Living Stones- Lutheran Educators Conference

The grounds of the Westin Mission Hills- 

Rancho Mirage, California.

Site for the 2018 Lutheran Educators Conference.

Desert colors and an oasis feel.

 Theme for the conference.-
1 Peter 2:5 

Found some Visual Prayer resources
 in the Prayer Room.
And an instruction sheet for Praying in Color-
 credited to friend-Sybil MacBeth.

Visuals ready to go.

Show and tell and the STORY.

2 Workshop sessions-
Here-Trying out Secret Code Prayers.

Found out that this crew of delightful ladies
 have a common visual faith encourager-
 Michele Schulteis- so we send a HELLO!
L to R- Connie- Visual Faith Coach
Laura Bredhoft-St. Paul's- San Diego
 Lori Lange- Bethany- Long Beach
 and Kathy Tucker- Bethany- Long Beach

 A beautiful site and a blessing to participate.
Thanks to the Pacific Southwest District 
and Mary Fink for the opportunity
 to be a part of this great conference.

Very thankful for all the new 
connections and the addition of 
 Becky Schumacher- Las Vegas,
 to the Visual Faith Coach team
and Kim Gilman
 to the Visual Church Year Project.

Best Practices for Ministry- Phoenix- Part 2

Phoenix- 

a beautiful host 

to a gathering in February.

Even if it was an unusually

 cold week for them.

Beautiful color and shapes

 in the landscape.

Christ Church- Lutheran-

gives us all lessons in hospitality.

 Generosity in food, welcome, 

music, and worship.

Opportunities to connect with old friends-

 or make new friends.

Hi! Pastor Newell- 

great to see your colored pens again.

A bit of Altogether Beautiful 

by Heidi Goehmann for 

Concordia Publishing House-

with my friend Pat Maier.

John with one of the Comfort Dogs.

Seeing the new Journaling Bible

 coming out in June.

Hanging out with friends that serve

 or have served on the LCMS

Council of Presidents. 

And plenty of times for laughter and fun!
Best Practices!
We'll be back!

Best Practices for Ministry- Phoenix

-Visual Faith Ministry-

Pat Maier and Connie Denninger.

 We were blessed to be presenters

 for a session at 

Best Practices for Ministry

 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Feb. 22-24,  2018.

Fun to connect with 

Visual Faith practitioners

 and meet some new ones!

 Everything from 

Keep the Faith projects 

to visual prayer to Bible Journaling.

 Introducing the Visual Church Year project 

and sharing the Visual Catechism.

Plenty of handouts and take-aways.

Joining with our friend- 

Bev Wicher (center) as a presenter.

Three wives of LCMS District Presidents-

together on a journey.
(and there are more on our team)

We are blessed to bring Visual Faith practices

 to the churches, schools and individuals

 that we are in relationship with in ministry.

God has been good and faithful.

Blessing this ministry-

more that we could have imagined.

We are shocked and amazed!

Praise be to our Heavenly Father!

The Israel Visual Faith Community

On our recent pilgrimage to Israel 

we were able to once again meet with the 

Israel Visual Faith Community 

at the Dan Hotel in Jerusalem.

Members from our tour group joined us too.

 Thanks- Tina, Teresa, Jen, and Kathy.

Visual Faith Coach Diane Marra

 was thrilled to share a bit 

with the group gathered there.

Thanks to our friend Hadassah 

who gathered the group with the help of Renee.

 It was a time to listen and hear 

what their needs were for Visual Faith tools.

 It was an honor to hear the stories of the 

ministries they support 

and the women they mentor.

There was a group that joined us from 

Haifa- some live on Mt. Carmel.

I believe they are planning a "kidnapping"

  to have a Visual Faith event on Mt Carmel.

Thanks Diane for helping us 

to think and pray 

about adding Hebrew resources

 to our Visual Faith Ministry website.

Good News!

We know we have 2 more Visual Faith

 coaches headed to Israel!

Advent Eve

 A lovely event today -

Saturday, December 2, 2017

as we gathered on Advent Eve Day

at First Baptist Church

in Springfield, Virginia.
An Advent Brunch.

Time to reflect, pause and ponder as we 

Await the Wonder 

of our Advent- Christmas 

celebrations.

We talked about how the Christ Child 

meets us in the mess of life, 

as we struggle to find margin space for Him.

Our prayer is that as we take the time

 to adjust expectations,

 we will be met with grace at the manger.

 We explored some Visual Faith

tools and practices.

We tried some exercises

 that help us to slow down, 

pay attention 

and deal with distractions.

What might our Advent journey

 actually LOOK LIKE

 if we take the time to tell the story?

Can a simple Word a Day 

help us to see what 

the Spirit is nudging at our soul?

Can these experiments draw us

 into a richer prayer life ?

Or enfold us into the the narrative

 of the story of God's Word?

Each person must find their own plan,

 discipline and challenge.

Our own personal Spiritual Formation plan-

 IEP-

 Individualized Education Plan.

Some collected Advent devotions,

 coloring books and reflections.

(Most found on Amazon)

 This group includes 

The Season of the Nativity

by Sybil MacBeth,

 and a downloadable and printable devotion

 by Illustrated Children's ministry.

Devotion books from 
Creative Communications for the Parish.

Some of the Advent calendars
 and the ADVENT-urous tag project
can be found on the 
Visual Faith Ministry website.
visualfaithmin.org
 Check out the project section 
and the free resources.

A thank you to Julie Zimmerman
 and her team for such a well-planned
 and enjoyable time.
May their Advent walk be blessed.

Visual Faith- Charleston, West Virginia

We gathered on Saturday- October 14, 2017 

at St. Timothy Lutheran Church 

in Charleston, West Virginia

for a Visual Faith event.

It was great to have a non-gendered 

and intergenerational event.

Visual Faith coaches 

Kathryn Stanis and Wendy Hardy

 came from the Pittsburgh area

 to bring encouragement for "starting out" 

and what has worked for them 

to begin a Visual Faith ministry.

Participants were from a variety of area churches.

What a blessing to be together.

Lots of show and tell to share.

The mother -daughter team of 

Connie Denninger and Sara Wilson

 brought stories of encouragement 

for Visual Faith practices.

Pages from the Bible 

of artist Daphne Boder.

Visual Faith coaches - 

Daphne Boder and Pamm Moore-Haley
 and Jan Northcutt

were instrumental in bringing 

the details of the day together.
Michelle Fowler was the chef extraordinaire.

Faith Art Canvas shared by

mixed-media artist

Candice Mullins.

Pages journaled in a "regular" Bible by 
practitioner- Bobi Bryant.

I will continue to pray over this faith community.

It is always a blessing 

to see what the Lord does in the Kingdom

 from these Visual Faith gatherings.

We already know that He

 is about the Next Thing for participants 

that were gathered in this place-

 for such a Time as this!