Hope is a Verb: Spiritual Grounding for Changemakers (POSTPONED)
2025-11-14 16:00 - 2025-11-16 12:00 (America/New_York) | Rockin’ Horse Farm, 705 Glosson Rd, Siler City, NC, 27344, United States
Join us at Rockin’ Horse Farm in Siler City, NC for Hope is a Verb: Spiritual Grounding for Changemakers: A Weekend Women’s Retreat to Feed your Soul.
When the Work Feels Heavy, Hope Becomes Essential
Are you a changemaker feeling overwhelmed by today’s challenges? When progress is blocked and the forces of harm seem stronger than ever, it’s natural to struggle with frustration and even burn-out. But what if hope isn’t something that happens to us—but something we actively practice?
Rediscover Your Spiritual Foundation
This weekend retreat offers changemakers a chance to reconnect with the deeper sources of resilience available to us all. Join us to explore how spiritual practices can help us stay grounded and embody hope in a world that sometimes feels hopeless.
Who Should Attend
This retreat welcomes all changemakers:
~ Mission-driven professionals and nonprofit leaders
~ Activists and organizers
~ Artists using creativity for social change
~ Community volunteers
~Engaged citizens
If you would find meaning in strengthening your resilience in these uncertain times, this retreat is designed for you.
What You’ll Experience and Share
~ Connection to nature and other changemakers on a beautiful 90-acre farm
~ Practical tools for cultivating hope as a daily practice
~ Spiritual practices for staying grounded to maintain your energy and commitment to your important work
Transform Your Relationship with Hope
Leave this weekend with renewed energy, deeper spiritual grounding, and practical tools for embodying hope—not despite the challenges, but because of your unwavering commitment to a just world.

Location: Rockin’ Horse Farm, Siler City, NC
Cost: $400, includes retreat programming, lodging, and meals
Retreat Leaders:
Maria Kingery has been leading retreats for impact-driven entrepreneurs for more than a decade. Through 360Impact, she helps changemakers build the resilience needed to create lasting impact in an uncertain world using her “Lead with Love” framework. In 2001, she co-founded one of the Southeast’s first clean energy companies, scaling it to a thriving B Corp before selling the company to seven long-time team members in a values-driven succession that centered their shared mission over maximum profit.
Bonny Moellenbrock, a certified spiritual director, helps clients integrate their deepest values into their lives, initiatives, and business strategies, supporting the shift toward a life-affirming, regenerative economy. Bonny spent over two decades directing capital toward social and environmental impact through her work with nonprofits, social enterprises, and impact investors. She led Investors Circle for seven years, guiding a network that has channeled over $275 million into more than 350 enterprises creating positive change.

Remembering Those We Miss with Shawna Ayoub
2025-11-16 14:00 - 16:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
Writing letters can be a heartfelt way to express our love and celebrate the relationships we’ve shared. Letters can help us preserve important memories and stories, confront unfinished business, and expose ourselves to things we may be avoiding. This is especially true when we are writing to those who are gone from our lives, whether they have passed on or passed on us.
In this workshop, we will come together to examine our grief through the epistolary form. In a safe and supportive space, we will write letters to those we have lost as an act of self-care.
Writers will take home a packet of writing examples as well as prompts, and can contact Shawna for written feedback within two weeks of this workshop.
Leader: Shawna Ayoub is a brown, queer, Durham-based writer and instructor whose work prioritizes the engagement of difficult topics. After recognizing the personal benefits of writing for release and recovery, she has made her practice public for the last 15 years, offering courses independently as well as through the Center for Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in Verywell Mind, Survivor Lit, Exit 7, [wherever], The Archipelago, and The Manifest-Station.
Cost: $35 or $50. Scholarships available. (Contact info@rcwms.org.)
Register below. Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.
*Community members who would like to donate scholarships may do so at rcwms.org/donate.

House Concert with Courtney Ariel Bowden
2025-11-16 16:00 - 17:30 | A private home in Durham, NC
Come enjoy acoustic music and storytelling from singer-songwriter Courtney Ariel as we gather together and raise funds for her upcoming album, which is inspired by (among other things) loving and being loved by Black women. The show will take place at a private home in Durham, NC. The exact address will be provided after registration.
Courtney Ariel Bowden is a songwriter and writer who thinks about the impact of Black women’s friendship-making and relational healing. Having grown up in Southern California, she graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English Literature and from Vanderbilt Divinity School with an MDiv and concentrations in Religion, Art & Contemporary Culture and Religion, Gender & Sexuality. An artist-scholar, Courtney Ariel currently pursues work at the intersections of artmaking, accompaniment, and research, as a doctoral candidate.
Her public-facing advocacy writing has been featured by Sojourners (Sojo.net), CNN, The Tennessean, and Harper’s Bazaar. Her original music can be found on streaming platforms, including songs she has co-written (Alex Blue’s “May It Change You,” 2024), and that she has written (Alex G’s “I Won’t,” 2020). A novice but enthusiastic watcher of birds and trees in the Southeastern region of the U.S., Courtney Ariel still holds the swaying palms of Southern California, the lull and roar of the pacific ocean, at the core of her being, always.
In lieu of charging admission, you are invited to donate to the crowdfunding campaign for Courtney Ariel’s upcoming album. Join us for an unforgettable evening of music, community, and togetherness.
Light refreshments will be provided. For questions about the house concert or accessibility, please contact info@rcwms.org.
NOTE: If the event is SOLD OUT, email info@rcwms.com and ask to be added to a waiting list. If a spot opens up, we’ll be in touch with you.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - November 2025
2025-11-19 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
November: Giving Thanks: The Grace for Failing Forward
December: Laying Aside Every Weight: The Art of Shedding
Register for November below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Loving My Enemies & Other Outlandish Pursuits: Angie Wright's Book Launch
2025-12-11 19:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
RCWMS is pleased to announce the publication of Angie Wright’s new book, Loving My Enemies & Other Outlandish Pursuits. We warmly invite you to join us for the launch!
This memoir of faith, family, and power follows Rev. Angie Wright’s commitment as an activist and pastor to stand against hate without indulging the temptation of hating the haters. In her story, spirituality meets social justice and betrayal pushes against the ethic of forgiveness. Rev. Wright probes questions most of us have to face at times in our lives: How do we reconsider our relationship with people we’ve been taught to hate and fear? And when others wreak harm on us or our communities, can we respond in ways that summon their humanity while protecting our own?

Angie Wright has always liked starting trouble—good trouble, as John Lewis called it. She was the founding pastor of Beloved Community United Church of Christ in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, where she served for sixteen years. She was a founder of Alabama Arise and a leader in the statewide effort to overturn Alabama’s anti-immigrant law. She served on the staff and boards of numerous local, regional, and national justice organizations. Angie takes immeasurable joy in her splendid sons: Luke, a musician in Hillsborough, NC, and Frank, who raises cows and lives in Costa Rica with his eight-year-old son, Kai. Now retired, Angie lives in Hillsborough and spends her time gardening, hanging out with family, and doing her part to stop the downfall of democracy.

Pre-order the book: HERE.

Please REGISTER for the reading by selecting a free ticket below. Registrants will receive both a receipt and a separate email with a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation. Please check your spam and/or promotions folder if you don’t receive one or both of these emails. We will also be sending Zoom link reminders just before the event.

Holiday Sale December 14, 2025!
2025-12-14 13:00 - 17:00 | 1202 Watts Street, Durham, NC, Watts Street 1202, Durham, North Carolina, 27701, United States
Handmade cards, books, jewelry, animals, paintings, etc. by:
Kimberley Pierce Cartwright, Galia Goodman, Bryant Holsenbeck, Jereann King Johnson, Jeanette Stokes, Mary Rocap, & The TravelPenguin

Come by to visit, experience local artwork, and purchase great gifts. RCWMS books will be on deep discount. They make great holiday gifts! Bring your neighbors, friends, and families. A portion of the proceeds will benefit RCWMS. Masks are requested.
For more information, please email Jeanette Stokes at jeanette@rcwms.org.

Location: 1202 Watts Street, Durham, NC (Corner of Watts Street and Demerius Street)

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - December 2025
2025-12-17 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
December: Laying Aside Every Weight: The Art of Shedding
Register for December below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Loving My Enemies & Other Outlandish Pursuits: Angie Wright’s Book Party! (In-Person)
2026-01-11 17:00 - 19:00 | Night School Bar, 719 N Mangum St, Durham, NC, 27701, United States
Celebrate the release of Angie Wright’s powerful new memoir, Loving My Enemies & Other Outlandish Pursuits, with RCWMS!
Join us for an unforgettable evening at Night School Bar, where Rev. Angie will share insights on faith, family, power, and the ways they shape our world.
This memoir follows Rev. Angie Wright’s commitment as an activist and pastor to stand against hate without indulging the temptation of hating the haters. In her story, spirituality meets social justice, and betrayal pushes against the ethic of forgiveness. Rev. Wright probes questions most of us have to face at times in our lives: How do we reconsider our relationship with people we’ve been taught to hate and fear? And when others wreak harm on us or our communities, can we respond in ways that summon their humanity while protecting our own?
Purchase the book: HERE.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - January 2026
2026-01-21 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
January: This Time, I’m Centering Me
February: Making History: Financial Literacy and Other Forms of Liberation
March: Women’s History Month: Black Girl Magic Now, Then, Forever
Register for JANUARY below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

READING: Proclamation Beyond the Pulpit by Chelsea Yarborough
2026-01-22 19:00 - 20:30 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
RCWMS is pleased to invite you to join us for a reading by Chelsea Yarborough from her new book, Proclamation Beyond the Pulpit: The Expansive Homiletical Practice of Black Women (Baylor, 2025).
Preaching is typically considered to be a practice confined to ministry within the institutional church. Studies of preaching are often filtered through the lens of the pulpit, with Black women rarely featured as central figures. Proclamation Beyond the Pulpit lifts up Sojourner Truth, Nannie Helen Burroughs, and Fannie Lou Hamer as crucial sources for homiletic theory. Chelsea Yarborough introduces a methodology for preaching that arises from the witness and practices of these three Black women non-pulpit preachers, expanding our understanding of proclamation beyond traditional notions of its nature and purpose.
This shift away from the limitations of the pulpit into the public sphere and beyond has deep roots in the preaching legacy of Black women. Often denied places of authority in the church, Black women have carved out spheres for their proclamation, teaching us that the essence and purpose of preaching is less about place and more about impact and practice. By centering the lives and ministries of three historical Black women preachers who preached beyond the pulpit, Yarborough highlights a lineage of expansive homiletical possibilities and offers valuable insights for preachers across diverse platforms.

Rev. Dr. Chelsea Brooke Yarborough, PhD, is the Associate Director of Leadership Programming at the Association of Theological Schools. She is a preacher, an ordained minister in the Baptist tradition, a poet, leadership coach and an enneagram teacher. She serves as a trustee for RCWMS.

Pre-order the book: HERE.

Please REGISTER for the reading by selecting a free ticket below. Registrants will receive both a receipt and a separate email with a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation. Please check your spam and/or promotions folder if you don’t receive one or both of these emails. We will also be sending Zoom link reminders just before the event.

2026 Health & Wellness Series: Reclaiming the Heart & the Womb with Health Integration 629, LLC (via Zoom)
2026-02-05 18:30 - 20:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
Women of Color will gather this year to explore how being connected to our hearts and our wombs (both literal and figurative) supports goals for wellness. Discussions will include information regarding the distinction between sex, sexuality, and sensuality, and how a deeper knowledge of self can support your personal health plan. Registrants will receive up to 3 individual health coaching sessions to support their goals.
The initial idea for this series was offered by a 2025 Health Series participant and has been designed for individuals who will benefit from learning in a community. Participants will commit to their practice by using the information from each session to set goals and take action toward their personal vision for improved health and well-being.
The following resources are included in the price of the 2026 series: Health Inventory Assessment, Personal Maintenance Plan, and up to 3 one-on-one coaching sessions during the series in addition to the 9 group sessions above (limited to 3 private sessions total, per participant, between February 2026 and May 2026).
Join us for this 9-session series (space will be limited):
February 5th, 2026- Session Title: What Are You Creating This Year? (Vision)
Short Description: What have we been told? What do we know?

February 19th, 2026- Session Title: Sacred Intimacy and Sensuality (Connection & Reciprocity)
Short Description: Improving Health & Wellbeing through the 8 senses and becoming aware of the divine exchange between our inner and outer worlds.

March 5th, 2026- Session Title: Woman: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
Short Description: Honoring our seasons with awareness.

March 19th, 2026- Session Title: Your Wisdom
Short Description: Winter

April 2nd, 2026- Session Title: Your Beauty
Short Description: Spring

April 16th, 2026- Session Title: Your Power
Short Description: Summer

April 30th, 2026- Session Title: Your Art
Short Description: Fall

May 14th, 2026- Session Title: Meeting this Moment: Healthy, Strong, Balanced & Nourished
Short Description: Receiving and Releasing

May 28th, 2026- Session Title: Our Medicine, Our Recipe
Short Description: Eating, bathing, cooking, movement, listening, observing, art, etc.

Cost: $90
Space is limited (6-13 participants). All participants must complete a Group/Individual Coaching Agreement outlining the parameters of the series.

One-time registration is required. Please email info@rcwms.org if you have any questions or concerns.
Register below. Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - February 2026
2026-02-18 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
January: This Time, I’m Centering Me
February: Making History: Financial Literacy and Other Forms of Liberation
March: Women’s History Month: Black Girl Magic Now, Then, Forever
Register for FEBRUARY below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

2026 Health & Wellness Series: Reclaiming the Heart & the Womb with Health Integration 629, LLC (via Zoom)
2026-02-19 18:30 - 20:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
Women of Color will gather this year to explore how being connected to our hearts and our wombs supports goals for wellness. Discussions will include information regarding the distinction between sex, sexuality, and sensuality, and how a deeper knowledge of self can support your personal health plan. Registrants will receive up to 3 individual health coaching sessions to support their goals.
The initial idea for this series was offered by a 2025 Health Series participant and has been designed for individuals who will benefit from learning in a community. Participants will commit to their practice by using the information from each session to set goals and take action toward their personal vision for improved health and well-being.
The following resources are included in the price of the 2026 series: Health Inventory Assessment, Personal Maintenance Plan, and up to 3 one-on-one coaching sessions during the series in addition to the 9 group sessions above (limited to 3 private sessions total, per participant, between February 2026 and May 2026).
Join us for this 9-session series (space will be limited):

February 19th, 2026- Session Title: Sacred Intimacy and Sensuality (Connection & Reciprocity)
Short Description: Improving Health & Wellbeing through the 8 senses and becoming aware of the divine exchange between our inner and outer worlds.

March 5th, 2026- Session Title: Woman: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
Short Description: Honoring our seasons with awareness.

March 19th, 2026- Session Title: Your Wisdom
Short Description: Winter

April 2nd, 2026- Session Title: Your Beauty
Short Description: Spring

April 16th, 2026- Session Title: Your Power
Short Description: Summer

April 30th, 2026- Session Title: Your Art
Short Description: Fall

May 14th, 2026- Session Title: Meeting this Moment: Healthy, Strong, Balanced & Nourished
Short Description: Receiving and Releasing

May 28th, 2026- Session Title: Our Medicine, Our Recipe
Short Description: Eating, bathing, cooking, movement, listening, observing, art, etc.

Cost: $90
Space is limited (6-13 participants). All participants must complete a Group/Individual Coaching Agreement outlining the parameters of the series.

One-time registration is required. Please email info@rcwms.org for additional information today!

What's Love Got To Do With It? (Sponsored by: Peace Hill at Avila and RCWMS)
2026-03-12 09:30 - 14:30
This retreat will invite participants into one of the most challenging and transformative teachings shared across many spiritual traditions: the call to love one’s enemies while also learning to love oneself with honesty, dignity, and care. Rather than treating these practices as opposite, we will explore how they are deeply connected and mutually empowering. What does love look like? What does love require of us? How can we embody love in the midst of discord and division? Rev. Angie Wright and Rev. Dr. Cathy S. Gilliard will guide participants as we explore personal challenges, unhealed wounds, and hopes for moving forward with greater intention and grace.
Leaders: Rev. Angie Wright is the author of Loving My Enemies & Other Outlandish Pursuits, a memoir of family, faith and power. Angie is a retired UCC pastor devoted to the pursuits of justice and mercy. She has two splendid sons and one precocious 8-year-old grandson. Rev. Dr. Cathy S. Gilliard is a retired United Methodist Church pastor, having most recently served as senior minister at Park Avenue United Methodist Church, New York, NY. She is the proud mother of two wonderful sons and six amazing grandchildren.
Photo by Angie Wright.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - March 2026
2026-03-18 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
January: This Time, I’m Centering Me
February: Making History: Financial Literacy and Other Forms of Liberation
March: Women’s History Month: Black Girl Magic Now, Then, Forever
Register for MARCH below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Ecumenical Holy Week Labyrinth
2026-03-29 08:00 - 2026-04-03 17:00
Walking a labyrinth is an ancient spiritual tool for reflection. The 40’x40′ labyrinth laid out on the floor of the sanctuary is a replica of the labyrinth found on the floor of Chartres Cathedral. Prayer stations on the perimeter provide resources for those who walk.
Free and open to the public. Please wear clean socks.
More: Binkley, binkleychurch.org/calendar/
Sponsors: Several Chapel Hill churches

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - April 2026
2026-04-15 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
April: Dealing with Shrinkage: Imposter Syndrome, Hair Journeys and Taking Up Space in this Skin
May: Mothering and Being Mothered: Blessed be the Ties that Bind
June: Braving the Storm: Grieving People Who Are Still Alive
Register for APRIL below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - May 2026
2026-05-20 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
May: Mothering and Being Mothered: Blessed be the Ties that Bind
June: Braving the Storm: Grieving People Who Are Still Alive
Register for MAY below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

The Heart of Mindfulness with Jen Johnson
2026-06-10 12:00 - 13:30
There is a kind of stillness available to us that lives below the noise of daily life — in the body, in the breath, in the quiet center of the heart.
The Heart of Mindfulness is a 90-minute live online workshop that explores heart-centered practices. Research shows that heart-centered mindfulness practices can reduce stress, calm the nervous system, and cultivate positive emotions, including love, joy, gratitude, and awe. Through guided meditation and mindful writing, you’ll explore how these practices can become a genuine refuge in your everyday life.
This workshop is for anyone who wants to feel more at home in themselves and the world. Please bring a journal or paper and pens.
Leader: Jen Johnson, MS, MFA, LCMHC is a mindfulness teacher and counselor offering an integrative approach to mind body healing and creative awakening. She offers mindfulness coaching and therapy and facilitates workshops on mindfulness, mindful writing, grief, and nature connection. Learn more about Jen here.
Cost: $25, $30, $35, $40, or $45 – sliding scale
Register below. Registrants will be sent a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.

Hope is a Verb: Spiritual Grounding for Joyful Changemaking
2026-06-12 16:00 - 2026-06-14 12:00 | The Farmhouse at Spring Forest, 1907 New Sharon Church Rd, Hillsborough, 27278, United States
Join us at the Farmhouse at Spring Forest in Hillsborough, NC for Hope is a Verb: Spiritual Grounding for Joyful Changemaking.
When the Work Feels Heavy, Hope Becomes Essential
Are you a changemaker feeling overwhelmed by today’s challenges? When progress is blocked and the forces of harm seem stronger than ever, it’s natural to struggle with frustration and even burn-out. But what if hope isn’t something that happens to us—but is something we actively practice?
Rediscover Your Spiritual Foundation
This weekend retreat offers changemakers a chance to reconnect with the deeper sources of resilience available to us all. Join us to explore how spiritual practices can help us stay grounded and embody hope in a world that sometimes feels hopeless.
Who Should Attend
This women’s* retreat welcomes all changemakers:
~ Mission-driven professionals and nonprofit leaders
~ Activists, organizers, and artists
~ Engaged citizens and volunteers
*This retreat is for all women, including trans women, as well as nonbinary or gender expansive people who are comfortable in women-centered spaces.
If you would find meaning in strengthening your resilience in these uncertain times, this retreat is designed for you.
What You’ll Experience and Share
~ Connection to nature and other changemakers on a beautiful, 34-acre regenerative farm and forest
~ Practical tools for cultivating hope as a daily practice
~ Spiritual practices for staying grounded to maintain your energy and commitment to your important work
Transform Your Relationship with Hope
Leave this weekend with renewed energy, deeper spiritual grounding, and practical tools for embodying hope—not despite the challenges, but because of your unwavering commitment to a just world.

Location: The Farmhouse at Spring Forest, 1907 New Sharon Church Rd, Hillsborough, NC 27278
Cost: $400–600
~ Single occupancy room (2 beds available): $600
~ Shared occupancy room (6 beds available): $450
Register by April 15, 2026 for to receive a $50 early bird discount! No code needed.
Cost includes retreat programming, lodging and meals prepared by Chef Netta Edwards with locally grown food, as well as a post-retreat online group check-in and an optional post-retreat 1:1 online spiritual coaching session.
Limited scholarship funds available. Please email info@groundedimpact.net to express your interest in a partial or full scholarship.
Retreat Leaders:
Maria Kingery has been leading retreats for impact-driven entrepreneurs for more than a decade. Through 360Impact, she helps changemakers build the resilience needed to create lasting impact in an uncertain world using her “Lead with Love” framework. In 2001, she co-founded one of the Southeast’s first clean energy companies, scaling it to a thriving B Corp before selling the company to seven long-time team members in a values-driven succession that centered their shared mission over maximum profit.
Bonny Moellenbrock, a certified spiritual director, helps clients integrate their deepest values into their lives, initiatives, and business strategies, supporting the shift toward a life-affirming, regenerative economy. Bonny spent over two decades directing capital toward social and environmental impact through her work with nonprofits, social enterprises, and impact investors. She led Investors Circle for seven years, guiding a network that has channeled over $275 million into more than 350 enterprises creating positive change.

Freedom Dreaming at Historic Stagville with New Legacy Lab
2026-06-13 10:00 - 12:00 | Historic Stagville, Durham, NC, 5828 Old Oxford Highway, Durham, NC, 27712, United States
Artist and Cultural Organizer Monèt Marshall invites us to visit Historic Stagville – a former plantation in Durham County – through an interactive experience rooted in resistance and liberation. Through performance, guided mediations, and facilitated conversation at Horton Grove, we all will be invited to expand our imaginations into past and future Black feminist dreaming. This offering is open to all ages, races, genders, and class backgrounds.
This event is co-hosted by New Legacy Lab , the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South, and ROSA.
Cost: Tickets for this event are offered on a sliding scale of $15 – $35. Please use New Legacy Lab’s Sliding Scale to determine your ticket price.
Registration is required. Register at this link: https://www.newlegacylab.com/event-details/freedom-dreaming-at-historic-stagville

BLUESTEM WALKING TOUR, Bluestem Conservation Cemetery
2026-06-17 10:00 - 12:00 | 1900 Hurdle Mills Road Cedar Grove, NC 27231
Come learn about Bluestem, a beautiful piece of land north of Hillsborough, NC, now being developed as a nature preserve and a conservation burial ground.

Why conservation burial, and why Bluestem in particular? Cemeteries are places for people to be permanently memorialized and places at which family and loved ones may gather for reflection. Conservation burial grounds serve as places where individual and community commitment to conservation and perpetuity come together. Bluestem will be a conservation cemetery designed as a nature preserve and place of reverence, with a trail network, quiet areas for reflection, open space for contemplation, and designated areas within its restored landscape for natural burial.
Join us at Bluestem Conservation Cemetery a place of reverence for all to connect with the sacred in nature. Drop in to get to know this place, find more information about conservation burial and Bluestem’s natural sanctuaries, and let us know more about how Bluestem can serve you and your spiritual community! Local clergy, faith leaders, spiritual guides, laypeople, and just curious folks welcome!
Disclaimer: The tour will involve walking on natural pathways and trails for approximately 1.5 miles, with limited opportunities to sit. Bringing a water bottle is strongly encouraged. For additional information or learn more about Bluestem, please visit: HERE
Cost:$10.00. Proceeds will support Bluestem.
Spaces are limited. Register below.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - June 2026
2026-06-17 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
June: Braving the Storm: Grieving People Who Are Still Alive
Register for JUNE below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Mindful Writing for Transformation (4-Week) Online Workshop
2026-07-09 12:00 - 2026-07-30 13:30
There are stories inside you that want to be told. Not perfected, simply heard.
Mindful writing is less about craft and more about presence. It’s a practice of slowing down, turning inward, and allowing whatever wants to be expressed to move through you and onto the page. No forcing anything. No inner critic in charge.
In this four-week workshop, we create the conditions for stories to arrive naturally — through mindfulness practices and gentle, guided writing activities designed to quiet the mind and open the heart. When we stop trying to write and simply listen, something shifts. Words come. Truth surfaces. The page becomes a place of refuge and revelation where we bear witness to our own stories with kindness and acceptance.
Writing in this way has a remarkable capacity to bring order to inner chaos, restore a sense of wholeness, and reconnect us with our own inner wisdom — the part of us that already knows.
No writing experience is necessary. This is a space for anyone who feels called to listen more deeply to their own story.
Bring a journal and a pen. Come exactly as you are.
Led by Jen Johnson, mindfulness teacher, therapist, photographer, and writer. Jen brings an integrative approach to mind-body healing and creative awakening. Her writing has appeared in book chapters, a poetry anthology, magazines, literary journals, and professional training manuals. More about Jen here.
Date & Times: Thursdays, July 9, 16, 23, and 30 from 12:00- 1:30 PM
Cost: $125-175, sliding scale
Register below. Registrants will be sent a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - JULY 2026
2026-07-15 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
July: Giving You the Best That I’ve Got: Complexities in Black Mothering
Register for JULY below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - AUGUST 2026
2026-08-19 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
August: Learning to Pivot: The Grace to Make a Different Decision
Register for AUGUST below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - SEPTEMBER 2026
2026-09-16 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
September: The Gift of Goodbye
Register for SEPTEMBER below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Work in Process: Song-share & Discussion with Courtney Ariel Bowden
2026-10-10 18:30 - 20:30 | Northstar Church of the Arts, 220 W. Geer Street, Durham, NC, 27701, United States
Durham-based singer-songwriter and doctoral candidate Courtney Ariel Bowden blends music and scholarship in her research about Black women’s* relationality and friendship-making as a spiritual and creative practice under the constraints of colonialism and capitalism. Join Courtney on Saturday, October 10th at 6:30pm at NorthStar Church of the Arts where she will perform songs from her upcoming/unreleased album and share thoughts from her unfinished/in-process dissertation, to prompt a communal discussion about the creativity, vulnerability, and transformative possibilities of friendship.
A note from Courtney: In my work “women” is inclusive of cis and trans women, femmes, gender non-conforming folks who have been socialized as women and/or who are read as women in the world. This event is for Black women and the people who love them well. The voices and perspectives of Black people will be foregrounded in this space. All attendees should be old enough to offer quiet engagement during the performance portion of the event. I hope to see you there!
