Carol Parrish almost died in 1958 when at 23 she was giving birth to her sixth child. Her out-of-death experience in which she saw a light entering her body a spiritual "walk-in" changed her life.

She had been reared a Catholic in Orlando, Florida, but left the Catholic Church, divorced and studied Christian and Eastern mystics. The result is the Light of Christ Community Church which moved from Florida to a forested hill-top, Sparrow Hawk, outside the Cherokee Indian town of Tahlequah in the Ozark Mountains of east Oklahoma.

The St Sophia seminary which provides "education for planetary service" has 130 students while about 100 residents live in homes which they built around the church in a pattern inspired by ancient Egyptian and Mayan models.

"Esoteric Christianity" is how the church's beliefs are described. The Easter celebrations this year consisted of communion, meditation and a service with gospel readings and singing.