This past week the staff of Briarwood Retreat Center finished the construction of a new climbing wall and zip line. This will be an exciting addition to the ministry of Briarwood as they look to continue to grow that ministry in creative ways.
As I shared on my Bishop Erik Gronberg Facebook page, this new opportunity is made possible because of generous stewards and many who gave legacy gifts. So as I shared the video of the staff, I commented that we are grateful to faithful Briarwood Retreat Center donors.
But in particular on this project, we are grateful for the congregation of Grace, Fort Worth, and the families of Mama Jean (Resurrection, Plano), Jim Varnum (Christ, Dallas), and Pastor Eric Schulz (Calvary, Richland Hills) who dedicated memorials to help make this happen.
As luck would have it, I was at Grace on Sunday, May 21, and as such was able to thank them personally for that generous gift. Grace is in an interim time in their life. It could be a time for them to hunker down and care more about themselves than the world and work they are called to do around them. Yet this gift and the ministry and witness I observed and know from being with them before demonstrates they are not about hunkering down but sharing, planning, hoping, and I believe God is preparing the right leader for them.
(Grace’s Mission/Vision Umbrella. Reminding them of their hopes for future.)
For now, we give thanks for the ministry of Interim Pastor Bill Wreiden and his spouse Karen and their faithful shepherding of the congregation.