Join us for our Summer Speaker Series! Our topic this Summer is “Living Faithfully in Turbulent Times.” This week:

Cherie Harder

Finding Calm Amidst Life’s Storms
By many measures, American are more stressed out, distracted, addled, and anxious than ever. It is easy to feel under assault, with our widespread agitation stoked by social media algorithms and exploited by commercial and political actors, and our attention monetized even as it is eroded. Amidst such tempests, how do we find calm? What practices and rhythms of rest and renewal reorient us towards walking the pilgrim way?

Longtime friend of National Presbyterian Church Cherie Harder will share how a three month sabbatical that included a significant pilgrimage that included an extended time on the Camino de Santiago in Spain offers her a renewed perspective as she has recently returned to life in Washington, DC.

Cherie Harder is President of the Trinity Forum, which is committed to the transformation and renewal of society through the transformation and renewal of society’s leaders. Prior to joining the Trinity Forum in 2008, Cherie served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Policy and Projects for First Lady Laura Bush. Earlier in her career she was Policy Advisor to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a member of this congregation. From 2001 to 2005, she was Senior Counselor to the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), where she helped design and launch the We the People initiative to enhance the teaching, study, and understanding of American history. Prior to that Ms. Harder was the Policy Director for Senator Sam Brownback and also served as Deputy Policy Director at Empower America.

Cherie has contributed articles to several publications and various newspapers; Her ghost-written speeches and articles have appeared in Vital Speeches of the Day, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, and others.

She holds an Honors B.A. (magna cum laude) in government from Harvard University and a post-graduate diploma in literature from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, where she was a Rotary Scholar. She serves on the several boards, including Gordon College, and the National Museum of American Religion. Previously she served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Policy and Projects for First Lady Laura Bush. Earlier in her career she served as Policy Advisor to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.