Rev. Dr. Joan Steadman is a founding member of the Agape International Spiritual Center and of Agape Bay Area. She has been an ordained Agape and Centers for Spiritual Living minister since 1998. She has served as the Senior Minister of our beloved community since January 2019 after serving as the assistant minister. Our community is blessed to be guided by her consciousness and leadership.

In 2014, she reFIRed, releasing her position as Spiritual Leader at the Oakland Center for Spiritual Living where she served for fifteen years. Previous to that, she was an assistant minister at the Agape International Spiritual Center for two years and a licensed spiritual practitioner for thirteen years where she had a thriving practice.

As a founding member of Agape International, she served in many capacities, including the original Vision Core and the original Board of Trustees. She was the founder and director of One From The Heart, the pastoral care ministry at Agape. Under her leadership, the ministry grew and became one of the largest pastoral care ministries in the New Thought movement. While at Agape, she also facilitated accredited classes and many workshops centering in the mystical aspect of New Thought/Ageless Wisdom.

For many years, she has been on the faculty of both the Michael Beckwith School of Ministry and Holmes Institute, the CSL School of Ministry. She created curriculum for Practical Mysticism and Visioning, both CSL classes. Rev. Joan has facilitated workshops and retreats nationwide and has been a sought-out speaker at many New Thought centers and conferences. Additionally, she has authored articles and meditations for various New Thought magazines, including Science of Mind magazine.

She was inducted into the Martin Luther King Hall of Preachers at Morehouse College and was awarded the Gandhi Ikeda King Award for Peace and Unity in the Community. She received congressional recognition by Representative Barbara Lee in 2014, and in August of 2021, she was a recipient of the Walden Award for New Thought Wisdom.