My Sabbatical In Review

Tomorrow represents the final day of my sabbatical. It has been an interesting month for sure. I was curious to see how my mind and body would react to stepping away from the day to day and having a sense of freedom that few get to experience. In looking back, I would say that mentally and emotionally, I could break this time down into three phases.

First, was the shutdown and withdrawal. For about the first week I did a lot of sleeping and felt generally tired. It was hard to really motivate myself to do a lot. I would spend time in the Bible, in prayer, and reading in general, but that was about it. At times, I would take two naps a day. I was coming off of having COVID, so I’m not sure how much was general exhaustion and how much was due to being sick.

The second phase was probably the richest. I guess I would define this as the digging deep phase. After the first week I started to settle in. My heart and mind began to turn toward my personal walk with God, toward ministry and where we need to go as a church, and a general evaluation of how I have been approaching everything. This phase involved a lot of thinking, praying, and white-boarding. Yes, I have a giant whiteboard (4’ x 6’) in my upstairs den.

The third phase of the sabbatical I would describe as reentry. With about a week to go, my mind began to kick into gear. I started asking questions as to how I would apply the things God had shown me? How will I adjust my leadership? What is God leading us to do? All these and many more. Hopefully good questions that will help me to lead forward.

So, what did I do with my time on the average day? How were my days spent? Well, here is a snapshot.

I read the New Testament through in 30 days. Reading the New Testament in this way requires that you read about 10 chapters a day. This proved to be a very fruitful time for me. I think too often, we chop the Bible up and take deep dives of small sections. If we are not careful, we can forget that these sections are connected, and it is one flowing story. Reading through the NT in this way really helped me to make connections and see the flow.

I read. In total, I read five books:

The Carnivore Diet by Shawn Baker – Obviously not a book that you would think would be helpful for ministry, but I was surprised. I will explain in a bit.

The Subversive Sabbath by A.J. Swoboda

Knowing God by J.I. Packer

Spiritual Leadership Coaching by Richard Blackaby and Bob Royall

Cover for Glory by Dale Partridge

Each of these books spoke to me in interesting ways. I do not agree with all that they said, but it was interesting to see the themes that developed. I obviously read The Carnivore Diet for personal reasons. However, a theme began to develop as the author talked about how our systems are designed (of course he said evolved). He pointed out that our digestive systems are not designed to run 100% of the time. Our systems need a break.

The next book I read was the Subversive Sabbath which pointed out, our bodies are not designed to run 100% of the time (see the theme?). The author expressed that God created a 6/1 rhythm and this rhythm predated the giving of the Law (see Genesis). Thus, the idea of the Sabbath is not wrapped up in the Mosaic Law but is simply a part of God’s design.

Probably one of the most interesting reads was A Cover for Glory. I read this book as the result of an ongoing conversation with a friend. The subtitle, A Biblical Defense for Headcoverings. I will say that the author makes an interesting case by exegeting 1 Corinthians 11. I will leave it to be a matter of personal conviction, but I will say this: I was reminded that God has created this world and His church with a certain order in mind, an order we tend to forget.

I spent time with the Lord. In the past, I have had a very solid habit of reading the word and journaling my prayers. Of late, I have let my discipline of journaling wane. I used this time to get back to spending unhurried time with the Lord. Spending this sort of time in prayer always brings me peace, clarity, and a general sense of well-being.

I went to counseling. As I entered into this time of sabbatical, I was aware that I have been serving as a pastor for 27 years. In that time, I have never taken more than two weeks off in one setting. Over 27 years, I have buried several babies, done a ton of marriage counseling, I have done weddings and wept over divorces. I have celebrated births and sat with devastated families that were saying goodbye to a loved one who experienced an untimely death. I have had good times in ministry, and I have had times that only the call of God has kept me from walking away. I have seen churches grow and I have seen people say goodbye in anger, walking away from the church and friendship. While there was no one big thing I felt would drive me to counseling, I knew there was stuff.

I thought ahead. Not only did I try to think ahead as it relates to Northside, but I tried to think ahead as it related to my own life and ministry. One of the concerns that was mentioned to me as I stepped away was a fear that I would decide I no longer wanted to serve as pastor of Northside. I can tell you just the opposite has happened. God has confirmed in my heart and renewed my sense of calling to serve as the pastor of this wonderful congregation.

One thing I did not do, social media. If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I am more than occasionally active there. Unfortunately, it is truly an addiction for me. As my sabbatical started, I logged out of everything. This alone was an interesting journey. For several days, I was actually anxious about what I was missing. It felt as if the world was passing me by and I did not know what was going on. Once I got past the withdrawal, I truly enjoyed the peace of being away. For the record, I’m not sure my wife will allow me to return.

I look forward to what God has for us as a church. I also want to say thank you. Our church honored our time away in such an amazing way. I was able to truly step away without a hundred phone calls or pleas to step back in. You folks are awesome, and we love you more and more every day.