Sabbatical

Because I have been at Heritage Park for so long, I was eligible for a sabbatical. Sweet! I am not going to get into the logistics of what a pastor does on a sabbatical, but let's just acknowledge that the goal is to REST. I looked at my calendar and realized that there was not a great place for me to take this sabbatical, especially a really long one (7 or 8 weeks). That is an entire life-cycle in a student's world. I proposed to our personnel committee to split it up into 2 separate 4-week breaks. One I would take in the Spring of 2019 and one in the Fall. Every March I take a group to Northeast England to serve a partner church, Great Ayton Methodist. That plan was to begin my sabbatical when I get back from the mission trip.

Who wouldn't want to start their sabbatical after a place like this:

During my sabbatical, my wife and I took a trip to Denver and met with a church there. They were great, but it just wasn’t a great fit. On our way back we began to think about what was next for us? That was the last door that had been opened. During this process, I had always had in the back of my mind this dream of planting with Heritage Park. I had even mentioned to Kacee that if we ended up taking one of these positions and HP called in 5 years, I would jump at that opportunity. So, through a couple of conversations during my sabbatical, God ignited a fire in my heart to make my case for planting a church when I get back. I met with multiple church planters and network leaders. I prayed a lot. I had a fire inside of me that I could not describe. 

The first day back from my sabbatical I walked into my pastor's office and closed the door. I sat down and looked him straight in the eyes, no small talk, no "sabbatical was sooo restful". I pleaded my case. I talked about how God has always had in my heart to plant a church with Heritage Park and how we had been talking about that for years. I talked about some of the things that I have done that exemplify my entrepreneur aptitude and how God had revealed this to me during my sabbatical. I talked for about 20 minutes and he listened. He didn’t interrupt. He knew me and what God was doing in me. 

Once I was done he laughed. He told me that last week he had met with the area director of church planting for about an hour and how he is coming back with the state director next week. He told me that, sure, he has some concerns about me being a church planter, but they were not as steep as I had thought. He invited me to their meeting and we began to walk through some steps to asses me as a church planter. 

What a difference a couple of weeks makes. I am grateful for the clarity that I found on sabbatical. Even though I sometimes forget that God has a perfect plan for my life that is exponentially greater than the plans that I have made, I am thankful that God does not forget.