The Power of Cohort: Unleash Your Pen
In 2021, Christos offered an online workshop focused on writing as a spiritual practice. Five of the participants were inspired and committed to meet online twice a month beginning in January of 2022. As they experienced the power of a cohort, their relationships grew along with their writing practices. They felt prompted by God to share their journey. In May of 2025 the group published their devotional book entitled, Unleash Your Pen: Read, Reflect, and Write To Connect with God. The group continues to flourish as they lean into the power of God and their Christos connection. Read more from the writing group members themselves:
What were the benefits of the original writing as a spiritual practice workshop?
Annette Beseman – I found myself writing about things I never really thought about before. It digs things out of you that you don’t know are there.
Lori Waite Whitaker – I do a lot of journaling, and wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing with it. I learned additional practices for how to look at writing, such as what stirs the soul. It was encouraging to write together in the group, but even more so to share what I wrote, and receive feedback … on personal and private things. I found myself maturing in my own writing.
Janell Giesler –There was real growth and vulnerability within the group. I always enjoyed writing but hadn’t taken the step to be vulnerable with it.
How did you take the next step from being in workshop together, to forming a writing group, and then publishing your own devotional?
Annette - Somewhere along the line, during the workshop, our facilitator (Julie Bonde) mentioned being in a writing group. How do you get in a writing group? You form your own! We started with about a dozen people. We five have been together since January 2022.
Lori Anderson - We meet by Zoom. We take turns leading, share a short devotional, have quick updates and then take time to write or share what we’re writing. When we chose to do this devotional, our meetings became a bit more intense as we would share more structured edits. Now that book is published, the leader sends out prompts and we write together based on those prompts, then share as a group.
Dawn Rogers - We hit the point about a year into it and asked, what are we going to do with this? We weren’t bored but we were looking for purpose. That’s when we decided to put together a devotional.
Top row: Annette Beseman, Dawn Rogers, Lori Waite Whitaker; bottom row: Janell Giesler, Lori Anderson
“I found myself writing about things I never really thought about before. It
digs things out of you that you don’t know are there.”
What were some of the challenges of turning your personal writings into a book?
Lori Anderson - I was part of the MN Christian Writers Guild which ended up publishing the book. We thought our type of writing lent itself to devotionals, so we did a 40-day devotional; each of us wrote eight pieces. The structure of the book was based on a scripture verse, the body of the devotional, a prayer and an area called Unleash Your Pen where we encourage the reader to engage with the work we’ve presented, to journal or take some action steps.
Annette - Before we did the book, we shared feedback responding to what the Lord was doing in us. Then we shifted to more editing, which felt odd for a while, but we knew we had to do that for the book to be as good as it could be. We balanced giving both critical and positive feedback.
Dawn – We always reminded the writer, this is yours, we don’t want to change the message. We had a little bit of pressure as we learned the business part and had to meet deadlines. But we respected the process and each other.
How important was your Christos cohort in doing this?
Lori Anderson – We were all on level playing field, as no one else had published before. We were learning together and there was power in that. The book was a partnership, not only with all of us, but with others we brought in along the way such as an editor and graphic designer. Now as a group, we’re trying to get the book in the hands of the people we minister to.
Annette There is no way I would have published a book without this group. I may have thought about it, but wouldn’t have actually done it.
Dawn – It was lifechanging for me. We have built such trust together for honest feedback and compassion. There’s a lot of life we have done together that could not have happened without that sharing and that core we had built. My writing turned into a creative outlet. We all knew we wanted more. So kudos to Julie and Christos for making it possible.
Lori Waite Whitaker –I’m a Tending the Holy graduate, I’m also an online facilitator and I still meet once a month with my SD peer group, and this writing group, so I’ve come out of Christos with quite a few relationships and wonderful cohorts. These ladies have walked with me for such a long time, through so much.
Janell – I’ve found Christos to be just amazing. God works through Christos to help people grow spiritually. I’ve been part of Tending the Holy, and other programs as well. I’ve seen so much growth with these women over the years. It is a huge blessing to be part of that.
Unleash Your Pen: Read, Reflect, and Write To Connect with God, is available on Amazon, through the Minnesota Christian Writers Guild or at Christos Center in Lino Lakes, MN.
