ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Lyndon Harris came kicking and screaming to the work of forgiveness. As a former priest, he had it all figured out.  He had taught forgiveness, preached on forgiveness and considered himself good with forgiveness. That is, until he had to do the hard work of forgiveness in his own life. Then he realized just how much he had to learn and how important it was to both teach about forgiveness and practice it himself.

His journey to forgiveness began at the foot of the besieged South Tower of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001. Lyndon spent many months running an operation that helped thousands of rescue workers and their families endure the hardships following the attack on the World Trade Center. His first responder respite work at Ground Zero in New York City has been written about widely, including in The NY Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, Time Magazine and many others. Lyndon has given many interviews including NBC News, CBS News, MSNBC, and BBC Scotland. His work to develop a Garden of Forgiveness in NYC is featured in the award-winning PBS documentary, “The Power of Forgiveness.”  He is currently working on a book detailing his experience after 9/11 and its impact on him and those he worked with and served.

Although Harris’ work in forgiveness inadvertently began after 9/11, it hasn’t stopped there. Harris’ forgiveness journey has taken him internationally to teach and offer keynotes in Kigali, Rwanda; Mumbai, India; Beirut, Lebanon; Israel/Palestine; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Bogota, Colombia; Melbourne, Australia; and Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, South Africa; and in the US: New York City; Los Angeles; Waikiki, Hawaii; Charleston, SC; and in many cities of North Carolina.

Currently Lyndon is working with Stanford University’s Dr. Frederic Luskin to co-author a workbook on forgiveness for people in recovery, and is working with his wife, Maria Lund, and a team of other clinicians and community leaders to develop a community-based forgiveness initiative in Charleston, SC, called Forgiving Communities of the Carolinas.