Sabbath Rest Report
Pastor Steve Greene
January 3 – March 27, 2009
What an incredible blessing it has been to invest the last twelve weeks in personal spiritual renewal. We have used this time to recalibrate our lives on every level. Together, we planned, prayed and prepared for this experience. I believe God has honored and blessed our efforts. This Sabbath Rest has provided a platform for God to do an incredible work in our lives that has impacted our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual lives.
I appreciate our Personnel and Policy Team that serves as our Sabbath Rest Team (Lloyd Hudson, Preston Shera, David McCrary). This is my first sabbatical leave in almost 24 years of pastoral ministry. According to policy, our Sabbath was completed in our seventh year of ministry here at Seymour First, which will conclude on May 31, 2009. My, how time flies.
For those who are interested, here's a bit of what I was up to this winter.
Bible Study:
I studied the book of Romans, reading it through three times in three different translations. Along with the scriptures, I read the Life Application Notes on the entire book along with The Romans Commentary, the Bible Knowledge Commentary.
Sermon Planning:
I have completed some messages and developed outlines and ideas for future series and individual messages.
Reading:
- Rick Warren and the Purpose that Drives Him (Richard Abanes)
- ReThink Your Life (Stan Toler)
Encore Church (Wayne Cordeiro – Pastor of New Hope Honolulu) - Take Control of What’s Controlling You (Steve Arterburn)
- IT – How Churches and Leaders Can Get it and Keep it. (Craig Groeschel)
- When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box (John Ortberg)
- Invitation to Solitude and Silence (Ruth Bailey Barton)
- The Shack (Wm. Paul Young)
- Just as I Am – The Autobiography of Billy Graham (not completely finished)
I have several others books I've read selected chapters from and a number of articles from various magazines and journals.
As a part of our SonScape experience, we completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis Profile. We have met to review the results of these profiles and we have done extensive reading to understand the implications of their results.
Churches Visited:
Pukalani Church of the Nazarene – Maui, HI (1/04/09) www.pukanaz.com Kahului Church of the Nazarene – Maui, HI (1/11/09) - New Hope Christian Fellowship –
Honolulu (1/18/09 and 1/24/09) www.enewhope.org
Honolulu First Church of the Nazarene (1/25/09) www.honolulunazarene.com - Mariner’s Church in
Irvine, CA (1/31/09), #25 in 2007. www.marinerschurch.org - Calvary Chapel in
Costa Mesa, CA (2/01/09), #27 in 2007. www.calvarychapelcostamesa.com - New
Life Community Church of the Nazarene, Pismo Beach, CA (2/07/09) www.newlifepismo.org - El
Morro Church of the Nazarene in El Morro Bay, CA (2/08/09) www.elmorro.org Visalia, CA, Church of the Nazarene (2/15/09) www.visalianaz.org Pasadena, CA First Church of the Nazarene (2/22/09) www.paznaz.org Denver, CO First Church of the Nazarene (3/01/09) www.dfc.org - Woodland Park, CO Community Church (3/08/09) www.woodlandparkcommunitychurch,com
- Onsite worship at The SonScape Retreat Center in Divide, CO (3/08/09) www.sonscape.org
Mountain Springs Church, Colorado Springs (3/15/09) www.mountainsprings.org - Woodland Park, CO Community Church (3/22/09) www.woodlandparkcommunitychurch.com
It was a blessing to sit with Laurie in worship each week. It was also a joy to experience worship without feeling responsible for leading any part of it. We worshiped with as few as a dozen people and we worshiped with 1,200-1,500 in one of the multiple services in some of
Other Writing:
I have kept a personal journal of the experience and have tried to document all that God has said to me through my reading, prayer, experiences and interaction with some amazing people that He brought across our path.
Personal:
I renewed my commitment to Laurie the first night we were in
I took over 5,000 pictures. I have not had many hobbies across the years, but I have found that I really enjoy taking pictures. I first thought about inviting you all over for a slide show featuring every picture, but have since decided against it. You don’t have to thank me.
Activities:
Hawaii (Maui and Oahu) – Pearl Harbor, The Arizona Memorial, The Dole Plantation, Diamond Head, a number of beautiful beaches including Waikiki and Hanauma Bay,
California –
Colorado – Skiing, Several opportunities to spend time with Laurie’s parents, five brothers and sisters and their families.
Long walks (as much as 6 miles at a time), long drives, time to sit, think, pray and relax. Believe it or not, I didn’t wear a watch the entire time we were gone.
We had very limited exposure to the media, which was a good thing.
Other:
I want to thank you, as a church, for allowing me this time away from my day to day responsibilities to refocus my life and ministry. Laurie and I have been blessed by you and by your support of Seymour First’s Sabbath Rest policy. Many outside the church have commented to me about the wisdom and insight of such a policy.
I want to express my deep and sincere appreciation to our full time ministry staff members who made it possible for me to be gone for an extended period of time like this. I am anxious for each of them to experience their own Sabbath Rest. I look forward to helping them plan and facilitate this experience because I know what it will do for them, their marriage, and their ministry in the church. This is an awesome investment in them and I believe the Lord will bless the church that cares for their leaders on this level.
I will be discussing Sabbath Rest plans with each of these men, according to our current policy and guidelines that I intend to recommend to the Personnel and Policy Team. The following dates represent the seventh year of ministry here in
Landon Yowell June 1, 2010 – May 31, 2011
Rick Wilson June 1, 2012 – May 31, 2013
Joel Burbrink September 1, 2013 – August 31, 2014
I will be working closely with each staff member in developing a purposeful approach to this experience that will require the approval of the Sabbath Rest Team (Personnel and Policy) and the Church Board. I firmly believe that the quality of preparation is directly related to the quality of the experience.
Even though we did not receive funding from the Lily Endowment for our sabbatical, I am convinced that the two years of planning and making proposals to them is what helped make this experience all that it has been for us.
I expect each member of the staff to apply for the Lily Grant, the year preceding their Sabbath Rest, as long as this opportunity is available. I plan to assist them in this process.
I also want to express my sincere appreciation to Pastor Steve Barrett. Steve has been diligent to faithfully visit and minister to many in the church who were in need. I appreciate Steve’s positive attitude and willingness to help in the ministries of the church whenever and wherever he is needed.
Because of my wife, Laurie’s, position here at the church,
I will be meeting with John, Renee and Laurie to review operating procedures and discuss more effective means of caring for the administrative needs of the church and our daily operations.
We have learned that the ministry here is not dependent upon one person. It is a team effort and it is God’s church. We are blessed with a wonderful staff and a committed core of volunteers.
My hope is that all of us have grown over the past 12 weeks. Now, it is a new day. It is time for a fresh start and a new beginning. I can’t wait. As much as I've enjoyed the time for renewal, I am excited to be home and I look forward to preaching Sunday. See you then!
Pastor
March 26, 2009
