by Cynthia Wenz, Board Member and Interim CEO
One of the greatest gifts of a healthy ministry is the people God brings to steward it. Board members play a vital role in the life and ministry of S…
by Angela Miller | Program Manager at Serenity Retreat
Some of the most important moments of transformation don’t happen in prayer rooms or retreats; they happen in kitchens, laundry rooms, and…
One of the greatest gifts of a healthy ministry is the people God brings to steward it. Board members play a vital role in the life and ministry of Serenity Retreat. They pray with us, help guide and shape vision, provide accountability, and lend wisdom so that our mission remains strong, focused, and faithful.
A board isn’t about control, it’s about care. At Serenity Retreat, governance is committed to seeking and listening to the Lord together, and ensuring that the ministry continues to be a place of encounter, healing, restoration, and transformation for generations to come.
With great joy, we welcome three new members to the Serenity Retreat Board.
Skip Koshak brings a wealth of business insight and steady leadership to Serenity where he has volunteered as a TPM® mentor for the past 2 years! Skip has a long history of serving organizations with integrity, operational excellence, and a genuine heart for people. With a reputation as a wise counselor and stabilizing presence, we are grateful for the experience and discernment he brings to our board.
Dr. Emi Barresi is a transformational leader with a deep background in organizational development, spiritual formation, and human flourishing. Emi carries both professional expertise and a pastoral heart. She has a unique gift for helping people and teams step into greater wholeness, and her voice will meaningfully strengthen our vision and future.
Reverend Debra Hill is a seasoned minister, counselor, worship and community leader with decades of faithful service to individuals and families. She brings spiritual depth, compassion, and pastoral wisdom that aligns beautifully with Serenity Retreat’s mission of healing and renewal.
It is a gift to welcome leaders who love God, love people, and are committed to stewarding this ministry with humility and faith. I am deeply grateful for each of them and excited for what lies ahead as we continue walking together in obedience to God’s calling.
Please join me in welcoming Skip, Dr. Emi, and Reverend Debra to the Serenity Retreat Board of Directors.
If you would like to send a New Year’s message to our team or Board of Directors, we’d love to hear anything you have to share! Email us at [email protected] and we’ll make sure it gets to your intended recipient(s).
by Angela Miller | Program Manager at Serenity Retreat
Some of the most important moments of transformation don’t happen in prayer rooms or retreats; they happen in kitchens, laundry rooms, and bathrooms before the day has even fully begun.
This Advent, I wrote on my personal blog that I had what I would honestly describe as a good morning. I woke up steady, moved into my usual rhythm… and then realized I was completely out of my green drink and collagen (if you know, you know). Normally, I mix those with a little matcha, my gentle springboard into the day. That springboard was gone.
“Almost immediately, I felt that familiar edge creep in: I need coffee or I’m not going to survive.”
What surprised me wasn’t the frustration, many of you know that feeling, but what the Lord gently invited me into next.
When Frustration Is a Signal, Not a Norm or a Failure
Emotions are not the problem; they are an opportunity.
That morning, frustration told me something deeper was happening. I wasn’t just annoyed about ingredients. I was unknowingly trying to fix something in my flesh. I was leaning on a ‘coping mechanism’ to function.
(Let me pause here: I’m not saying coffee or routine is always a coping mechanism. But sometimes an honest evaluation is needed—especially when frustration or another negative emotion is associated with a habit, routine, or the desire to escape discomfort.)
So instead of pushing the feeling away, I paused and acknowledged it honestly:
“Lord, I’m frustrated with my circumstances because my routine is off, and I need to function.”
This is what we call the Anger Box in Transformation Prayer Ministry, naming the emotion without judgment, spiritualizing, or self-correction.
Then I moved into what we call the Solution Box, asking a question we teach people to ask regularly: Do I sense hesitancy or resistance at the thought of letting this frustration go? Would it take effort on my part to let it go?
Uhhhh… yes. This cloud felt like it was just hovering over my head.
So I kept going and asked the next question:
“What do I believe would happen if I let this frustration go?” or “What bad thing might happen if the frustration was gone?”
The answer surprised me:
“If I let it go, I might not function today.”
So I asked the next question:
“So the reason I need to hold onto this frustration is what?”
And there it was:
“I need to be frustrated at my circumstances in order to function.”
This Is What TPM Looks Like as a Lifestyle
This is the heart of Transformation Prayer Ministry, not fixing behavior, but allowing God to reveal the deeper belief so He can speak His truth into it and transform our lives.
I shared that belief with the Lord and sat quietly. I didn’t strive. I didn’t try to replace it with truth on my own. I simply listened.
And what He impressed on my heart was simple and profound:
“I am your function.”
That one sentence changed everything.
“In it was everything I needed to hear… He is my help, clarity, strength, wise counselor, and capacity to do what He has called me to do.”
As I sat with that truth, the frustration lost its grip. The fog lifted. The I-need-coffee-or-else feeling faded. I felt clear, present, and capable.
This is not about having a perfect morning. This is about learning how to walk with God in real time, on random, ordinary days, especially during seasons like Advent and the holidays when life feels full, loud, and heavy.
We Were Never Meant to Carry This Alone
If you notice frustration surfacing often… If you find yourself snapping at the people you love… If there’s a low hum of anxiety or pressure to “just function”…
I want you to know this: you don’t have to stay there.
The Lord provides a way through, a way to slow down, listen, uncover what’s happening beneath the surface, and receive His truth right where you are.
I won’t lie, this was a paradigm shift for me when I learned about this process, especially two of our core principles, but it made so much sense: “We feel and do what we believe.” While learning this process is a process, it has been so worth it to no longer live in performance or anxiety mode.
That’s why at Serenity Retreat we teach TPM not as a technique, but as a relational prayer lifestyle.
TPM 101 introduces this framework and helps you understand what’s happening beneath emotions.
TPM 201 equips you to engage this process on your own, in your everyday life, with the Lord.
And fun fact! We’re launching a TPM 201 Immersive Experience in January, and there are only 12 spots! This guided journey combines 7 self-paced modules (plan to start early!), supportive Zoom check-ins with seasoned leaders, and a powerful 2-day retreat in Bellville (January 29-31) where you’ll receive personalized training and coaching.
Whether you choose the six-week course or the immersive experience, the goal is the same: that you grow in confidence drawing closer to God, recognizing what’s happening in your heart, and receiving His truth, the kind that leads to lasting transformation and peace.
An Advent Invitation
Advent reminds us that we are waiting—not passively, but expectantly—for the God who is righteous, just, and deeply loving to finish what He has already begun.
The Lord is still meeting us. Still speaking truth. Still inviting us deeper through His Word and through community with other believers.
Perhaps this process, learning to cooperate with Him as He refines your faith, renews your mind, and transforms your life (TPM Purpose) is the gift He’s placing in your prayer toolbox for this next season.
by Tiffany Pardue and Barbara Rolen, Retreats and Program Directors
While Christian groups have gathered to experience the Lord at Serenity Retreat Bellville for years, God is doing is something new and exciting with Transformation Prayer Ministry (TPM).
Here’s What’s New
This fall, in planning meetings with group retreat leaders, discussions about what it might look like to incorporate TPM sessions increased. Leaders began showing an interest in our prayer ministers providing TPM to their groups—from 10, to 15, even 17 at a time! With our typical Personal Healing Retreat format, that’s just not feasible.
So, we sought the Lord and began to book group retreats that include one TPM session per participant. The response has been extraordinary—Serenity Retreat partnered with church small groups and ministry teams to provide TPM during group retreats is a Kingdom match made in heaven!
The Experiment
Our first group, Dream Makers, had ten participants, seven of whom received prayer. We scheduled two prayer minister teams to serve them, and when illness hit mid-retreat—we didn’t cancel, we pivoted. Four sessions were provided via Zoom to the group gathered at Bellville. Thank God that the Holy Spirit is not constrained by space or screens!
Then came our second group, Restored Wives with 17 ladies. We brought in three all-star prayer minister and intercessor teams to provide TPM to 16 young mommas and wives over the course of 24 hours. You should have seen it!
By the end of the retreat, they stood facing the pond, hands clasped and lifted high in celebration of Jesus and what He had done among them—collectively and in each of their hearts. So much restoration and love.
The Lord has moved in ways we’ve never experienced through these group retreat collaborations. With all our hearts turned to the Lord for wisdom and guidance, 23 women have experienced TPM through this new format, almost all of them for the first time. That’s 23 women who have given the opportunity to have an encounter with the Lord resulting in more freedom and transformation.
Why This Matters
Here’s what we’re discovering: this format makes TPM accessible to groups who might not otherwise experience it.
Let’s say your men or women’s ministry wants to introduce TPM to your leaders, but asking everyone to commit to a full individual retreat isn’t realistic. Maybe your small group has been walking through increasingly difficult circumstances and you know you need to create space for everyone to lean in together—a space where all can gather, and also experience quiet, sacred moments with the Lord, including a TPM session—you’re wondering how you can make this work for a larger group? Or perhaps the Lord is inviting your group of friends or ministry team to go deeper together in Him—and one TPM session per person feels like the perfect starting point.
This new option? It’s opening doors and so many possibilities.
It Takes a Small Army (of Prayer Ministers)
I need to tell you something: this only works because of our prayer ministers’ hearts for this ministry. They want as many people as possible to encounter the Lord and walk in freedom! When we asked prayer ministers to serve these two groups—first two teams for the group of ten, then three teams for the group of 17—many said yes without hesitation. They all agreed it was such a joy to come together and serve so many women at once. Their willingness to serve, their hunger to see people set free, their faithfulness to show up—that’s what makes this kind of multiplication possible.
Is This for Your Group?
If you’ve been thinking about how and when you can bring your ministry team, small group, even family or friends to Bellville, and what it might look like to receive ministry together—this might be exactly what you’re looking for.
We are thrilled to collaborate with you to create a Group Retreat experience tailored to your needs, with or without our new one-session-per-participant option. Email [email protected] to start the conversation and see what the Lord has in store for you and your people in2026!
Grateful for All That God Is Doing
This Thanksgiving, as we think of these 23 women, many whose lives have been deeply impacted and changed, we say THANK YOU.
Thank you to our powerful, big-hearted prayer ministers, and thank you to every person who makes the space, investing time and resources to step out in faith, believing that God will encounter you with His truth. Thank you to all who are praying for Serenity Retreat, supporting this work, or cheering us on—thank you for being part of what God is multiplying here. And thank you, Jesus, for doing what only You can do!
We have so many reasons to be grateful and so many to whom we give our thanks. God has been good to Serenity Retreat this year, and we are excited and expectant to see how He leads us through the holidays and into the new year, together. Happy Thanksgiving, Family!
PRAYER MINISTERS – One prayer minister was so inspired by reading this post that she is ready to sign up to join the TPM explosion happening in Bellville. Anybody else want to join? Don’t let 16 sessions scare you, or even 5 sessions for one team. Prayer teams are not always compiled of the same ministers. Mentors and Intercessors serve as they’re available and then tag the next team.
Contact [email protected] to be added to the “Ready Retreat Team”. When the need arises, you’ll be contacted. If you can serve, great—if not, we’ll call you the next time. Thanks and we hope to hear from you soon!
By Angela Miller, Program Manager at Serenity Retreat
As I sat in the audience that morning, I found myself quietly in awe. Serenity Retreat was celebrating 25 years of God’s faithfulness, and story after story testified to His transforming power. When Mary Whitehurst, CEO of The Source, took the stage, something in her words spoke to me. It wasn’t just what she said, or how she said it, but what she chose to do.
Before Mary spoke, our Interim CEO Cynthia Wenz introduced her with such tenderness. Cynthia shared how she once sat in Mary’s role as The Source CEO and testified how God had redefined her identity, not through title or position, but through intimacy with Him.
Then Cynthia looked toward Mary with genuine admiration and said,
“Ladies and gentlemen, I couldn’t be more honored to stand beside the torchbearer, the carrier of a ministry that healed me. So I give you, Mary Whitehurst.”
When Healing Becomes Leadership
Mary began to share her story with honesty and grace. She told us about the season when her marriage was unraveling, and her heart was weary.
“My husband and I were separated,” she said quietly. “I needed a place to heal. I needed to hear God’s voice again.”
In her search, she found Serenity Retreat in Bellville, Texas not by recommendation or by coincidence, but through a simple Google search that led her straight to a divine appointment.
“I came just needing rest,” she said. “But through Transformation Prayer Ministry, the Lord revealed parts of my heart that were broken far beyond my marriage. I left completely changed.”
Later, her husband joined her for his own retreat, and together they experienced reconciliation and restoration. Praise the Lord for what He does and how He has helped Serenity Retreat steward the land, of Bellville, to offer these places of rest to individuals!
As I listened, I could feel the entire room exhale, that deep kind of sigh that comes when you realize you’re hearing not just a story, but a testimony. And this wasn’t even the main story she was going to share. There was more!
Grace Built Into the Budget
What moved me most was what came next. Mary didn’t stop at her personal transformation; she turned it into an act of stewardship.
“We have twelve directors across our Houston and Austin clinics,” she said. “Each of them now comes to Serenity Retreat every year for time with the Lord. It’s become a sacred rhythm a time to rest, reflect, and remember God’s grace.”
She went on to share that her team’s retreats are now built into the annual budget. Wow!
That statement caught my breath.
As someone who has served in ministry spaces and higher education, I know how rare and how holy it is when leadership intentionally makes room for soul care! To see a leader not only recognize the need for spiritual renewal but build it into the annual budget and rhythm of care for staff is truly, servant-hearted leadership.
“It’s transformational for our team,” she said. “If you’re wondering whether it’s worth the investment, I’d ask, why not? Why wouldn’t you invest in the spiritual health and well-being of your people and yourself?”
In that moment there was a deep agreement in my own soul, and a hope that more leaders will rise to invest in the soul care of their staff. A prayer for a generation of leaders like Mary who are not only leading with vision, but with wisdom, compassion and action.
The Torch That Keeps Burning
As I reflect on that morning, “passing the torch” took on a deeper meaning for me.
Cynthia passed the torch of leadership, honoring Mary with grace and humility. Mary carries her torch of leadership, illuminating others with the same light that once healed her. The leaders at The Source carry their own torches every day, inviting still more to experience and share the hope of Christ through their life-affirming reproductive healthcare. And all of us sitting there, we were invited to take up our own flame of faithfulness, to consider how, where, and to Whom we guide others.
This is what legacy looks like: lives transformed by Christ, leadership marked by rest and renewal, and a commitment to help others hear God’s voice for themselves.
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…” — Ephesians 3:20
My Heartfelt Thanks
So, thank you, Mary Whitehurst, for being an example to the next generation of leaders.
Thank you for showing that building time for renewal and spiritual rest into the rhythm of the year is an act of grace toward those you lead. It’s a gift, a covering, that reminds them, “Your soul matters too.”
In a world where ministry can often mean pouring out until you’re empty, your leadership models something rare and beautiful: that caring for others includes caring for those who serve beside you.
You’ve reminded us that care can be part of the plan, and that grace flows strongest when it’s lived out intentionally. May the torch you carry continue to light the way for many more to come.
I still remember the first time I encountered Serenity Retreat. It wasn’t at a gala or a board meeting. It was at a memorial service, a sacred gathering for mothers like me who had experienced the deep grief of abortion.
I had just completed my very first post-abortion healing class, and Serenity was still in its infancy, meeting in an Upper Room in Garden Oaks. I can still see Kathryn Eason, our gracious host, leading us as we gathered to grieve, to pray, and to lay down the burden that had weighed on our hearts for so long. That day I wept freely.
Tears seemed to ring through my heart like a bell. It was a holy sound, the sound of grief colliding with hope, the sound of a heart breaking open so healing could begin.
That healing became a turning point in my life. Soon after, my simple volunteer role at a local pregnancy center became a full calling. I found myself stepping into the CEO role at a pregnancy center just 10.4 miles away from the massive 78,000 square foot Planned Parenthood facility that was being built—the largest in the western hemisphere at the time.
As that building rose, my heart rose in response. World Magazine even featured my reflections in an article called Taking on Goliath. That season was my personal battle with Goliath. But like David, my weapon wasn’t a sword, it was prayer. My heart’s cry to the Lord became my sling and stone.
We served women and families with the hope of life in Christ. We educated. We prayed. We adjusted our business hours to match the rhythms of the abortion industry. And behind every act of service was a tear-stained prayer that Goliath would fall.
And now, 15 years later, that Goliath has fallen.
The massive facility that once cast its shadow over our city is finally closing its doors. Even still, I’ve learned through the years that while laws can change, doors can close, and buildings can be torn down, there yet remains the battle for hearts.
Now in my service as Interim CEO of Serenity Retreat, I can see clearly why the Lord has brought me back to this sacred space. Because breakthrough has a sound—and that sound is incepted in the prayers of God’s people.
The Serenity Retreat property is a tranquil and holy plot of land, situated close to the city, yet with such a (beautifully) distant atmosphere. In this space, God’s kingdom meets earth. Its grounds are much what I envision when praying the Lord’s Prayer, ‘thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ Between the serene landscape, delightful food, and genuinely hospitable servants of Christ, who were a profound blessing on my healing retreat, 24 hours left me with the location’s namesake… serenity.
Initially, I heard about TPM when seeking deliverance on my journey to healing from a life marred by the weight and hurt of sin, both my own and that which was a shadow over my early life. I had not previously heard of TPM until I came to the foot of the cross, crumbling, looking on the internet for a ministry that could reach my soul more deeply than I had ever needed to go before. Christ has already healed and delivered me from so much in the years I’ve spent following Him, sometimes in just a touch. But my heart still had straggling weeds of anxiety, discontentment, and frustration, leaving heavy rocks on days I desperately wanted peace.
During my prayer sessions, I set down the shields of lies related to a performance-based perspective of measuring myself, and exchanged those rocks in the pit of my heart for peace and the shimmer of Christ in me. The new sheen was guided by prayer ministers who led me through the process with gentle care, and His presence in those moments was palpable.
I rang the bell because of that moment, where I could set down the weight of the false armor, hand it over to the Lord of all, and cry at His feet in gratitude for His beauty. Even after years of tearing down the walls of lies I had amassed from a worldly life lived far from Him, there was residue deep within that needed to be yanked from the bitter root. I could not be more grateful for and inspired by this place, for the people who lit the hours with their souls in conversation and gracious love.
Serenity Retreat helped restore parts of my soul, providing an inner ambience of joy and a glimpse of paradise. Where else can you feel in just 24 hours as if you’d walked in the glory of Eden for years? I’m not sure, but this is one of those places.
When you step into peace, freely given in exchange for our sorrow, anxiety, and earthly wounds, you can be reminded that it is by grace and His blood alone that such deeply transformative experiences with our creator exist. Through prayer, through communion 1:1 with the Lord, through contact with His beauty in the greenery and still waters of His creation, and the fellowship with those we will one day call sisters and brothers in the majesty of eternity, we find spiritual nourishment and connection.
For now, until that eternity is at my hands (by His sacrifice!), I know I can find serenity right here.
And so I rang the bell, a symbolic act of surrender and gratitude. It was my way of acknowledging the healing and transformation I had experienced, as well as my commitment to continue on this spiritual journey in relationship with my Savior.
