Dear Church Family,
Are you looking forward to the summer? Possibly a special vacation, trips to the pool, at least a change of pace for a season? I am really looking forward to summer this year.
The Elder Board has granted me a four week sabbatical that I will be taking during the month of June. You probably don't think about it very often, but teaching pastors rarely get to attend a worship service just to worship. Saturdays and Sundays are not days of rest for me; they are days of work. That means I have to find other forms of worship and spiritual refreshment throughout the year - reading books, listening to sermons, enjoying worship CDs. I am eager to study God's word just to be refreshed in the Lord, without thinking of how I should teach or illustrate or apply what I am reading.
A few years ago I learned that Sabbath means STOP! It means ceasing the normal activities of the week to reorient our lives, placing God once again at the center. It is a physical and spiritual reminder that God is at work even while we rest; that God is in control; that God is good and we can trust Him with our entire lives. God's people are commanded to stop periodically and allow God to put our lives back in proper perspective. If we do not, we become like a bow that always remains strung - we become physically, mentally and spiritually fatigued.
January 2009 marked my 17th year of employment by GBC. I'm not burned out! I love this church family. However, there has been a lot of change and a great deal of spiritual intensity for our church over the past few years...and I'm not very good at stopping! This will be my first sabbatical, and I want to use it wisely. Consistent with my natural bent, I have sabbatical goals...but I want to hold my plans loosely and listen for the voice of the Lord. My first goal is simply spiritual refreshment in the Lord. My second goal is to finish the first draft on my dissertation. I have been working (slowly) on a Doctor of Ministry degree since 2003, and I am
planning on graduating May 2010...so I need to make significant progress this summer. My dissertation topic is an evaluation of our college internship program. I look forward to applying my research to further improve the incredible program God has built over the last fourteen years at Grace.
Toward the end of the summer I have set aside several days to pray and plan for preaching next year. At this point,
Blake and I are both planning to teach Galatians in the fall. Galatians is one of the most valuable books given to us for clarifying the true gospel of Jesus Christ as well as God's intended way for us to live with Him by faith rather than by prideful self-effort.
I leave you in good hands. We have been blessed by great teachers here at GBC. If you would like to see the summer preaching calendar, just click on the link below. Finally, please pray for me and for my family to experience refreshment through this change of pace, and know that you will be constantly in my prayers throughout the summer...just as you always are in my prayers. May God richly bless you as you place Him first in all you do.
In Christ's love,
Brian
