Women’s Retreat
February 23-25, 2024
Eagle Eyrie, Lynchburg, VA
Register Here!
All adult women are invited to join us the weekend of February 23-25, 2024 at Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Centerfor a Women’s Retreat! We will center our focus on Play: Finding Wholeness and Rest led by Reverend Suzanne L. Vinson.
Reverend Suzanne L. Vinson (she/her/hers) is an artist, retreat leader, and minister living an intentional life toward wholeness, kindhearted listening, and compassionate care. Suzanne has served in roles as a pastor, chaplain, bereavement group facilitator, and minister over the last 20 years. At the heart of her ministry is walking alongside others in times of grief, crisis, and every day living as they experience healing through creativity, reflection, and mindful practices. Find her art, book, Broken Wide Whole: Prayers for Daily Living, and info at suzannelvinson.com
Details:
As caring human beings, we long for connection and belonging. We often long for a break in the pace of our daily living. During our retreat, those gathered will experience mindfulness as soul care through micro practices of free writing, guided meditation, mark-making, doodling, and play, while listening to inner wisdom. We will encounter ourselves as we are in this moment and reflect on the spaces of care and play we recognize that we need for ourselves. Through our shared experience, you will have a toolkit with which to engage in playful, creative soul care for yourself and share with others.
When:
We will begin between 7:30 and 8 p.m. at Eagle Eyrie on Friday, February 23. You can expect to be home by early afternoon, Sunday, February 25.
Cost:
Double occupancy, $200 a person and single occupancy, $250 a person. This cost covers program leadership, supplies, 4 meals (Saturday breakfast through Sunday breakfast) and housing. By signing up, you are committing to paying the full amount. The registration and payment deadline is February 14, 2024. Payments can be made by cash, check (made out to RRCB), or credit card.* If paying with cash or check, you can drop off your payment to the church office and indicate that it is for the Women’s Retreat.
When signing up below, please indicate in the comments the following:
- Dietary preferences
- Payment method of choice (cash, check, or credit card*)
- Single or Double Room & Roommate Request (if you know their name already)
*Additional fees will be added to your payment if using a credit card.
Reach out to Beth Bailey at bethrbailey@riverroad.church if you have any questions.
About Rev. Suzanne L. Vinson
Reverend Suzanne L. Vinson (she/her/hers) is an artist, retreat leader, and minister living an intentional life toward wholeness, kindhearted listening, and compassionate care. Suzanne has served in roles as a pastor, chaplain, bereavement group facilitator, and minister over the last 20 years. At the heart of her ministry is walking alongside others in times of grief, crisis, and every day living as they experience healing through creativity, reflection, and mindful practices. Suzanne creates soul wisdom art, meant to deepen the experience of life, delight, and connection.
Suzanne holds a Master of Education from Mississippi College and a Master of Divinity from Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, VA, with post-grad coursework done in bereavement care and chaplaincy. She completed coursework in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) with the Center for Mindfulness Studies at UMass. She has facilitated bereavement groups, retreats, and studio gatherings since 2003, and finds group facilitation to be endlessly fascinating and rewarding. She has led mindfulness retreats for young adult cancer survivors, healthcare staff, and faith-based community groups. Suzanne specializes in short-term ministry based in pastoral care, chaplaincy, and creative spirituality. She just completed a role in a local congregation after nearly six years of pastoral ministry.
Suzanne is a sensitive and gracious facilitator of the healing arts utilizing guided meditation, visualization, and mindful creative practice as primary tools to engage both the intellect and the human spirit. Suzanne’s soul work – gathering folks – is invitational with a sincere intention that those who gather release burdens and fears of expectations and begin to engage in self care with a table set as a creative banquet. Suzanne helps open the heart for self healing. She engages people at the depth of her core for the healing energy of the world to manifest. Retreats and gatherings in Suzanne’s studio focus on spirituality, mindfulness, and creativity. She loves traveling and carries her “traveling studio” as she leads retreats, facilities workshops, and speaks to groups. Suzanne offers her art to others as a means of daily delight and soul care. Her art, retreats, and gatherings are creative yoga for the soul.
A creator since the early days of mud pies, and grass and blooming soups in rain water, Suzanne would paint or color and play, play play. 4H was an avenueof exploring through travel, conversation, and working with her hands. Suzanne started as a minister in the church in her early 20s, but before that, she babysat and sold plants at a nursery, which carried her through college. During her undergraduate days and her first masters degree, she worked at the preschool at the college – cooking and teaching in the afternoons. She enjoyed gathering the art supplies and creating projects for the 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds to create. Her calling expanded from those times. When ministering in church Suzanne facilitated bereavement groups before moving more into chaplaincy. A call to the heart led her to move towards a space of her own, and so she found and moved into her current studio space so she could welcome groups into the home of her art. She relies strongly upon the intersection of art and spirituality, the healing work of gathering folks together, and showing up for speaking engagements, retreats, and groups… believing that something wonderful happens when all are sharing the same air and space for a period of time.
Find her art, book, Broken Wide Whole: Prayers for Daily Living, and info at suzannelvinson.com