Sabbatical Update

There were 5 goals for this sabbatical:

Rest

Reset Ministry Rhythms

Renew the passion for my call

Reconnect with my wife

Spend some time on my hobbies.

I’d like to give you an update on each of these 5 goals, and I am going to take them out of order if that’s ok.

5. Spend some time on my hobbies.

Let’s do # 5 first…hobbies. I have a few photos to show you where I had the chance to do a little fishing and a little wood working...

2-3 fishing photos, 2-3 wood working photos with descriptions.

That’s the easy one. I have photos for that.

1. Rest

Let’s talk about #1, rest.

I don’t think I fully knew just how tired and depleted I was when I left at the end of April. I remember the moment I took a deep breath, sighed and realized for the first time in a long time I was rested. It was May 19th.

I had been gone nearly a month at that point and I was 3 nights into my stay with Tom at Alongside Ministries in Virginia. It took almost 4 weeks to get to a place of feeling rested.

Since then, I have made rest a part of my schedule. One day a week, my family and I just rest…we take a Sabbath. It doesn’t mean we can’t do anything fun, and we are not being super rigid or legalistic about it, but it is clear to me that God has designed this concept for us. It is a privilege, a right, something we “get to do” vs something we “have to do”. There is a difference.

2. Reset Ministry Rhythms

This is one of the major changes that we’ve chosen to make as part of the second goal of Resetting ministry rhythms. This goal is still in progress and will likely still be in progress many months from now as I will make tweaks to how things are scheduled from time to time.

I want to share 2 books with you that have been a joy to read and have helped me prioritize what it is that I do (and don’t do) and when I do them. The first is called Redeeming Your Time by Jordan Raynor. This book helped me to reorganize how I have organized my schedule and my todo lists. It is full of scripture and examples from the ministry of Jesus to look at how time is spent.

The second is called Sacred Rhythms. I have only made it through four chapters at this point. I have been challenged in each chapter to really reflect on what God is wanting from me. As I’ve read each chapter, the topic each time was something that God was already working with me. Normally I just blaze right through a book to get it read, but I just keep going back and re-reading each chapter as God transforms how I look at various aspects of my spiritual or Sacred Rhythms.

3. Renewing the passion for my call

We have just 2 more of the goals to talk about…let’s do #3 Renewing the passion for my call next.

Before I say anything else, I want to reassure you ahead of time that I am not resigning today. Some of what I am about to say might seem like that is where I am headed today, but I am not. It will also be very easy to take some things I’ve said out of context. I will likely be misunderstood for what I am about to say as well, but that is a risk I am willing to take.

Goal #3 Renewing the passion for my call.

I would be lying if I said that I had 100% confidence all the time in this calling to be a pastor. I have talked with several other pastors and this feeling is not unique to me. I am sure each of you could relate in that you may have doubts at times about the profession you are in. What makes it difficult for pastors is that we can’t really say that out loud even if it is true.

I have at times during this sabbatical doubted my effectiveness, my qualification and even my willingness when it comes to pastoral ministry. When I have had those thoughts, I have gotten quiet with God and I talk to Him about it. There are times that I share them with my wife or my coach.

Sometimes I hear nothing and I am forced to just sit in those doubts. Let me just say that this is very uncomfortable. Eventually a peace comes and I sense…It’s going to be ok.

Sometimes I’ll get a question back like: What happened in your life leading up to becoming a pastor? I go back to all that God did and confirmed leading up to answering this call. There is then no doubt about the calling to pastor Crossroads. Not only did he confirm, he reconfirmed and then confirmed it again. I wish I had time to tell the entire story. If you haven’t heard it, let’s get coffee sometime and I’ll tell you.

Then there are times in my doubts where I am reminded of some of the lives that have been changed by the Gospel here at Crossroads. Marriages healed. Baptisms representing decisions for Christ. Young men preaching the Gospel. Calls to ministry. All of this represents God transforming people. Only He can do the transforming, but for some reason he allows us humans to be part of the process. He has allowed me to be a small part of that process. That I do not doubt.

With that said, this goal is also still in progress. Let me give an analogy that I think will help.

When someone gets a medical diagnosis that requires surgery, a plan is put in place to complete that surgery. The surgery for me was this sabatical.