116th Annual Retreat for Women

REGISTRATION PAGE

REGISTRATION IS OPEN

We have sold out of single rooms!

We are so glad you have decided to join us for the 116th Annual Retreat for Women at Camp Allen. Whether this is your first retreat or your tenth, we know that you will find the retreat a blessing. May you find rest, rejoice and rejuvenate during your time with us.

Opening Plenary

Tasha Morrison is a bridge-builder, reconciler and a compelling voice in the fight for racial justice. When she speaks, she expresses a passion for social justice issues across the globe. She has taken this message to audiences across the country at events that include:  IF: Gathering, the Justice Conference, Youth Specialties, Catalyst, Barna's Pastor's Conference, the Orange Conference and many others. A native of North Carolina, Tasha attended East Carolina University, earned a Master’s in Business from Liberty University. She has served as Children’s and Next Gen Director and currently serves as the Grow Pastor at Gateway Church Central in Austin, Texas. In addition to her church positions, she has simultaneously cultivated "Be the Bridge," a ministry to equip and provide tools for those who are actively involved in taking the next steps toward racial unity. At the heart of this incredible women, Tasha uses her platform to encourage racial reconciliation among all ethnicities, to promote racial unity in America, and to develop others to do the same. When not captivating audiences with her dynamic presentations and conscious raising workshops, Tasha can be found exploring her new hometown of Austin, Texas, drinking tea, laughing with friends, and viewing Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music all year long!

 Closing Plenary

Our Need to Be Together- Mary has often said, “ the nature of organized women’s ministries has changed but the need for women to be together in Christian community will never go away”. In a rapidly changing church and world there are some things that never change and some to which we must adapt in order to maintain our missional work of spreading the Gospel of Jesus.  What can we do to energize the women in our congregations as sisters in this effort?  Mary will leave us with ideas and a charge to return to our homes feeling blessed to have been a part of this ECW retreat! Presenter: Mary M. MacGregor recently retired as Canon for Congregational Vitality on the bishop’s staff of the Diocese of Texas. She has had a storied career, speaking, working and consulting in 44 dioceses of the Episcopal Church. She has an ongoing passion for the ministry of women and their contribution to the mission of the Church. She has served in numerous capacities with the Episcopal Church Women not only in her home congregation of St. Christopher, League City, but historically with the diocesan ECW board and the national ECW organization as consultant and attendee at numerous ECW conventions. As her adult son said upon her retirement in February, “my mom is very persistent and passionate about her calling and won’t ever really retire.” Mary is pleased to be invited to return and speak at this ECW Retreat.

Below is the complete list of workshop selections available by session.  It is suggested you first review the list and make your choices before registering.  When ready, simply click the 'Register Now' link at the bottom of this page. See you soon!

Payment Notice:  We are set up to accept online payments through PayPal.  Thank you!

Workshops

Holy Yoga – Holy Yoga is the intentional practice of connecting our entire being, body, mind and spirit with God: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. With complete reliance on God's Word and prayer, Holy Yoga invites us to surrender and introduces us to Grace. When we breathe and move and have our being in Christ, we find ourselves in the flow of His magnificence. We practice with our minds set on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy (Phil 4:8), not with our minds emptied. We meditate on the wisdom of God's Word (Psalm 119:9-16, 26-27), not on man's wisdom. We seek the transcendence and glory of God, not our own. Presenter: Katti Henderson is a proud 225 hour, registered Holy Yoga Instructor. She has been practicing yoga for almost ten years, although she never had true freedom in her practice until she found Holy Yoga in 2014. Jesus met her on her mat, and she has been hooked ever since! She is a former elementary school teacher, wife to her high school sweetheart, and momma to her two spunky boys. It is Katti's utmost goal to create a safe space for the intentional worship of God as well as to help others connect in authentic community. Katti currently teaches weekly Holy Yoga classes at The Woodlands United Methodist Church. Session I, II, III

Decoupage Crosses - Participants will use recycled magazine images, mod podge, paint, wire, beads and other materials to create unique decorative crosses. All materials will be provided. These make wonderful gifts and are great as a grouping hung on a wall. All supplies will be provided for you to take home a finished cross. Ally will also have finished crosses available for purchase. Presenter: Ally Hardick was raised in Baton Rouge Louisiana, born to a family of artists, her creativity was inherited.  She works primarily in watercolor paints but is always experimenting and teaching herself new things.  She has also worked with acrylic paint, stained glass design, ceramics, fiber arts, jewelry making, and is currently teaching herself how to make glass beads with a torch. There are two projects in particular that she is proud of. The first is getting the opportunity to create two ceramic tile bench top murals for the Artist Boat non-profit in Galveston, www.artistboat.org. There are two of seventy designs that were created by local artists for the S.I.T. project, the Seawall Interpretive Trail.  The other is getting to participate in a funky upcycling project called Art-O-Mat.  Art-O-Mats are retired cigarette vending machines that have been refurbished to dispense art instead of cigarettes.  There are over 100 machines located in hotels, museums, art galleries, and restaurants around the world, www.artomat.org. Session I, II, III

Radical Self Care and Faithful Living - Where’s the connection? Join the conversation about how to faithfully create time, energy and perspective for the life we’re called to live. Presenters: Katherine Muhlenbruch has been a trainer with The Episcopal Diocese of Texas since 2014.  Her joy is connecting with church staff, teachers and volunteers through conversations about keeping our places of worship, wellness initiatives and service, thriving in community.  One of her most valued “jobs” was the role of caregiver for family members in the last stages of their lives.  It is in this role she began (emphasis on began) the most important lessons of deep listening, humility, compassion, and self-care.  Wellness takes on a whole new meaning when time and energy seem to be limited commodities.  Danielle Tatro works to support the Ministries of Wellness and Care for The Episcopal Diocese of Texas.  Her commitment and curiosity to discover new ways to live faithfully and share abundantly inspires her work. She is currently active in Formation in Direction and studying to become a Spiritual Director. Session I, II, III

When “None of Your Busyness” is Good - As we allow ourselves to get too busy – even with good efforts for family, friends, charity and other tasks – often time for God is what gets cut from the schedule. This workshop will explore ways to tend to our inner fire in order to rekindle our intimacy with God in the midst of our daily lives. Presenter: Kathleen Phillips has been a spiritual director since 2000 and the director of FIND – School for Spiritual Direction and Formation since 2004. She is a cradle Episcopalian and active at St. Andrew’s-Bryan. Kathleen honed her ability to listen to the souls of others in her career as a journalist, first with a daily newspaper and ultimately as manager of a statewide news team for Texas A&M AgriLife, based in College Station. She nourishes her own soul by sharing life with her husband, children and grandchildren, gardening at her country home and seeking God wherever she is. Session I, II, III

The Art of Making a Banner: Being Creative with Old Vestments – This workshop will show you the step-by-step process used in securing, designing, assembling the materials, and sewing a banner from old vestments.  Our goal is to tickle your imagination into considering old vestments, fair linen, extra Chrismons or bits and pieces of needlepoint or sanctuary pulpit hangings as prized materials to design your next banner. Presenter: Libby Bluntzer has lived in Lampasas about 40 years and have been active at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church for that long. She has been active in the Sunday School Program, a member of the vestry, a volunteer during all events throughout the year, a painter, a cleaner, a Christmas tree decorator, and a candle wax remover specialist, just to name a few. The small thing she truly loves to do is to sew and paint so that is what she has done at St. Mary’s; curtains, upholstery, small wall murals, a miniature set of liturgical pulpit hangings for their children’s size alter in their Sunday School room and now she can add banner maker to her list of projects. Her background is service oriented, teacher for 30 years, mother for 44 years, grandmother for 18 years, and wife for 47 years. She thrives on doing for others and looks for especially meaningful projects to jump into. Currently, she designs outdoor wall murals and to date has participated in 12 of the 13 murals completed in Lampasas. Session II

This is My Body: The Gift of Being Fully Alive - The gift of being fully alive means being fully present to yourself, to others, and to God with your whole being: body, mind, soul and spirit. This is my body. In this workshop, we will learn how to embody our spirituality in these bodies given to us by God, and we will practice self-discovery through the use of gentle yoga, breath work, and Christian contemplative prayer.  Presenter: The Reverend Gena Davis is an Episcopal priest, certified yoga educator, and founder of a new embodied worship experience called YogaMass®. She serves as Vicar of Grace Episcopal Church Houston, where she leads YogaMass. She is a spiritual director, meditation facilitator, retreat leader, and Benedictine Oblate with the World Community for Christian Meditation. Gena recently released her book, YogaMass: Embodying Christ Consciousness, which bridges yogic principles and practices with Christian spirituality and worship and points the way to discovering a whole-self spiritual experience and connecting with God through an awakened open mind and heart.  Session I, II, III

Welcoming the Recovery Community in Our Churches - What resources are available for people in addiction and for family/friends of those in recovery?  What is a Recovery-Ready church and how do we welcome the recovery community into our churches?  What is a Recovery Sunday and how do you bring the Recovery Sunday tradition to your church?  What is best practice for church communities around serving alcohol?  What are the questions you have about recovery and addiction that you were afraid to ask? Presenters: The Rev Terry Pierce and members of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas Commission for Recovery Ministries. The Reverend Terry Pierce is an Episcopal priest who serves as co-chair of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas Recovery Ministries.  Terry has been an active member of a recovery community for more than twenty years.  She was trained as a priest in the EDOT Iona Institute and ordained in 2015.  She serves as vicar of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Taylor, Texas and is currently attending Seminary of the Southwest to complete requirements for certification as a chaplain.  Session I, II, III

Outreach Project

El Buen Samaritano, Austin

The mission of El Buen is to help Latino and other families in Central Texas lead healthy, productive and secure lives through high-quality and affordable health care, education and basic needs services. Monetary donations and gift cards to HEB and Target will be collected during the retreat to assist El Buen buy supplies for their Thanksgiving food give-away called Helping Hands. El Buen relates that monetary donations are the most welcome as this allows them to purchase the food directly from the Food Bank at a huge savings. Baby food and diapers will also be collected to be distributed to the families served by El Buen Samaritano.

Outreach Room

We will be hosting an Outreach Room to highlight some of our recent projects.

*Days for Girls -You asked for it and here it is – a Days for Girls Sewathon in miniature!  Whether you sew or not, you can experience hands-on activities that produce the washable, sustainable feminine hygiene kits to help girls who live in hard places stay in school during their periods.  Come by our Friday afternoon hospitality and see what the excitement is about, or participate on Saturday in a myriad of activities that contribute to the Basket of Blessings for Girls' education, dignity and better health.  Each session  on Saturday will offer 15-20 spaces for sewers to experience serging & sewing kit parts, and nonsewers to contribute by pinning, cutting, ironing and other non-sewing tasks toward completing Kit parts.

*It's a Plarn Party-We had so much fun making Plarn (plastic yarn) mats for the homeless last year that we are bringing it back again. The Plarn Sleep Mat is a project that helps the homeless and saves the environment at the same time. The Plarn Project takes plastic bags in a new direction. Come learn how you can make these at your own church.

*How to Make a Banner from Old Vestments-  If you missed Libby's presentation, come by the Outreach Room to learn how she made a beautiful banner from old vestments.