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.

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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.

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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.

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

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Save the Date

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)

PLMA Graduates 11 from Across NT-NL

(https://www.ntnl.org/plma-graduates-11-from-across-nt-nl/ – published Jan. 27)

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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