Dr. Simmons and fellow spiritual leader Rima Bonario launched The Q Effect LLC to support individuals and New Thought organizations in building a world that works for all.

In 2009, they authored the workbook, “The Art & Practice of Living with Nothing and No One Against You.” Their work combines the life-changing concepts of quantum physics and universal spiritual laws into a practical, 21-day transformational process that is appealing and easily accessible to a broader audience. Their workshops are designed for spiritual seekers and leaders everywhere who want to live, lead and relate from integrity, wholeness, and one’s highest expression of self.

Dr. Simmons’ distinguished service began at 21 years old, when he was elected to the Board of Trustees for his local Unity church. Since then, he has served the New Thought Movement in many capacities. 

As an ordained minister for 30 years, Dr. Simmons pioneered three Unity churches, leading one in Fayetteville, Arkansas for 12 years. As the Assistant Vice President of Integral Operations, Dr. Simmons served the Association of Unity Churches International for three years, during which time he was instrumental in creating The Transformation Experience-a whole-system church growth and development approach. This approach offers leaders a powerful new model of ministry based in part on Dr. Simmons’ doctoral work, the Integral Model of Ministry. Dr. Simmons continues to support the growth of thriving ministries and enlightened leaders in both the Unity and Centers for Spiritual Living movements as a consultant.

For the previous 10 years, he served as the Director of Peacemaking Services creating a new approach to peacemaking based on his first book “The I of the Storm: Embracing Conflict, Creating Peace,” a Unity bestseller now in its twelfth printing. This included developing processes that facilitate healing for churches and church leaders in crisis. He also extended his peacemaking processes to other denominations.

Having implemented peacemaking and transition consulting in more than 250 New Thought organizations, Dr. Simmons’ contributions have been recognized with multiple awards, including the “Expanding the Dream Award,” and, in 2004, the prestigious Myrtle Fillmore Award for embodying the heart of Unity in his ability to help heal divisions. In addition, his work to establish Unity’s first peacemaking program allowed the Association of Unity Churches International to apply for and receive, for seven years in a row, the Sir John Templeton Grant, “Expanding the Pathway to Peace through Conflict.”

Dr. Simmons’ doctoral thesis integrates quantum science and spiritual principles and applies Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory to church organizations, which Simmons said “behave as conscious entities.” Wilber enthusiastically praised Simmons’ Integral Model of Ministry, saying it is “very valuable information that ministries can adopt in order to increase their transformational capacities.”

Dr. Simmons received his doctor of theology degree from Holos University Graduate Seminary, where he is now Director of the Spiritual Direction Track and an associate professor who teaches his Integral Model of Ministry and peacemaking. He is an adjunct faculty member for Holmes and Unity Institutes, and a trainer and keynote speaker for Unity, United Centers for Spiritual Living and International Centers for Spiritual Living.

Dr. Simmons holds a fourth-degree black belt in the martial art of tae kwon-do and is an experimental aircraft pilot currently building his third airplane. He lives with wife, the Rev. Jane Simmons, a Unity minister, in Lee's Summit, Mo.