March 13, 2025
For the past five years, we have had four ministers from Ardmore Baptist Church go on a sabbatical. That is a sign of church health, wisdom, and maturity. We have blessed David, Lee, Dane, and Gina as they have each taken some extended time to rest, pray, and dream of how God might be renewing their call to ministry.
I am the next staff member scheduled to take a sabbatical and it will happen in 2026. Now, please do not misunderstand my bringing this up in March 2025 as a desperate plea to get away from you all! Instead, I mention it now because I want you all to be aware of a possible and exciting opportunity for myself, my family, and the church.
At Ardmore Baptist Church we provided a stipend for ministers to use on sabbatical as well as an eight-week leave. It is an incredibly generous offer and such a gift to your pastors. However, there are also some foundations who award grants that are made available for ministers to go on sabbatical.
These grants are highly competitive and require a lot of planning. Which is why I am bringing this up now: I have applied for a Clergy Renewal Grant from the Lilly Foundation. Their application for anybody taking a sabbatical in 2026 was in early March of 2025. The grant can be up to $60,000 and the church would receive about $20,000 from that sixty.
As I crafted my grant application, a theme began to bubble up in my soul. You may remember that this past Advent we spent some time focusing on the theology of Celtic Christianity. One of the Celtic Christian ideas that has always stuck with me is the notion of “thin places” or sacred spaces where it seems like the barrier between heaven and earth is especially thin. Ardmore Baptist Church has a calling to be a “thin place” in this world. We have a calling to bring heaven to earth in people’s lives. So, during my sabbatical, I want to spend time reading, exploring, journaling, praying, and thinking about it means to be a “thin place” in this world.
I would spend time studying the life of John Muir and his dogged commitment to protecting tracts of wilderness from exploitation. His passion fueled the creature of the National Park Service. I also want to travel to Assisi and study the life of St. Francis. He fervently believed in the power of God’s love to bring life and resurrection to sacred spaces (such as San Damiano, the chapel he restored). I would also spend time during this sabbatical, living into my home being a “thin place” as I celebrate the love that bonds my family.
I had originally not planned on submitting one of these applications but I received some encouragement from a mentor to go for it. I put together an application and spoke with members of the Pastoral Staff as well as the people who served on the Pastor Search Team who called me to Ardmore. Then I gave presentations to both the Personnel and Deacon Councils to receive their blessings to turn in my application.
While I am away, the church would have its own formational work to do. The money that would be set aside for use by the church would make it possible for an all staff retreat (including both ministers and administrative staff), an all church spiritual formation retreat, honorariums for staff members stepping up to lead in certain areas, and the hiring of a Sabbatical Pastor who would be present with the church during my absence. You all will be asking the same questions I will be asking during this sabbatical: What does it mean for Ardmore Baptist Church to be a “thin place”? And this question will be especially relevant as we near our centennial birthday in 2027.
If we receive this grant, we will find out in August 2025. I will, obviously, keep you all updated and we will make plans accordingly. And we do not receive the grant, that is completely fine. I have put together a sabbatical plan using our normal plan that I very excited about.
Regardless of what happens with this grant, I am very grateful to serve as your pastor.
If you would like to learn more about the Lilly Foundation’s Clergy Renewal Grants, you can click here: Clergy Renewal Program.
