In October of 2007, Rick Brown of ChristBridge Fellowship in Tomball, Texas, received a grant from the Lilly Foundation for a sabbatical. We at Mentornetwork were intrigued by his opportunity and had some questions. We just caught up with Rick before he heads out for his sabbatical, and asked him some questions about the grant.

So Rick, how did you and Christbridge receive the grant?

Thanks for asking; I’ll be glad to fill you in.

The Lilly Endowment offers grants to ministers who have completed a Master of Divinity degree and are serving in a local congregation. Lilly Endowment seeks to strengthen Christian congregations by providing opportunities for pastors to step away briefly from the persistent obligations of daily congregational life and to engage in a period of renewal and reflection.

Renewal periods are not vacations, but times for intentional exploration and reflection, for regaining the enthusiasm and creativity for ministry, for discovering what will renew the minister’s heart and spirit. To receive the grant, the home church and the minister must both agree to another year of ministry together after the sabbatical has been completed.

A proposal was submitted in May of 2007. Lilly Endowment then had a panel select from the many proposals submitted those that would be awarded a grant this year. We were notified the first week of October, 2007, that our church had received a grant.

That’s pretty cool, Rick. So what exactly does this mean for the church?

What receiving the grant means for us is that I will vacate the preaching duties for a three month period.  In that time I will travel with my family, reconnect with other family members, reflect, read, study and relax doing things that will renew my spirit.  We will travel to Europe and visit places of the Reformation and also Paul’s life to encourage us in the pioneering spirit of those early followers of Jesus.

That sounds pretty exciting—not only for renewing your own spirit, but for some freshness for the church as well. So who will be preaching in your absence? And will having an interim guest speaker be a burden on the church’s budget?

Jim Herrington, founder of Mission Houston, pastor for the Harbor Church, and founder of Faithwalking (see faithwalkingonline.com) will speak half of the Sundays while I am away.  Jim will also be leading the church through some special “reformission” activities as ChristBridge continues to become more of a missional faith community.  Specifically, he will conduct a seminar based on his Faithwalking retreat (see his website)in which he helps followers of Jesus get their beliefs and behavior lined up more closely.

Ken Shuman, formerly of Mission Houston and now pastoring a missional church in Tomball, will preach the other half of our time away.  Ken will also help us identify people who want to serve our church in the area of missions or becoming more “externally focused.“  Ken conducts seminars on this subject in Houston and abroad.

Regarding our budget, this should not be a problem. The grant money includes monies to defray any costs the church might incur during the sabbatical.

Rick, what will the effect of a three-month sabbatical be on ChristBridge, and when will your sabbatical take place?

The sabbatical will take place during the months of June, July and August of 2008, so I’ll be heading out soon.

Regarding how this affects ChristBridge, from past experience of those who have received grants from the Lilly Endowment, we expect there to be four major positive effects on the church: 1) a renewed Sr. Minister (me) who will come back with renewed energy and spirit, 2) a church that will have stepped up and taken more ownership of the vision of ChristBridge, 3) training in transformational leadership from one of the best around in Jim Herrington, and 4) training and the formation of a team set to lead us in missional thinking by Ken Shuman. So I think it will be a positive experience.

This is great information, Rick. Just one last question before you head out for your sabbatical: How can other ministers apply for this grant?

Go to the website http://www.clergyrenewal.org. Information can be found there detailing the requirements for proposals. Now is the perfect time to start planning a proposal for next year.

The Greenville Oaks Church of Christ, where I have served as preaching minister for the past 14 years, has provided a time of sabbatical for me during the months of April and May of this year.  While we had no grant to fund this time or anything so significant as travel abroad included in it, this sabbatical has provided opportunities to participate in seminars an personal growth times as well as siginificant time spent with family and loved ones.

The sabbatical is intended first and foremost as a period of rest and rejuvenation and has already been a wonderful and productive experience (with two weeks yet to go). 

One practical observation:  I would suggest that external funding, while certainly a welcome blessing, is not necessary to making this valuable time a reality.  Geenville Oaks has secured a number of speakers to fill the pulpit in my absence and the variety has been a healthy change for the congregation, while incurring limited financial burden.  With a reasonable amount of planning, the various roles I fill for the church were distributed among other staff ministers and elders as appropriate to ensure the needs of the church family were addressed in my absence.  While one may be tempted to consider an extended time of sabbatical as too difficult to accomplish, it really is imminently wokable for most with some effort and planning.

The time of sabbatical has been one of the most valuable things I have done in my ministry, and is something we hope to do for all ministers on staff as well as our elders.  Please prayerfully consider how God might use this to bless you and the congregation you serve.

KM

I have recently returned from a six week sabbatical. After nearly 12 years serving as the preaching minister of our congregation the elders approved of my request.

It was important to start the adventure off right. So I had scheduled the first week at a Pastors’ Retreat Network Site (Selah Inn at the Ranch in Mt. Vernon, TX). If you are not aware of this wonderful free service check out http://www.pastorsretreatnetwork.org.

The guided retreat kept my focus on the spiritual disciplines and community. After my trip to Mt. Vernon I was able to spend a few days at another retreat center which allows for free pastor drop-ins. I was also able to spend a few days on my father’s 65 acres of pine trees in East Texas.

The final week was spent at a friend’s cabin in Southern Illinois.

During the sabbatical I had determined to 1) spend time in solitude, scripture memorization and prayer; 2) avoid reading theological and ministry books (with the exception of two: Come Be My Light (the writings of Mother Teresa—more acurately a biography) and Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright. I wanted to avoid turning this into job preparation; 3) visit with at least one mentor; and 4) to visit different churches not necessarily from my own tradition.

The experience was enlightening and restful. I had hoped to “hear from God” regarding some pressing issues in my life. If God gave me a direct message, I am afraid I missed it. Even so, there were wonderful moments of inspiration, peace, and joy throughout the experience.

Here are a few observations/suggestions:
1) Request a prayer team to pray for you during this time (I did, and knowing they were praying for me was very encouraging).
2) Don’t expect too much or plan too much. You can end up working yourself to death and come back wondering “why am I so tired?“ Remember “sabbatical” comes from the word “sabbath”! REST!
3) On the other hand, have a game plan! Don’t enter the period without any idea of what you hope to do. Just keep everything flexible.
4) Request funding. My elders allowed all gas expenses to be paid. We’re in a budget crunch, so I wasn’t too comfortable asking for other expenses.
5) Make certain your elders and staff will back you up by taking care of all tasks including funerals in your absence. We experienced two deaths in our congregation during the sabbatical. While the elders let me know about them just for my information, they made certain everything was cared for. It was satisfying to know an elder was willing to actually conduct a funeral (and evidently handled it very well).
6) If you, as a minister, are asking your elders for a sabbatical be sure to submit a written proposal with a clear explanation of your intentions and expectations. Offer suggestions on how to fill your slot while you are absent. I offered not to take a seminar week this year—but I still retained my vacation time as separate from the sabbatical. We did agree to allow a comfortable amount of time between sabbatical and vacation.
7) For me starting with the Pastors’ Retreat Network and ending with the cabin in Illinois was essential. I wanted to begin and end on a similar note: solitude and rest. Since we have children in school, my wife could not be with me for the entire six week period. However, we were insistent on experiencing the first and last week together. I think it was very beneficial.
8) Keep a journal. Enough said.

About accepting grants: most grants must be applied for a year in advance and some have stipulations you may wish to think about before you accept them. I did not apply for any grant due to deadlines.

Hope these observations and suggestions are helpful for anyone looking to try a sabbatical!

Those are great suggestions that I will use on my time away.  One thing I have already learned is to “plan” for time away.  Put it in the schedule.  And if you have time to plan far enough out to where you can submit a proposal for a grant, the grant we received so far has been a blessing.

Hope everything goes well for yours, Rick! Many blessings!

Judging by the number of hits - a lot of folks feel like they need a sabbatical.

Please feel free to post further questions to our ‘sabbatical survivors’ - to get their ‘game film’ reviews.

Any other ‘sabbatical-ers’ out there?

I am down to a couple of more weeks and reflecting on what has been good, what I would do differently, etc.  I’ll post some reflections soon for any who are interested.