Spirituality Workshops
Sacred Compass: The Way of Spiritual Discernment
A compass makes a good metaphor for our spiritual lives and the work of discerning God’s will for them. God doesn’t speak as clearly and as obviously as Mapquest or GoogleMaps or GPS. Maybe that’s because we don’t navigate the life of faith via anything remotely resembling GPS. Instead, the divine compass points us to the mind and love of God. Keeping our soul’s eyes on the sacred compass leads us to the holy discovery that we can move through life with purpose and promise, even in those times when we may not sense with certainty what that purpose and promise are. In a grace-filled way, our compass invites us into a life of continuous experiences of God and of spiritual transformation. As we move toward Divine guidance, we joyfully behold the face of a loving God gazing back at us. This workshop, based on Brent’s book Sacred Compass, is an interactive opportunity to check our compasses and see where God has lead and is leading us. We’ll use experiences such as drawing Life Maps, charting the call of the Divine in our lives, and more. Download A Sample Sacred Compass Workshop Schedule
Being Quiet: Quaker Silence as a Spiritual Practice for Everybody
There are the silences of monastic discipline, of contemplative prayer, of Zen meditation - but the particular ways of Quaker silence are distinctive. And that distinctiveness has contributions to offer across spiritual traditions. Brent Bill, a Quaker minister, reads from his book Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Silence and leads participants into learning to listen for the sounds and voice of God in the midst of our busy lives. A self-confessed Type A personality, Brent examines the interior and exterior barriers to silence that confront us daily, sometimes by drawing (with a droll sense of humor) on situations from his own life. Download a Sample Beign Quiet Program
Writing Workshops
Writing from the Heart: Soulful Creativity
Do you wish to write in a way that touches readers and yourself? That’s the kind of writing that makes Anne Lamott’s essays, AJ Jacob’s The Year of Living Biblically, Phil Gulley’s Harmony tales, and Barbara Brown Taylor’s memoirs so appealing. Brent Bill’s own writing has been described by Publishers Weekly as being “Like a neighborly conversation across a kitchen table.” Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, you want to write from the heart and not just from the head. This workshop offers tips and techniques for connecting with your writer's heart and how to put your heart on paper. We’ll spend much of the day writing, using exercises that will help us uncover the deep themes and concerns that will bring our writing to life. We’ll also look at the practical side of getting such writing published.
Writing a Winning Proposal: From an Author’s Viewpoint
A good proposal might get read; a great one will get noticed. We’ll look at how to craft that great proposal. Each participant should submit a full proposal—including overview/purpose/audience/title comparison/bio/marketing strategies/table of contents—and at least a 10 page sample text to Brent Bill (brentbil@sbcglobal.net) two weeks prior to the workshop.
Blogging, Facebooking, and Websiting: Getting Noticed in the E-World
You’ve done the writing, now it’s on to the business of being a writer, notably marketing your work in an electronic age. We’ll explore various ways to connect with your e-public. Bring your suggestions of electronic author stuff that you think works well to share with the group.
The Part-Time Writer
Writing is more than a hobby, it’s a vocation. Yet, it’s hard to make living writing – especially when the kids want to eat! So how do you support your vocation in an economic world that makes you go to work? An informal conversation with a writer who makes his living by means other than writing.
