Briarwood Featured by Martha Stewart
Yes, that Martha Stewart!
Briarwood hosted a couple of spectacular weddings in 2019. This one was featured in Martha Stewart Weddings magazine: A Summer Camp-Inspired Wedding in the Woods in Argyle, Texas.
“When thinking about what we wanted our wedding to be like, it was important to me to be able to spend as much time as possible with all of our family and friends, something that I think can be difficult to do in a traditional wedding format,” says Lizzie. So—in a nod to Lizzie’s six years as a camp counselor—the pair rented out the Briarwood Retreat Center in Argyle, Texas, for Memorial Day weekend, offering their guests free stays in the on-site cabins and days filled with karaoke, archery, hiking, swimming, and ziplining. “It was important to us that it be laid back and chill,” says Chris, “while also having enough traditional elements to communicate that our commitment to each other wasn’t something we were taking lightly.”
The culmination of the weekend was the couple’s ceremony in the Briarwood chapel in the woods on May 26, 2019, where 150 guests supported Chris and Lizzie as they exchanged vows. Continue reading.
Military Moral Injury Sessions at Ministers Week
Tuesday, February 18
University Christian Church, Fort Worth, Texas
Morning Lecture:
9:00 am to 11:30 am – “Military Moral Injury—A Challenge for Clergy and Faith Communities”
1. “Military Moral Injury: Implications for Spiritual Care” (Nancy Ramsay)
2. “Moral Injury: Faith in the Midst of Meaninglessness” (Michael Yandell)
Afternoon Workshop:
2:00 pm to 3:30 pm – “Moral Injury as Grief and Loss: Resources for Care” (Nancy Ramsay and Kim Geringer)
Rev. Dr. Nancy J. Ramsay is Emerita Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care, Brite Divinity School where she also serves as the Director of the Soul Repair Center. She is the author or editor of five books including most recently, Military Moral Injury and Spiritual Care: A Resource for Religious Leaders and Professional Caregivers, co-edited with Carrie Doehring. She is ordained in the PCUSA.
Rev. Michael Yandell is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and combat veteran. He was an enlisted Army explosive ordnance disposal (E.O.D.) specialist from 2002 to 2006. He has published pieces about moral injury in Christian Century, Plough Quarterly, Pastoral Psychology, the anthology Exploring Moral Injury in Sacred Texts, and the forthcoming volume Military Moral Injury and Spiritual Care: A Resource for Religious Leaders and Professional Caregivers.
Rabbi Kim S. Geringer, MSW, serves on the faculty at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City and is rabbi-in-residence at the Chai Center for Jewish Life in New Jersey. She recently published with Rabbi Nancy H. Wiener, “Insights into Moral Injury and Soul Repair from Classical Jewish Texts,” Pastoral Psychology, November, 2018.
These sessions are partly supported by the Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinity School.
Ministers Week, February 17-19, is offered free of charge and open to all persons in religious leadership. More information and registration are available at www.brite.edu/mw. Questions may be addressed to Eilene Theilig at e.theilig@tcu.edu.
Via de Cristo at Briarwood
You’re invited to attend Via de Cristo, March 12-15, at Briarwood Leadership Center. Their mission is “By grace, with the Holy Spirit, we challenge leaders to discover and achieve their personal calling, assisting them to influence their environments with the Gospel.” Please submit your registration by March 2 with signatures from your sponsor and pastor: https://www.vdcnorthtexas.org/sponsor-info. Please call Rev. Phil Heinze at 817-284-8724 or Jane Winge at 972-658-4387 with any questions.
Bold Women’s Day—observed annually on the fourth Sunday of February—celebrates all Lutheran women who have acted or are acting boldly on their faith in Jesus Christ. Some women are bold in their unceasing prayers. Other women are bold in their service to those in need. Still other women are bold in their advocacy or through their hospitality. Whether we live out our bold story of faith in the workplace, family home or community, our faith compels us to make a difference in the lives of others. It’s all about living out our baptismal call, about being a disciple of Christ.
International Women’s Day, observed on March 8, 2020, is powered by the collective efforts of all. Collective action and shared ownership for driving gender parity is what makes International Women’s Day successful. Gloria Steinem, world-renowned feminist, journalist, and activist, once explained “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.” So make International Women’s Day your day and do what you can to truly make a positive difference for women.
An equal world is an enabled world. How will you help forge a gender equal world?
Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.
#IWD2020 #EachforEqual
Save the Date
Vital Congregations – Vital Communities: Building Leadership Capacity for Latinx Ministries
Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, TX
June 7-11
This Level II Intensive course is designed to enhance leadership competence in the development and support of Latinx ministries in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and among ecumenical partners. Those encouraged to attend are current practitioners, judicatory leaders, seminarians, church leaders planning to start new Latinx ministries, and those with coaching and/or supervisory roles among Latinx ministry leaders.
Participants will explore foundational insights from socio-cultural, ecclesiastical and historical Latinx experience, contextual theological tools, research results, diverse ministry models and practical resources for new and existing congregations.
Rev. Rubén Durán is the primary instructor. He serves as Director for Congregational Vitality in the Domestic Mission unit of the ELCA and brings extensive leadership experience in evangelical and justice ministry amidst diverse local contexts as well as ecumenically and internationally. He is joined by a team of leaders with deep wisdom and proven expertise:
The Rev. Josh Ebener serves as a bilingual parish pastor at St. Andrew Lutheran Church – Iglesia Luterana San Andres in West Chicago, Ill., a multicultural, bilingual congregation of the ELCA; the Rev. Irma Bañales is Director for Evangelical Mission, Northern Texas – Northern Louisiana Synod; the Rev. Dr. Javier (Jay) Alanís is Executive Director and Associate Professor of Theology, Culture and Mission, Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest, Austin, Texas.
Recent Blog Posts
Bishop Gronberg:
Leaders and Burnout: Opportunities for Intentionality in Ministry
(https://www.ntnl.org/leaders-and-burnout-opportunities-for-intentionality-in-ministry/ – published Jan. 24)
(https://www.ntnl.org/plma-graduates-11-from-across-nt-nl/ – published Jan. 27)
Where in the world is?
Bishop Gronberg:
- Feb. 3-17: Briarwood Leadership Journey to Turkey/Greece: Paul and Beyond, Early Church Leadership
Pastor Totzke:
- Feb. 4: Meeting with East Dallas congregations, Bethany Lutheran, Dallas
- Feb. 6: Interim Pastors meeting, Briarwood & Zoom
- Feb. 8: Bethel Smorgasbord, Bethel, Avoca
- Feb. 9: Grace, Abilene
Pastora Bañales:
- Feb. 2-10: Inter-American and Caribbean Conference, Bogota, Colombia
Upcoming Events
- Feb. 8: ESET (SSTE) Módulo 6 (Día 2 de 5), Argyle, TX
- Feb. 11-13: Ignite the Church Conference, Orlando, FL
- Feb. 15: ESET (SSTE) Módulo 6 (Día 3 de 5), Argyle, TX
- Feb. 16-18: Texas Interfaith Advocacy Days, Austin, TX
- Feb. 22: ESET (SSTE) Módulo 6 (Día 4 de 5), Argyle, TX
- Feb. 22: Discovering Hope: Building Vitality in Your Congregation, Lubbock, TX
- Feb. 22: Engaging the Border: Theology and Practice, Arlington, TX
- Feb. 28-Mar. 1: NT-NL Peer Ministry Leadership Training, TBA
- Feb. 29: ESET (SSTE) Módulo 6 (Día 5 de 5), Argyle, TX
- Mar. 14: Public Witness Team meeting, Arlington, TX
- Mar. 14: PLMA, Spring 2020, Course 1, Argyle, TX
- Mar. 21: Briarwood Gala, Argyle, TX
- Mar. 22: ConFest 2020: Confirmands’ Afternoon with the Bishop, Dallas, TX
Access our full online Calendar here. Updates made regularly.
Do you have news or announcements to share? Please submit to Jason (jason@ntnl.org) for consideration for upcoming NT-NL News.