Rev. Dr. Clay Brantley

Rev. Dr. Clay Brantley

Retreat House Director, Retreat Leader, Wild Guide

 Clay Brantley has been a Presbyterian minister for more than 39 years. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University, Austin Seminary and Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. Ten years ago Clay left parish ministry to follow the call of Christ into a more mystical journey.  He has contemplated and meditated, attended Jesuit silent retreats, encountered Wild Mustangs, worked on the U.S./Mexico border, traveled to Lebanon, Syria and Cuba, Iceland and Iona, walked the Camino de Santiago, spoken at youth conferences and summer camps, participated in mission trips. Clay is married to Crysta and they have a daughter Michaela, a son Drew, a daughter-in-law Julie, and grandson Max.  As one of the original partners of Retreat House, Clay has served on the RH board of directors

Clay is a recent graduate of the Seminary of the Wild and has been ordained by the Wild. (Be sure and ask him about this) His training in the Seminary of the Wild is to be a Wild Guide.  Here is Clay’s definition of Wild and Wild Guiding:

 “We live in a domesticated world.      

We humans have tried to domesticate the Earth. We see her as an it, here to serve our needs. We believe we are to have dominion of the Earth (a mistranslation of Genesis 1) and to tame her.  This is false. The Earth is Wild.

            We are domesticated. We are taught to be good boys and girls, to be productive citizens and good church or synagogue or mosque members. Yet we have lost ourselves. We are born to be wild.

            We have domesticated Christ (or our understanding of Christ) Jesus is a nice, good man, someone safe and kind. Christ is not safe. Christ is Wild and will not be domesticated.

            We have domesticated our calls.  We declare that life is about getting a good job, paying your bills, saving for retirement, perhaps even serving in the church or synagogue or mosque. Our call is to live out of the depth of our soul, to be who we are uniquely created to be, to be Wild.

Wild here is not crazy, though others may see us that way.  Wild is not fitting into the domestication of our times but letting our souls dance and our lives shimmer and our joy be free.”

 If you are looking for someone to help you explore what it is to be Wild, to be undomesticated, Clay Brantley can journey with you.  Clay, known as Wild Mustang, has been exploring Wildness these last 10 years. 

 If your soul has been whispering “is this all there is?” reach out to Clay

If your life has low energy and no real sense of meaning or purpose, contact the Wild Mustang

Perhaps this is the moment when you take a Wild step that you feel has been stirring in you for a while.

 If you’re interested in working with Clay, send him a note!