Post Sabbatical - Lessons learned

In taking a sabbatical after changing ministry direction I found out it was good to do a flushing of some stuff that had become habits and God came through. I have been serving on a church staff for over 44 years and it is easy to become more attached to ministry as a job. God would never let that happen to me, but my frustration of where the called ministry staff member might fall into that thinking caused a lot of tension in my spirit. It would have been much easier to think of myself as some kind of religious church worker, but the Holy Spirit, and God's Word said a strong NO. In light of this revelation, God stretched me and my wife in calling me to a different direction to follow the calling God has given me. I mention Andra, my wife because she has to trust God and trust me. Our world is so different than what we have been living for the past 44 years, and that difference hits us at our core. But, God is faithful and He has been showing me His plan more and more each day.

As part of my calling, I believe God wants me to encourage The Church, and challenge the church to once again become an instrument for change in people's lives. This process began when God led me to write my first book, Vision Maker about a year ago. God showed me things that I could not keep to myself and so I put them down on paper and the book was the result. The prompting from God was not through yet, and over this past year, He has led me to a place of change that was hard for me to accept, but through His strength I have made this commitment to change directions and follow this new, more intense call. When God gives a burden He must be able to do what He wants and I must follow, so I surrendered and told God "I was an open book" and I needed Him to fill my pages with this new story where He is the Hero and I am the sidekick.

The sidekick is the one who is reliant on the power and abilities of the hero and is on the journey but doesn't offer much in the area of superpowers. After my sabbatical, I realized I was called to this step of faith, but I didn't have much to offer in contribution to the whole story. I just have my heart that I give in surrender to His will and nothing else. I am dependent on His taking care of important things like my finances and the vision for taking the many steps He will lead me through to do His bidding. Over the days of my sabbatical God has started giving me pure truth as never before in my life and I feel like I am receiving truth from God as though drinking from a fire hydrant. I have worked on a workbook to teach these truths using the book Vision Maker and in two days I have written down and designed the first two sessions for the Vision Maker Experience God has led me to teach. Praise God He has given me these truths to share with those churches or groups that want to realize a vision for their lives based on God's Word.

As I write this I cannot thank God enough for speaking a word, or many words really, to my heart. The sabbatical was a welcomed flushing of old ways and old impressions and getting me "in the flow" of the moving of the Holy Spirit. Personal revival is a wonderful experience once you get to the heart of the matter and I have been led there by a graceful, loving Lord, whose mercies are new every day. EVERY DAY! I have also realized I am not a lone wolf in this endeavor and God wants me to allow others to be a part of it also. I hope you will join me in this step of faith by putting me on your daily prayer list and knowing that I am committed and trusting God to come through with EVERY need and detail. Our God is faithful.

If it is possible, I highly recommend a sabbatical and I just wanted to share my experience with the first one in my life. It was long overdue. Stay on point and serve God and He will give you a vision bigger than you can imagine because Jesus is our Vision Maker.

By the way, you can help this ministry a lot by sharing my blogposts. Thanks.

Vesselogica Out,

David Warren