ABOUT
MARK ANTHONY LORD

I TRANSLATE DIVINE GUIDANCE INTO WORDS AND EXPERIENCES THAT EMPOWER AND AWAKEN YOU TO YOUR GOD-SELF.

My deepest joy is helping people see beyond the fear, old beliefs and stories that have kept them from knowing who they really are.

I listen deeply—to you and to the guidance I receive. I ask the questions that open something new. I speak to what I see, challenge what is no longer true, and help you recognize the deeper calling underneath whatever is happening in your life.

My work is about helping you trust God, trust what is being revealed within you, and have the courage to live it.

The counselor at the 12-Step treatment center said:

“You better get a new God and learn how to forgive—or you will die.”

AND SO…I DID.

I grew up in a blue-collar Catholic neighborhood outside Detroit. Church was solemn, heavy and scary. Every Sunday I said, “Lord, I am not worthy,” and as a child, I believed it. By seven, I was pretty sure I was going to hell.

I was also sexually abused within the Catholic Church. I didn’t have words for what happened, so I carried it silently. By my twenties, fear, shame and addiction had taken over, and at 24 I landed in a 12-Step treatment center in Canada.

That’s where everything changed.

I got sober and began the long, sometimes beautiful, sometimes messy adventure of discovering a God I could actually love.

That search has taken me around the world—from ashrams in India to shamanic ceremonies in Costa Rica, from ancient spiritual teachings to A Course in Miracles, from meditation and mystical experiences to some very ordinary mornings sitting quietly with God.

I earned my Master of Divinity, became an ordained minister and founded Bodhi Spiritual Center in Chicago, which grew from a handful of people into a spiritual community of thousands. Years later, I co-founded Living The Course, a global community devoted to living the teachings of A Course in Miracles.

I hear the Holy Spirit. I receive words, images and guidance that help me see what is often difficult to see from inside our own lives. This has been part of my spiritual life for many years, and today it is at the heart of how I teach, guide and serve.

More than three decades after that counselor told me to get a new God, I’m still doing it.

Only now, I’m helping other people discover the God that was never frightening, judging or far away in the first place.

WHAT I BELIEVE

God is Love. God is Fact. Period.

Anything that teaches fear, punishment, separation or unworthiness is not the truth about God.

You are surrounded by Love and help beyond anything you can comprehend.

Angels, masters, guides and friends walk with you. You are never alone, and you have far more help available than you realize.

You are a powerful creator of your experience.

Your thoughts, beliefs and choices shape the life you experience. When you change your mind, you change what becomes possible.

Spiritual practice works.

Forgiveness works. Prayer works. Conscious communion with God works. These are practices that awaken you from all fear and false beliefs.

A FEW THINGS ABOUT ME

Some profound. Some ridiculous. All true.

I’ve been married to Patrick for 24 years.

Blissful years. Well, there have been those days, but blissful nonetheless. Marriage has been one of the great spiritual classrooms of my life.

I’m gay and gender-fluid.

I discovered the term “gender-fluid” while interviewing Chaz Bono. He explained what it meant and I practically jumped out of my chair: “THAT’S ME!” Turns out it only took me several decades and Chaz Bono to find the right words.

I like my dogs big and furry.

Bigsby and Lolly are both St. Bernard mixes. I am an unapologetically ridiculous dog dad.

Spirituality begins with good style.

Okay, technically this may not appear in A Course in Miracles. But I am a serious clothes horse and see absolutely no conflict between enlightenment and a fabulous jacket.

I have absolutely no hand-eye coordination.

I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a baseball from ten feet away. Put on music, however, and things change. Before ministry, I was a professional choreographer and director—including three years at Disney.

I’ve failed at plenty of things.

Businesses. Ideas. Projects I was certain were going to work. Some crashed spectacularly. I’ve become far less interested in looking successful and much more interested in being willing to follow what feels alive.