ABOUT US

We are a non-denominational, spiritual community with a rich history in Victoria that goes back over 100 years. At VTC, we focus on mindfulness, intention, and ongoing spiritual exploration and growth in order to lead a happier, more fulfilling, engaging, connected life. Regardless of where you are on your journey, or what you have believed until now, you are welcome here.

Our foundational beliefs and teachings are rooted in New Thought, a global movement rich with philosophy, spirituality, metaphysics, and mysticism that explores the concepts of oneness, divinity of all, and personal responsibility in creating our life experience.

VTC is governed by a Board of Directors, who work in partnership with the spiritual director and brand steward to serve the needs of Victoria’s growing and ever-evolving spiritual interests.

Abstract digital art with overlapping circles in pink, orange, yellow, and red, with white outlines and small dots, on a black background.

WHO WE ARE

Close-up of pink and gold abstract flower with swirling gold accents and small white dots
Portrait of Rev. Lesia Kohut inside Victoria Truth Centre in Victoria, BC. A woman with spiky dark hair, glasses, and a nose piercing smiling while sitting in a room with a wooden chair back and a green plant.

OUR TEAM

Spiritual Director

Rev. Lesia looks for the beauty, harmony, and love in everyone and everything. A speaker, award-winning author, podcaster, and coach, she enjoys seeing every moment as a brand-new opportunity to heal, grow, expand, and connect, and revels in embracing the mysticism of spirituality and infinite possibilities of the quantum realm.

An accredited minister of New Thought (Religious Science), empowering the conscious awakening of humanity while cultivating a global community founded in Love is her raison d’être.

Rev. Lesia is thrilled to be part of the new, dynamic leadership team at the Victoria Truth Centre. She is enthusiastically committed to helping usher in more vibrant, engaging, relevant ways to experience spirituality while empowering everyone to “live life lovingly.”

Her first book, Soul Excavation: An Exploration and Discovery of Self Through Fear, Failure, and Quantum Physics, won the 2023 Canadian Book Club Awards in the Spirituality/Health and Wellness category. Rev. Lesia is eternally grateful for and continually inspired by her husband Glenn, daughter Mylana, and Mercury the cat.

Close-up of an orange bell pepper with a bright yellow background.

Rev. Lesia Kohut

Portrait of Sheri Hauser, Brand Steward at Victoria Truth Centre. A woman with short, pink hair smiling, wearing earrings with colorful pom-poms and a pink fuzzy sweater with a cut-out at the chest, standing indoors near a beige wall and a plant.
Close-up of a pink surface with small, white, spherical bubbles scattered across it.

Brand Steward

Sheri grew up attending the Truth Centre’s Children’s Church of the Golden Key on Fort Street, and was inspired by Dr. Emma Smiley’s teachings. She moves through life holding the belief that her happiness and joy for life can be contagious (“when you are happy, you make others happy”).

With a degree and past career in Marketing Management, Sheri loves to empower brands to leverage their unique point of view. Working with leadership teams to identify their values and how that impacts organizational culture and influences the public. She is a natural cheerleader and community builder. In her spare time, she amplifies the voices of other wayfinders and changemakers through her company, Pink Noise.

Sheri is a certified course leader for ART International and lives the 5 practices of Authentic Relating. She is trained in Mediation for Conflict Resolution and spent time volunteering with Realness Project to bring Authentic Relating leadership practices to prison residents in Colorado.

Sheri returned home to Victoria, BC where she was born and raised, in the fall of 2022, after 30 years in Seattle.

Sheri Hauser

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

VTC's Board of Directors for 2025 - 2026. Sheri Hauser, Ari Martinez, Mary Wallace, Sandy Sherrill, Stephanie Rabbers, Cathy Chamberlin and Rev. Lesia Kohut. All captured on the stage at Victoria Truth Centre inside the sanctuary at 2815 Cedar Hill R

April 2025 - April 2026

President, Sheri Hauser

Vice-President, Ari Martinez

Treasurer, Mary Wallace

Secretary, Sandy Sherrill

Board Member, Stephanie Rabbers

Board Member, Cathy Chamberlain

Board Member, Rev. Lesia Kohut

Digital Producer: Daniela Verona

Sunday’s Band Leader: Kelby MacNayr and Musical Guests

Wednesday’s Jazz Trio: Kelby MacNayr, Pablo Cardenas, Peter Dowse

Grateful to volunteers who greet our guests, run point on technology, and help to make our events run smoothly.

We Transform. “We consciously experience the Infinite Potentiality of our being.”

We Connect. “We nurture relationships and curate experiences to cultivate Wholeness.”

We Know. “We live with the certainty that Love is our true nature.”

We Relate. “We welcome and inspire community with enthusiasm and joy.”

Our Brand Culture Compass™ is a reflection of you — the VTC community. Last year we invited all our members, guests and volunteers to join us in a series of visioning forums. We listened deeply to what you had to say and learned more about how our community sees us.

Beyond offering a physical, sacred space to gather and celebrate the Infinite Potentiality inherent in all, we aim to lead by example in everything we offer, embodying our motto:

LIVE LIFE LOVINGLY

WHAT WE DO

VTC's Brand Culture Compass (Values Compass) showing 4 brand pillars: transformation, connection, knowing, relatability, centered around a purple square with a yellow background.

Through dedication to our core Values:

Authenticity

Love

Openness

Commitment

It became clear after summarizing the input from the Visioning Forum series that how we engage with our community is equally as essential as what services we provide.

The values that rated the highest with repeat mentions have embedded themselves into the Board of Directors mission for how we conduct ourselves and make decisions.

Our desire is to support people in rediscovering the infinite creativity, resilience, and Love they truly are so that they can live their most engaging, fulfilling, extraordinary life.

HOW WE DO IT

VTC's Brand Culture Compass (Values Compass) showing 4 brand pillars: transformation, connection, knowing, relatability along with 4 core values: "openness," "commitment," "authenticity," and "love."
VTC's Brand Culture Compass (Values Compass) showing 4 brand pillars: transformation, connection, knowing, relatability along with 4 core values: "openness," "commitment," "authenticity," and "love." with EMBODIMENT in the middle as our PURPOSE.
A colorful digital abstract art piece with a purple background, scattered white dots, and red and pink accents.

Embodiment.

We know Love is all there is. If you’ve joined us for Celebrate on Sunday or Elevate on Wednesday then you know that Rev. Lesia always talks about how there is only ever ONE THING going on, and that is LOVE.

We believe this with every fibre of our being, and so it feels good and right to dedicate our time on this planet to be in connection with other beings who want to explore this birthright of LOVE.

When we gather in community and experience rituals of meditation, song, storytelling, and discussions we deepen our understanding of what it means to be, to belong, and to be seen.

It is in the knowing that we are Love - that we embody the Love we truly are - and so, our Purpose, our reason for being is to support embodiment within each member of our community.

and so it is.

WHY WE DO IT

Rev. Lesia captured during the candle lighting ceremony at VTC in December in front of a silver bowl containing a lit candle, in a cozy indoor setting with wooden walls and various candles and objects on a table.

WHO WE DO IT FOR

Ourselves. Each other. Our world.

We do it for all of us!

We do it for ourselves because when you believe that “the meaning of life is to find your gift, and your purpose is to give it away”, then using your gifts to be of service to the greater good is the manifestation of a divine life.

We do it for each other, because when we show others loving kindness, compassion, and grace, we remind others of their worth, value, and capacity to love.

We do it for our world, because there is only ONE. We are all reflections of each other, individual elements of a kaleidoscopic rainbow of Spirit expressing. The more we shine brightly together, the more the consciousness of our world is elevated, allowing for greater experience of harmony, beauty, peace and love that is our natural state of being.

To learn more about VTC’s philanthropic interests, click the button.

LIVE LIFE LOVINGLY!

LIVE LIFE LOVINGLY!

OUR HISTORY

We’ve been a lot of things to a lot of people over the years. Our origin story dates back to 1921 when our ancestors called us New Thought Temple. 

At the peak of our spiritual community, we thrived at our expansive 1201 Fort Street property under the leadership and guidance of Dr. Rev. Emma Smiley for nearly fifty years. A pioneer in her day, Emma (as she preferred to be called) purchased the property from her brother in 1948 (because women weren’t entitled to get bank loans of that size back then). With her passion and commitment to community and spirituality, she built a legacy that impacted thousands, until her passing in 1983.

In 2017, the Fort Street property was sold. VTC moved to 2815 Cedar Hill Road, a former Lutheran church built in 1914, now a welcoming beacon of love, with its recently-updated bright, cheery yellow and raspberry trim exterior.

Historical photo of Victoria Truth Centre on 1201 Fort Street. Black and white photograph of a large, Victorian-style house with multiple stories, turrets, and intricate architectural details, surrounded by trees.

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