All Journeyers, old, new and indifferent, are invited to a special gathering being held directly after worship on Sunday, September 12th. This gathering will be led by YOU, the community. This is a Community Check-In, a conversation, and an opportunity for all Journeyers to share their hearts and thoughts around Journey as we move forward as a faith community. This is about connection, communication and community within all aspects of Journey. Your leaders, your Shepherds, your fellow Journeyers want to hear from you. What you have to say is important.

*Food and drinks will be provided.

*Childcare for 3rd graders and below will be provided.

 *Also, a prayer space will be available from 7am to midnight on Monday, September 13th in the living room at Journey. This space is available to anyone and everyone for continued discernment and sharing of thoughts and prayers around this imperfect faith community we call Journey.

JOURNEY IFC 2010 FALL WOMEN’S RETREAT

Thursday, Sept. 23 – Saturday, Sept. 25

THE JOURNEY WAREHOUSE & HOMESTEAD STUDIO SUITES

The way we communicate matters.  Words have power…the power to encourage, inspire and support, or the power to discourage, humiliate and undermine.  Paying attention to both the positive and negative ways which words have affected us in our lives can be quite eye-opening.  And examining how we are communicating to the world about who we are and what we think can be empowering.  Each of us has a story to tell.  Each of us has a “living voice” which deserves to be heard.

Come and talk about all these ideas and more at our fall retreat, Viva Voce.  During the retreat, there will be 3 large group sessions, led by Janettee Henderson*, that will help us learn more about ourselves and the way we communicate.  Leslie Diamond will also be leading some shorter discussions throughout the weekend.  For the first time we will have a different format and there will not be any elective sessions.  Instead, we will have time for some more small-group activities.  And in the tradition of Journey Women’s Retreats, we will also find a way to work in large amounts of fun, gut-busting laughter, and great times spent with other women.

Again this year, we will be having our retreat at our own Journey Warehouse!  In an effort to respect that we are all facing these stressful economic times, we decided to hold the cost of the retreat as low as possible so that more people would be able to attend.  The retreat sessions will be at the Warehouse, and we’ll spend our nights at Homestead Studio Suites located only a block away. In order to make sure that we didn’t lose any of the aspects of the retreat that make it a true “retreat,” we will be staying together at the hotel and not in our own homes, and all of the food will be catered by a variety of local restaurants.  The Warehouse will be completely off limits for all other Journey activities during the weekend.  We will be the only people using it. It’s going to be a fun, creative experience.

The cost for the retreat will be $110.00 per person for a room with 4 women, $120.00 per person for a room with 3 women, $135.00 per person for a room with 2 women, or $180 per person for a room with 1 woman.  The cost is all-inclusive and will cover lodging, all meals, and supplies for the retreat.

The retreat will begin at 6:00 pm on Thursday night and will end at around 4:30 pm on Saturday. 

The retreat is planned so that each part builds on the previous sessions.  Because of that, everyone is encouraged to plan on being at the retreat for the entire time in order to get the most out of the experience.

Register ASAP!    The retreat will be here soon…so get your registration forms in now!  Please invite friends and family.  The retreat is not limited to Journey members only.  Everyone is welcome!  Registration is due by Aug. 15.

Download Registration Form

Download Release Form

IMPORTANT NOTE:  It is very important to the Women’s Ministry at Journey that every woman who is interested in attending the retreat be able to.  There are funds available to help make that happen.  Please do not let finances be the reason why you do not attend the retreat!  If the fees present a difficulty at this point in your life, please contact Leslie Diamond (leslie@journeyifc.com) about possible scholarship opportunities.

*Janettee Henderson has a Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy, and is in private practice here in Austin.  Her amazing insights into the human soul and her talent for making those insights accessible help to make the retreats challenging and meaningful.

Would You Like to Help?

Would you be willing to volunteer to help out with one small part of the retreat (i.e.:  an activity, set-up, etc.) that would take only about 1 hour of the entire weekend?  We are planning on asking many people to help with individual parts of the retreat so that no one person will need to work the entire retreat and miss out on being a participant.  No matter what your talents and gifts...there will be a great diversity of ways to help.  Please let Leslie Diamond know if you are interested in volunteering to help out with the retreat in some capacity by emailing her at leslie@journeyifc.com.

Scholarship Donations

There will be scholarships available for those who might need some financial assistance to attend the retreat.  If you are interested in donating to the Scholarship Fund to help these individuals, please contact Leslie Diamond at leslie@journeyifc.com.

Ways to Volunteer to Help

Registration

Specific activities during the retreat

Audio/Visual during the retreat

Audio/Visual ahead of time

Drama

Music

Decorations/Environment

Liaison to help with needs of the participants (1 person per day of ½ day during retreat)

Preparing supplies ahead of time

Donate to the scholarship fund

A Gentiles Family Trust has been established! The trust has been set up to help Calla and Hannah finish their college educations and pay off their school loans. (Ariele has already graduated and has one minimal school loan, so she is not included in this specific trust.) Because of the generous donations from many of you, we were able to help Hannah graduate this past May. Hooray! We are so happy about that and proud of Hannah.

But the funds in the past Donation account have run out and Calla still needs to take classes this summer and fall. She is scheduled to graduate in December 2010. On top of this, both Calla and Hannah are going to be dealing with having to pay off around $30,000 each in school loans once they graduate, a heavy burden for young college grads. So, we are trying to raise funds for the trust to help Calla complete her degree and pay off at least some (if not all) of Hannah's and Calla's college loans.

The name of the trust is Gentiles 2010 Family Trust. Hannah and Calla Gentiles are the Beneficiaries of the trust, and Leslie Diamond and Mike Lawrence are the Trustees for the trust. (The trust is not tax-deductible because it is not a non-profit organization.)

If you would like to make a donation, you may do that one of two ways:

1) You may contact any Bank of America and tell them the name of the trust and they should be able to look up the account and you can make a deposit. If they have any questions, let them know the names of the Trustees and Beneficiaries.

2) You may write a check to Gentiles 2010 Family Trust and mail it to Journey IFC at the address below.

Journey IFC
3009 Industrial Terrace
Austin TX  78758

** Please DO NOT donate into the temporary Gentiles Family Donation account that was set up in December any longer! Make all future donations to the trust instead:  GENTILES 2010 FAMILY TRUST. The Gentiles girls truly need our help at this time in their lives. Please be as generous as possible! And thank you in advance for your help.

Please contact Leslie Diamond at leslie@journeyifc.com with any questions you might have.

There is a new Journey Men's Group meeting now scheduled for the First Sunday of each Month. This Sunday, May 2nd will be our first meeting. ALL MEN ARE INVITED...and bring a friend...just remember the "first rule."

We'll gather in the "Youth Pit" at Journey at 7pm...sharp! Hope to see you there...but if you can't make it...just remember...we will meet the FIRST SUNDAY of every month...so come next month...