Registration for “The Good, the True, and the Beautiful: Creativity and Spirituality” has opened! Sign up for a weekend [April 13 – 15, 2018] focused on creativity, the arts, and a life in the Spirit.

The Good, the True, & the Beautiful retreat will welcome the Rev. Becca Stevens back to the diocese, as well as her husband, Marcus Hummon, for a weekend of creative activities that will lead to the culmination of worship. Stay on site at beautiful Camp Capers for workshops, fellowship, teaching, and worship.

The Rev. Becca Stevens, Episcopal priest and founder of Thistle Farms, and Marcus Hummon, award-winning singer/songwriter, will lead group plenary conversations and individual workshops, all culminating in worship Sunday morning and focused on the Walk to Emmaus passage from Luke 24.

The retreat begins with dinner at 6:30 PM, Friday (4/13), followed by the Welcome and Plenary Session 1: “Starry Nights and Broken Dreams … Stories and Songs”. Saturday will include two more Plenary Sessions (2: “How Love Heals”, 3: “Singing with Our Truest Hearts”), free time for relaxation and fun on Camp Capers’ beautiful 188 acres, morning breakout workshops with Becca (“Justice as Worship – Creating an Economy of Love”) and Marcus (“Then Sings My Soul – The Music Workshop”), two hands-on creativity workshops in the afternoon with local artists and leaders (see list below), and evening gatherings for prayer and fellowship. Wake Sunday morning for final conversations after breakfast, then Closing Eucharist before returning home filled, refreshed, and energized by the Spirit.

Saturday Afternoon Workshop Opportunities:
1. Art: Collage, led by Patti Reed
2. Art: Lettering
3. Art, led by painter Kirk Clark
4. Cooking in the Capers Kitchen
5. Creative Writing
6. Dance as Worship
7. Drama, led Sam Carter Gilliam
8. Journaling/Memoirs
9. Music, led by Marcus Hummon
10. Photography
11. Yoga / Meditation

There are two weekend rates, determined by where you choose to stay. Sign up with your spouse or a friend and stay in the River Bluff and Meadowcross Lodges ($200/person, double occupancy) or select the Cabins ($150/person, group lodging with private bathroom). Cabin mate and lodge roommate requests accepted from all.

So clear your women’s Bible Study or men’s Life Group calendars and sign up to share a weekend experience of creativity and spirituality! Click here to sign up.

Young Adult / College Student scholarship rates available at request. Contact Camp Capers (830-995-3966) or the Camps & Conferences offices in the Bishop Jones Center (888/210-824-5387) for more information about available rooms, rates, and retreat specifics. 

The Committee on the Bishop’s Address, chaired by Roger Graham, presented Prayers of the People created from Bishop Reed’s Address to Diocesan Council.

Read/print them here.

Listen to report:

The Rev. Dr. John Lewis said the IONA Collaborative is “an exciting, innovative program that offers an alternative to people training for ordination in the episcopal Church.”

As theological education changes, as well as the changing economics of education, a variety of new forms of receiving education are emerging. The IONA School for Ministry formed in the Diocese of Texas, educating bi-vocational clergy who met at Camp Allen one weekend a month, for ten months a year, with additional remote curriculum.

The curriculum includes 250 hours of teachings that other dioceses can now access locally. The Diocese of West Texas became one of the seven founding dioceses of the IONA Collaborative, so seminarians needing this type of theological education – at the local level – could access the material from home.

The IONA Collaborative has an “extensive depth and breadth” of curriculum, said Lewis, all approved for training in the Episcopal Church. “We currently have 150 students in 24 dioceses around the country.” In the spring 2018, the IONA Collaborative will have accredited CPE training (Clinical Pastoral Education), and will soon have training for lay chaplains.

“The IONA Collaborative will make an incredible impact on theological education and the spread of the Gospel in the 21st century,” said Lewis.

Hear Lewis’ report here:

Dean of the Diocese of West Texas IONA Collaborative, the Rev. John Badders, said the program began in our diocese last September with six students. “It is a three-year program, and we meet together one weekend a month in San Antonio.”

At the monthly gatherings, students hear from engaging mentors during nine to ten hours of class time per day. They participate in liturgical time together, participating in orders of service and preaching. During the weeks they complete the online teachings and course work remotely.

“It’s been my joy to walk with these students the past few months. They are a wonderful group of people,” said Badders.

The current students are: John Blackburn from St. Philip’s, Uvalde; Mikel Brightman from St. David’s, San Antonio; Dexter Lesieur from St. Matthias, Devine; Karen Morris from St. Stephen’s, Wimberley; Arnoldo Ramiro from St. James, Del Rio; and Betsy Stephenson from St. Luke’s, Cypress Mill.

Hear Badders’ introduction of the seminarians here: