Mission of the Month
While teaching English, working in churches, leading youth groups and serving in rehabilitation centers, Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGMs) learn how to become vulnerable, build relationships and realize their identity as missionaries. Share this inspiring story from YAGM Katharine Ritzi with your congregation!
We are grateful for the good news we have heard coming from Liberia and Guinea, but the situation in Sierra Leone is getting worse. Please keep the people of Sierra Leone in your prayers, and remember them in your giving.
Find out more and make a donation at NTNL.org/ebola-crisis.
Thank you, generous donors!
Last week, Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest President of the Board Virginia Worley visited the mission office to present Bishop Kevin with a check for $32,943.78, representing NT-NL’s portion of the endowments that pay out annually.
NT-NL has received outright gifts and endowment income totaling $47,128 for 2014. Since inception, the mission area has received $785,237. Many of these gifts are designated to specific ministries in the mission area.
Pastor Phil Geleske, Executive Director of Briarwood, also received a generous donation from LFSW endowments; for 2014, Briarwood received outright gifts and endowment income totaling $41,881.81. Since inception, Briarwood has received $318,406.
The Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest enables planned giving to Lutheran ministries throughout Texas and Louisiana—and so much more. Donors work with the Foundation to set up deferred gifts which meet the needs of individual financial situations as well as personal stewardship goals.
LFSW helps to bridge the asset rift between generations of the church, to insure that Christ’s ministry continues. As the sun sets on one generation and rises on the next, our stewardship of God’s gifts through that transition will make a difference in the lives of those to come.
Many of the donors whose endowments we are receiving today were not ELCA members—they were members of the American Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church in America, or the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches… these gifts were arranged before the merger that created the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America! They are truly gifts that keep on giving, through generations.
To find out more about the LFSW and their comprehensive estate planning and management services, please visit lfsw.org.
We are moving!
The building will be ready for us to move in shortly after the new year! As of January 20, the new address for the mission office will be:
680 Copper Canyon Rd.
Argyle, TX 76226
214-637-6865 • 940-241-2099
There are still giving opportunities available to finish out the landscaping around the building and to furnish the Streng Leadership Center.
Please visit NTNL.org/donate-now for more information on the new special gifting and naming opportunities for the Center for Mission at Briarwood.
Please note the mission office will be closed December 23-January 3.
As we sort through the over two decades’ worth of memories (and files!) in these offices, we may not always be at our desks or able to respond to email as quickly as we would like. Please be patient with us during the month of January as we pack up the office that has been our home since 1988, and settle into our new home at Briarwood, with our new neighbors!
Now in addition to their Facebook Page, Briarwood Retreat Center has entered the world of Twitter (@BriarwoodRet) and Instagram (@briarwood_retreat_center)! Follow them to know even more about what is happening at Briarwood.
Share your favorite thing about Briarwood with #WeLoveBriarwood!
View the full ELCA Good Gifts catalog here
2015 Tri-Synodical Theological Conference
January 26-28
New Braunfels, TX
God’s Story is a LOVE STORY, and it has captured the hearts of each of us. To tell it is to give life.
The Story is our life blood, yet many have let it flat line. Join us for theological conference this year as we get the blood pumping again!
Registration rates go up Thursday! Register now!
Registration | Information | Speakers
Save the Date!
¡SINAI!
Family Retreat: Mountains & Valleys
Friday, April 24-Sunday, April 26
Join us as we wander into the wilderness, climb onto the holy ground of Mount ¡SINAI!, and continue to journey with Jesus to discover who we are and whose we are.
Our journey to ¡SINAI! will also lead us to understand how to minister among and with youth, young adults, and families in the new generation.
Concurrent with the assembly, Briarwood will offer a family retreat. This be a time for families to explore together how they can support each other in their faith formation. The retreat will focus on Rich Melheim’s FAITH5 (Faith Action In The Home), and how those tools can help families as they embark on their faith journeys together.
Download a promotional flier for the ¡SINAI! Family Retreat here!
Registration for both events will begin in January.
September 13, 2015
Upcoming Events in the NT-NL Mission Area and Beyond:
- Jan 7-9: National Conference of Sacred Music
- Jan 16-18: High School Extravaganza
- Jan. 18-24: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
- Jan. 24-25: Lumberjack Retreat at Briarwood
- Jan. 26-28: Tri-Synodical Theological Conference
- Feb. 15: TLU’s College Bound Workshop
- Feb. 20-22: Peer Ministry (for youth in grades 9-12)
- Feb. 21: Mosaic in Dallas’s 18th Annual Heart & Soul Gala
- Feb. 21-22: Lenten Retreat at Briarwood
- Feb. 28: Eighth Annual North Texas Senior Fest
- Mar. 22: Brunch at Briarwood
- Mar. 27-29: Into The Wilderness: Men’s Family Retreat at Briarwood
- Apr. 7-9: Senior Citizen’s Retreat
- Apr. 21-May 8: In Search of Paul: An Aegean Odyssey A LEAD pilgrimage for rostered leaders and church professionals
- Apr. 24-26: NT-NL Mission Assembly
- Apr. 24-26: ¡SINAI! Family Retreat: Mountains & Valleys at Briarwood
- May 2: Briarwood Gala
- May 24-29: LSPS’s Spanish Language and Hispanic Ministry Intensive
- Sep. 13: “God’s Work. Our Hands.” Sunday
- Oct. 17: MEF “Seeds that Change” Dinner
- Oct. 26-28: 2015 Bishop’s Convocation with special guest Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton!
- Nov. 2: Portico Pre-Retirement Seminar
- Nov. 3: Portico Early/Mid-Career Financial Wellness Seminar
Do you have news or announcements to share? Please submit them to Criss Forshay (criss@ntnl.org) for consideration for our next Briefings. Don’t forget to include a picture or logo!