Spiritual Course - Watch the Fee Cost

LINDA LEICHT • NEWS-LEADER • JUNE 5, 2010
The tiny hermitage in the middle of the 23 acres of Mystic Trace provides the perfect place for Romona Baker to get away for a few days on a spiritual retreat.If she would prefer the smell of fresh baking bread and a little company, she can stay at the bed and breakfast.

Chris Davison and his family visit the retreat every few weeks for a Sunday morning small-group gathering where people share their spiritual questions and insights.

The retreat center near Pleasant Hope also offers spiritual direction and counseling by Tom and Kathryn Boone, co-founders of Life Development Ministries.

The Boones hope to introduce their unique retreat center and inclusive embrace of spirituality by inviting the public to a music festival next weekend.

On Saturday night, there will be three live bands, playing everything from folk to funk. Campers are invited to take advantage of the setting, and everyone is invited back on Sunday morning for music and storytelling, an alternative to traditional church worship.

Taking Root

Mystic Trace started as a spark of an idea in 1998 when Tom Boone began his own spiritual direction with a local adviser. "That's when I began to think about Christian spirituality as something different from the Christian religion and the church," he explains.

Boone is an ordained Baptist minister, serving in churches from 1971 until 2005, when he resigned his position as college student minister at University Heights Baptist Church after working there 16 years.

He earned his master's degree in Christian spirituality from Creighton University, adding to his seminary degree in religious education, and certification as a spiritual director and directed retreat leader.

Kathryn Boone is a licensed professional counselor who has a private practice in Springfield and at Mystic Trace.

While her services include traditional approaches, she will also add a "spiritual dimension," based on the desires of the client.

"It's not doctrinal or religious," she says. "It is just spiritual, helping the person tap into the resource of divine connections."