When Jana first came to TPM, she was broken and still in survival mode, and God has been teaching her, step by step, how to stand again with Him. She had always believed in bringing her emotions…
by Warren Koshak
Pam and I were richly blessed to chair Serenity Retreat’s Annual Fundraiser on October 14th at the Junior League and meet many wonderful people in the process. I left the gather…
Pam and I were richly blessed to chair Serenity Retreat’s Annual Fundraiser on October 14th at the Junior League and meet many wonderful people in the process. I left the gathering with a simple phrase that has been resonating with me:
“Partnership in Fellowship”
We are created for fellowship with Father, Son, Spirit and each other. Combining that with partnering for Kingdom work provides an awesome framework within which to consider how we engage each other and those we are serving. As I reiterated toward the end of the luncheon, our Blueprint of Care is steadfast. We are firmly grounded on the finished work of the cross and all it implies including the release of the Holy Spirit, Who leads us into all truth. Everything that we do is bathed in Intercessory Prayer as we seek His Will. Transformation Prayer Ministry (TPM) is our preferred vehicle powered by the Spirit to bring us to Truth. Sacred spaces and places for transformation exemplified by our precious 26 acre Bellville Retreat center are key. Strategic partnerships experienced in fellowship are magnifying impact and we are prayerfully contemplating how to best walk side by side with others. I personally echo what I and my fellow leaders are continuing to hear from those who participated on that Wednesday: the Event was positively different, impactful, meaningful and the messaging is clear. As your Executive Director I remain humbled, excited with a healthy dose of awe at what our Lord has called us to do. Thank you for all that you do together as Partners in Fellowship. Let’s continue to explore what He has in store.
What Happened When I Came to Serve—and Found Myself Set Free
About 12 years ago, I was introduced to TPM through a training in Fort Myers with Ed and Josh Smith. Over the years that followed, God continually nudged me back toward this ministry. I read the books (and even had the privilege of helping edit them), but if I’m being honest, I never got very far in applying TPM to my own life.
About three years ago, I knew it was time to fully respond to His invitation. After reaching out to Ed, he directed me to Serenity Retreat for a few TPM sessions by Zoom. The breakthroughs I experienced in just those three sessions were so profound that I immediately enrolled in TPM 101, 201, and 301 (twice!). That journey eventually led to becoming a Mentor in Training and now a Mentor.
Because I live in Florida, my entire TPM journey had taken place over Zoom. Although I had formed deep friendships through a computer screen, it felt like God was inviting me to take another step—to come to Serenity Retreat in person and serve.
My schedule was exactly what I expected: full. Over three days, I would be mentoring and interceding in six sessions. What I didn’t expect was how much I would personally receive during my time there.
The retreat grounds were everything I had imagined—peaceful, beautiful, complete with a stunning lake and even wandering miniature horses that reminded me of home. But what impacted me most weren’t the surroundings. It was the people and the unexpected ways God met me through them.
In a way only God could orchestrate, my rental management business took an absolutely crazy turn just one hour before my very first in-person mentoring session. Feeling overwhelmed and triggered, my friend Barbara gently asked, “How does that make you feel?”
And just like that, we were off.
The Lord graciously revealed a vow I had made years earlier—one I wasn’t even consciously aware of. As a younger version of myself, I had determined that I would always fight so I wouldn’t be taken advantage of. Within minutes, an incredible session unfolded. God replaced old beliefs with His truth, and I walked into my very first mentoring session with greater freedom and a God-given love for the Mentee than I could have imagined.
A couple of evenings later, while having dinner with another Mentor staying at the retreat center, I found myself unexpectedly triggered again. As she shared about the joy and peace she had found in her marriage—even though her husband hadn’t changed one bit—I realized I was feeling anger toward her.
One of the beautiful gifts of TPM is having relationships where you can honestly say, “I’m feeling angry toward you,” knowing that it’s simply the starting point for discovering what God wants to reveal. Through another beautiful session, the Lord uncovered deeper beliefs about my own marriage—areas where I genuinely thought He had already finished His work.
Apparently, He wasn’t finished yet.
On my last full day in Bellville, I was blessed once again by attending my first in-person Community Chat. What a difference it makes to gather around a table, share a meal, and simply be together. Learning while eating, laughing, and sharing life was a completely different experience than gathering over Zoom.
I was deeply touched by the conversations that unfolded so naturally as we shared what God was doing in our own lives and encouraged one another in the work of mentoring. Together, we discussed how to better walk alongside those seeking freedom, so they, too, could encounter His truth and experience the life-changing freedom that comes from believing it.
Before coming to Serenity Retreat, I assumed I was there primarily to give—to mentor, to pray, and to serve others. While that certainly happened, God also lovingly served me.
I don’t believe it’s necessary to have your own sessions while serving at the Retreat Center. But I do believe God delights in arranging just the right circumstances to uncover deeply buried beliefs—not to make us uncomfortable, but to set us free.
That’s exactly what He did for me.
Scripture tells us that it is more blessed to give than to receive. I discovered something else as well: when God allows us to do both at the same time, it’s an incredible gift.
Thank you, Serenity Retreat, for allowing me to serve—and for serving me through His love and His Truth.
250 years since Independence Hall. 250 candles on a cake none of us were there to watch as they began being lit, one by one. And somewhere in the middle of the fireworks and flags this year, a quieter number kept surfacing in me.
25.
This fall, Serenity Retreat turns 26. A tithe of our nation’s history, given back to the One who gave it. One-tenth. It felt too specific to ignore.
So I did what I tend to do when a number won’t leave me alone—I went looking for what it means.
Here’s what I found, and it spoke to me: British historian Sir John Glubb spent his later years studying roughly a dozen empires—Assyrian, Roman, Ottoman, British among them—and found that most lasted around 250 years, or ten generations, before the weight of their own success caught up with them. He traced a shape to it: Pioneers, then Conquest, then Commerce, then Affluence, then Intellect, then Decadence—that last stage marked less by weakness than by wealth without character, spectacle replacing conviction, and a fraying willingness to sacrifice for something bigger than ourselves. Historians still argue over whether Glubb’s pattern is destiny or coincidence. I don’t need it to be either. I just need to ask what it’s pointing at.
We are standing on it.
Not behind it, looking back at what was. Not past it, coasting on what’s certain. On it. The precipice. The place where a nation either becomes the exception or becomes a paragraph in someone else’s history book.
I don’t say that to alarm. I say it because I believe the Lord puts numbers like this in front of us—250, 25 to 26, one-tenth—not necessarily as omens or prophecy, but as an invitation to ask of Him.
What is required of us now? As a nation. As the people of God living inside it. As individuals kneeling in our own kitchens at 6 am or/and midnight, wondering if our prayers are doing anything at all.
I’m not sure how much the answer changes from age to age. It rarely does. Though that doesn’t mean His response—His Word isn’t still all we ever need.
“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” —2 Chronicles 7:14
Humble. Pray. Seek. Turn. Four verbs standing between a nation and its healing, and not one of them requires an election, a headline, or anyone else’s cooperation. They only require us.
The Lord has never needed a majority to move a nation. Scripture is a long, quiet argument for the power of the remnant—the few who actually listen, actually agree, actually worship Him in spirit and truth while everyone else argues about who’s right. Gideon’s army was cut down to three hundred before God would use it. Elijah, certain he was the last faithful man standing, was told there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee. He just couldn’t see them yet.
Is that still true?
I wonder if the remnant God is gathering right now looks less like a movement and more like scattered rooms—retreat centers and living rooms, houses of prayer and prayer closets—full of people finally still enough to hear Him.
I keep coming back to that tithe. One-tenth of a nation’s life, and Serenity has spent every year of it doing one thing: making space for people to reconnect and realign with the truth of God. Twenty-five years of retreats, prayer sessions, tears at the pond, walking the land, freedom that didn’t show up in a headline but showed up in a marriage, a mother, a father, a mind finally quiet enough to hear its Maker.
If a remnant is what heals a land, I believe Serenity and Transformation Prayer Ministry are positioned for exactly this hour—not just for our nation, but for the nations beyond her, who are watching what America does with what she’s been given. No other nation in history has been used to carry the gospel further or faster than this one. That is not a boast about us. It’s a stewardship placed on us. We have been blessed to be a blessing—that’s true of America, and it has always been true of this ministry.
Which is part of why I’m asking you to pray with us in a very specific way right now.
Serenity’s Board and staff are in the process of discerning our next Executive Director—the one who will carry the mantle into whatever this unprecedented next chapter holds. We don’t know everything that’s ahead for this nation. Only God knows that. We don’t know everything that’s ahead for Serenity either. But we know the same God who has carried us for twenty-five years is the one entrusting this next leader to us, and us to them. Please pray over that process with us. It matters more than most people watching from the outside will ever realize.
So this Fourth of July, as you watch whatever fireworks light up your sky, I hope you’ll do a little math of your own. Count the years you’ve been given. Pause and give thanks to our Savior. Count the years this nation has been given. Pause and thank Him again. And then ask the only question that has ever really mattered:
Lord, what do You require of me, in this hour, on this precipice?
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” —Micah 6:8
We are exceedingly blessed to be a blessing. May we spend the next 250 years—and the next 25—responding rightly to the calling and favor of the Lord.
Happy Independence Day, Family of God. We love you, and we’re praying for you as you pray for us.
My favorite spot in one of my favorite places in the world — Serenity Retreat Bellville — a little slice of heaven right here in Texas.
If it’s been a while since your last Transformation Prayer Ministry session or retreat, perhaps it’s time? Click to schedule your One-Hour Session and inquire about a Respite or Personal Healing Retreat today. Thank you for partnering with us in prayer as we search for our next Executive Director and continue to grow our team in preparation for more.
