Archive by Author

Shared Stories: Humpback Whale

An amazing rescue story and show of profound gratitude — it truly brought tears to my eyes. Sent in from BJ Brown   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBYPlcSD490

Carmel: Dr. Stuart Brown, part 3

One of the fun discoveries about Stuart Brown is he isn’t just a brainiac espousing theories and hypothesis about play; he embodies his own theories and loves to play.  We discovered upon meeting with him that he has an amazing tree house!!  Four flights up to a location way up in the trees of Carmel Valley […]

Carmel: Dr. Stuart Brown, continued

Stuart listened as each of us shared our thoughts and hopes of this time and the whole summer.  He shared the biological evidence, after extensive experimental work on rats, that play is indeed not something we learn or are conditioned, but truly a part of our DNA.  It is woven in our very genetic fiber.    At […]

Carmel: Dr. Stuart Brown

We met with Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute of Play and author of Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, which was an amazing time for us all.  What an amazing man, in touch fully with both masculine and feminine sides, authentic, genuine, funny, brilliant, a story teller, Stanford […]

Meet our Pastor-In-Residence, Laurie Furr-Vancini

Church of the Hills welcomes Laurie Furr-Vancini as our pastor-in-residence for the month of July. Laurie will be participating in worship, events of the life of the church, and will  truly be part of our church community. Laurie is a dear friend and comes highly recommended by Katie Robb (another minister in that presbytery and our former youth director). […]

Carmel: Getting Your Grove On

At a wonderful Greek restaurant, after the appetizers were served, the owner and the waiter and the chef came out with guitar and tambourine, and started playing. The atmosphere of the place shifted radically as everyone joined in clapping and cheering then they brought out two belts with bells and invited Kay and Nicki to play – and […]

Article: Mountain Connection, July 2011

    Published in the July 2011 issue of the Mountain Connection Magazine COTH Dances With Wolves By Amy Fisher For those of us fortunate enough to live in our beautiful mountain communities, getting up close and personal with wildlife typically occurs every day—perhaps an elk jam on the way to work or witnessing a mother […]

COTH Guest in the Pulpit, Joelle Brummett Beller

COTH looks forward to welcoming Reverend Joelle Brummett Beller, Fuller Teaching Professor, who will be preaching  July 3rd and 10th. Pastor Joelle’s theme will be “Godly Play” which corresponds to Pastor Dee Cooper’s Sabbatical theme. Following is a brief bio for Pastor Brummett Beller: Joelle Brummett Beller is a Fuller Theological Seminary graduate and a PC(USA) minister. She has […]

Carmel: The Power of Kelp

As we would sit quietly watching the otters play and eat and groom, we were aware our boats would drift with the tide.  Our guide, John, educated us to a natural braking mechanism: kelp.  By holding onto the kelp we could hold our position to keep our eyes open to see each angle of the […]

Carmel: Team Work

We all decided to paddle in tandem with the kayaks which involved a lot of communication, a great deal of trust, a lot of laughter, and an ability to work as a team. We were successful in doing all of these…well for the most part!! It was a time of bonding for us all. And […]