Final Day of Foursquare Convention

Great day! This morning, one of our District Supervisors, Peter Bonanno, spoke about the Sabbath commandment. This Winter, he was on a Sabbatical, which is a growing principle for our Pastors. A much needed one.

It was so good to hear his message being presented to our Convention body. Us Pastors tend to think we can just keep going and going and going. We also tend to think we're indispensable and that everything rests on our shoulders. Sabbath and Sabbaticals remind us that GOD is the only indispensable being, and the only One able to handle that responsibility!

Shared lunch with a Pastor just now recognizing he is in burnout. He is going home tomorrow to share with his church on Sunday that he will be taking a necessary Sabbatical to recover and heal. It is such a privilege to get to share the story of my own recovery with other Pastors in the same place I was. It gives hope that they can live again with passion and purpose!

While tonight's session was again, in my opinion, way too long, the speaker was very good and encouraging. He is Kirbyjon Caldwell, Pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church here in Houston. He is nationally well-know for being President Bush's Pastor, and was recently in the news for officiating at Jenna Bush's wedding.

After the session, I was able to connect with some friends from Bible College, Denny & Brenda Truett. They were both raised on the mission field and married while in Bible College. From there, they spent almost 20 years in Argentina and Ecuador as Foursquare Missionaries. For the last six years, they've been pastoring in Ada, Oklahoma, where Brenda's parents pastored just previously. It was great to catch up with them. Had a great time getting to know their two youngest kids, who had me missing my boys quite a bit.

THEN, after that was the traditional last night party with Tim & Kelly Mossholder and Bob & Lisa Penberthy. Since I didn't get to Israel for Convention last year, we skipped a year. Made up for it tonight though, as you can tell by the lateness of this post!

Gotta hit the sack, as I get up early to help Chuck Shoemake get to the airport and also pick up my rental car. I'll head back to the hotel to pack up and check out, then make my way to Dallas. Until next time ....

Latest Convention News

It's the 2nd day of Convention and running into old friends has been a real treat for me.

Saw Charlie & Darla Finocchiarro. Charlie was in my wedding and I was in his. We did Bible College together and now they are missionaries in the Dominican Republic.

Ran into Denny & Brenda Truett. The 3 of us went through Bible College together. They spent almost 20 years as missionaries in Argentina and Ecuador. Now they are pastoring in Ada, Oklahoma and just saw their oldest child, Michelle, get married last Saturday!

Saw Mike Barker, a former Youth Pastor at NewHeart, on the elevator. He and Stacy are still in Austin, pastoring City Life Community Church.

Another old Bible College buddy, Gil Dirmann, is now pastoring in South Carolina. We used to hang out quite a bit back in the dorm days.

The most significant session of the day to me was the workshop session I attended on Sabbaticals. It was presented very well by a couple in Ohio who took a sabbatical 3 years ago. More and more Foursquare Churches are beginning to recognize the need for this crucial part of a Pastor's rhythm, and it's a good thing. We have by and large always known Sabbaticals to be REactive instead of PROactive. I am so glad to see this tide beginning to turn!

Also had lunch today with some new friends. We actually met through my work with Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, and that's what we met about today. Both of the couples are pastoring churches in Washington State that are interested in integrating the EHS principle into their churches.

After that, I was introduced to a pastor who is just now recognizing and admitting that he is in burnout. I was asked to help walk him through the initial stages of entering a sabbatical period for his own health and the health of his marriage. This part of my work is always confidential, but the Lord knows who he and his family are. Pray for them if you would.

The only real downer to the day was tonight's session. Foursquare leaders are trying something new this year, bringing some of the Convention business into the main sessions. It's an attempt to save time and increase participation regarding the business matters of the Convention body. Our business sessions have been known to be way too long in the afternoons.

However, I don't think it's really saving any time overall. Last night's meeting was 4 hours long, and tonight's was over 3-1/2 hours long. By the time tonight's session was dismissed, over half the crowd had already left! It will be interesting to see if this gets addressed at all in the next couple of days.

That's it for now! Good night all!

New York, New York....Day 2 & 3

Last 2 days have been quite a whirlwind. Wednesday, we started the day at the Statue of Liberty. I’ve been once before, but this time, we got to go inside the pedestal. It houses a Statue of Liberty Museum.

You can also get a glimpse from just below the Statue of the inside structure. Since 9/11, nobody is allowed to go up to the crown, but you can see the staircase that was built for it. Another great feature is the pedestal observation deck, which gives an incredible view of Manhattan and Ellis Island.

The history of the Statue is quite impressive. But even more so is the security to get one the ferry and to go inside the pedestal. THAT process is more thorough than the security process at the airport! I’m not kidding!

After spending most of the afternoon at the Statue, we meandered toward Ground Zero. Last year, there was a barrier that had quite a bit of information on it as well as allowing for viewing into the area. Now, that barrier is gone, replaced with construction fencing. From street level, you can’t see into the site anymore. Probably the only view you can get is from above if you’re inside one of the surrounding buildings.

Leaving there, we hit the subway back into Queens. I fell asleep and was jarred awake by my own voice, talking out loud in a dream I don’t even remember. Chuck thought that was pretty funny. He went on and on about how a lady was sitting next to me and looking at me strangely over the “couple of times” I talked in my sleep. He tried to convince me he was telling her not to mind me, that he just sticks me in a corner because I do that all the time! It got us both rolling!

I don’t think I mentioned that when we had dessert at Georgia Diner (remember the Black Forest cake?), that Chuck told me that HIS favorite cake is Black Forest. I was floored!! I had no idea we both had the same favorite cake, and an exquisite one at that! What? Don’t look at me like that…..it IS exquisite!

He had a few bites of mine and said, “next time, I’m getting my own piece.” Well, that we did. Arriving back from Ground Zero, we went back to Georgia Diner for dinner and a piece of Black Forest cake.

I told the waiter that if his hand slipped when he was cutting the cake and ended up cutting a larger piece than normal, I’d be OK with it, really! I didn’t want him to be worried about that. Sure enough, he brought back 2 larger than normal pieces of cake! We tipped him well!

Today, the conference started at noon, so we both got to sleep in a bit. The sessions today were on Emotionally Healthy Skills, which were a refresher of some material Colleen and I were trained in here 3 years ago. I am excited to bring more of this home to integrate into our church family life and growth.

Had dinner with a Foursquare Pastor and his wife from Waynesboro, Virginia. It was great to get to know them and hear their story of how they have been exposed to the EHS material. This particular Pastor has been at the church he leads for seven years and just experienced a sabbatical last Summer.

Sabbaticals in our denomination have always been REACTIVE in nature. That means they’ve always been a reaction to a crisis or oncoming crisis. Unfortunately, that’s given sabbaticals a negative connotation.

Many denominations actually have sabbatical policies in place. Every seven years or so, a Pastor is actually expected to go on Sabbatical for a three month period for an extended time of rest, refreshing, and revitalization. Those are sabbaticals that are PROACTIVE in nature. In other words, they are meant to be part of an overall strategy to help prevent burnout from occurring for Pastors.

Our denomination has been more and more open to this kind of sabbatical. While we don’t have a denominational policy in place, Foursquare is encouraging Pastors and Church Councils to implement their own policies allowing for these kind of proactive sabbaticals.

This Pastor from Virgina is on the forefront of this movement. He offered to send me theirs for our Church Council to evaluate and consider. It’s interesting to get to converse with him because I have been considering bringing this concept to our Council and congregation for consideration.

This year (right now as a matter of fact) marks 7 years since my burnout experience. Looking back, I marvel at what God has done in my life, and the changes He has brought to the life of our church family through my recovery. I am very excited about the future God has before us, and know that He is wanting to use us more and more for the purpose of growing healthy families as well as impacting others for the cause of healthier Pastors and healthier churches.

Well, off to bed for now. When I travel for less than a week, I always try to stay on the same time schedule to reduce jet lag when I come home. However, I feel myself easing, maybe better said….oozing, into Eastern Daylight Time. Good night!

Too Busy To Enjoy?

I love this article I found at PastorHacks! It's not just for Pastors, but for anyone caught in the "always available" trap.

Enjoy! .... REALLY!

Helping Pastors

On Monday, I had the opportunity to be involved in an exciting project. I've written before about our denomination having set aside an old Bible College property in Christiansburg, Virginia for the purpose of creating a Pastor's Retreat Center.

Two days ago, I got to be part of a group of denominational leaders and Pastors who are tasked with defining what Sabbath, Sabbaticals, Study Breaks and Overall Pastoral Wholeness is, what they look like, how they best happen. We are also working on how the Center for Spiritual Renewal can best be resourced to make these kind of things happen for Pastors, not in a financial resource sense, but in practical resources (books, DVDs, CDs, sabbatical planning resources, local recreation resources, etc.)

Being a burnout survivor, I hope to be able to help put together effective resources. I've had the fortunate opportunity the last few years to work with church leadership that has learned alongside me that Pastors need regular breaks away from the everyday demands.

The culture of our denomination has not always allowed for the Pastor to be able to break away for anything more than "vacation". I've learned through hard experience that Pastors MUST break away regularly to get a sense of what God is doing and desires to do, both in them and through them as they lead.

I've been speaking lately about the components necessary to see God turn challenges into miracles. One we've been focusing on (and that may be the most critical) is the act of waiting. None of us like to wait, but we must wait on God in order to really connect with Him.

Sometimes, when things are going haywire, we want our answers NOW, and are unwilling to wait. So, instead of waiting, we rush ahead on our own and do what we think best, which may not be what God desires.

The issue of waiting is just as hard for Pastors as anyone else. It is particularly a challenge to wait in a place that everyone knows they can find you and call on you. Some of you know that in your work, too.

Thus, it is important for any Pastor to have places he or she can go to find quiet, peace, rest and ability to wait upon God. I am honored to be able to create and lead others to such resources.