Hello friends! I'm in the last week of a 3 month sabbatical, more aware than ever of what a blessed boy I am. I want to check in, say hi, let my friends know what I've been doing, and tell you how ready I am to return to the church and work that I love. I miss you!
This sabbatical marked three major life benchmarks - the 20th anniversary of founding Lake Forest Church, our 30th wedding anniversary, and our youngest son's graduation from college, which is what kicked off our time away.

We scheduled our annual beach week right after graduation, and enjoyed a house full of family and many of Austin's bros from UNC at Emerald Isle NC.

The hobby and interest Angie and I have most enjoyed together over the years is travel, which defined this sabbatical. A generous childhood friend of Angie's (and her husband) gave us the entire month of June to live in their 'villa' in the northern hills of Provence, France. I know, amazing! And yes I know, you're trying not to hate me right now (smiley face)! The house is made of traditional Provencal stone, and is surrounded by a vineyard, olive trees, and blooming lavender stalks.

We will be forever grateful for this gift. It was a place of solitude, reading, talking, walking, swimming, writing, and a base from which to explore the cultural charms and natural beauty of the south of France. There were castles everywhere, including in the village of Le Barroux only 2 miles from the house.

The food - excuse me, I mean 'cuisine' - in Provence is every bit as creative and delicious as you may have heard. We were thankful to happen into the tastiest meal of our lives on our 30th anniversary, gifted to us by some dear friends. The grace of God given to me through life together with Angie is too precious for description. A marriage can never be taken for granted and must constantly receive cultivation, so we purposefully shared daily devotions in scripture and my Celtic Daily Prayer book.

After our time of rejuvenation in France, we spent five days sightseeing in London.


While in London we enjoyed the worship experience I've dreamed of ever since I first visited a cathedral in Europe - what if you mashed together a beautiful ancient stone gothic cathedral with super modern worship music and aesthetics? The answer was our experience at Holy Trinity Brompton church.

HTB is a thriving multi-service, multi-site, church planting, community-serving congregation that worships Jesus passionately (they are known for originating the famous Alpha Course on basic Christianity in the 1980's). I was inspired to see this Spirit-filled example of a fruitful Bible teaching church in what is a thoroughly post-Christian city and country. I am now going-to-school on what I and Lake Forest can learn from them, as we continue our quest to be as faithful and winsome as possible, following the way of Jesus together, for the sake of others. Two other notable places I enjoyed worship while on sabbatical: a Benedictine Abbey near our house in France (we were super encouraged to see the sanctuary full of young people and young families worshiping together, although we understood nothing but the Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer); and Westminster Cathedral in London (where I was inspired by this blessing to all, inscribed in their cornerstone):

Angie returned home from London, while I embarked solo on a prayerful pilgrimage to two places sacred to me. The first was the Isle of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland. The second was the area near Belfast (N Ireland) where St Patrick began and ended his ministry in the 400's AD. If you really want to know about both St Patrick's ministry in Ireland, and its connection to the Isle of Iona, ask me and I'll talk your ear off.

But here, briefly, Iona was the central site of training for godliness and mission for the Irish Celtic missionary monks (a couple of generations after St Patrick) who exploded from this wind swept speck of rock in the ocean, and re lit the flame of the gospel (and classical learning) across Europe during what's known as the Dark Ages. The book 'How the Irish Saved Civilization' tells the story for those interested in popular history. 'The Celtic Way of Evangelism' tells it through the lens of mission, a book I assign to every seminary class I teach.
Not until our generation has the West had so high a percentage of the population who does not know and experience the love of God through Jesus Christ, as it had in the days when St Columba founded Iona and began training and sending disciples of Jesus. I view my ministry, that of Lake Forest weekly, our church planting network, our partnership with local and foreign missions, my time with seminary students and our denomination's church planting efforts - I view it all through the hopeful, prayerful, experimental lens of 'Lord, please use me, please use us, like those adventuresome Irish Christians ages ago, to winsomely light the flame of the good news of Jesus Christ in hearts that simply need to know how much they are loved by God." That is the essential aim behind every ounce of my labor and leadership. Thus, my pilgrimage was to talk with the Lord about such things, inviting Him to continue sharpening me in holiness and skillfulness for His purposes, while tramping around in the places frequented by my most inspiring historical mentors.
On Iona I stayed in the Catholic House of Prayer, enjoying morning prayer and breakfast with fellow pilgrims - two older Catholic women from Ireland, and a young Episcopal pastor from the National Cathedral in Washington DC.

I did a lot of prayerful hiking around the island. And ended each evening with worship in the great cathedral. I also continued my sabbatical-long habit in every church building I entered - I lit a candle while praying for the people of Lake Forest Church. Sometimes I prayed for our shared mission, sometimes I prayed for those I knew had heavy hearts. But I always prayed for you. Here's where I prayed for LFC on Iona:

Although my pictures are like most on social media - depicting joyful times, the sabbatical has not been all joy. I hurt for people back home who I knew were in pain or grief. I also was drawn to spend time in self-examination and confession, wrestling with self and the Spirit over old and new sin patterns in my life. It wasn't fun.
The final round of this hard work, of letting God's Word and Spirit root out sin to be replaced with goodness, occurred at the end of my longest, dustiest hike on Iona. I prayed through the labyrinth at St Columba's bay (pictured below), engaged in naming the sin and hindrances to be 'put off' while praying inward on the path, and naming the godly characteristics and abundant life practices to 'put on' as I prayed back outward. After exiting the labyrinth, I chunked a rock into the bay (as all pilgrims do there) representing what I am leaving behind, and pocketed a second rock for what I am newly 'putting on' toward a more abundant life in Christ. When I just wrote that was the 'final round,' I meant only regarding the sabbatical. Leaning into the Holy Spirit, with the help of Christian community, to put off sin and put on righteousness is personal work that never ends on this earth, for those seeking to live as a disciple of Jesus and be a blessing to others.

I took some time to also experience the Highlands of Scotland, by mountain biking for a day in Glencoe. With the Psalmist, I repeated 'surely the rocks cry out and the mountains clap their hands, GLORY in everything!'


You may or may not know that my doctoral thesis was on the Missional Leadership of St Patrick. In Ireland, I spent time revisiting the St Patrick museum and study center and at the traditional burial site of St Patrick (pictured here):

I stayed at Denvir's - the oldest pub and public house in Ireland (supposedly). The wait staff invited me to their private party for one of the World Cup soccer games - that was a rollicking fun experience, complete with the town musician and storyteller leading us all in songs for an hour after the game. And true to the Irish reputation for friendliness and hospitality, I didn't pay for any food or Guiness that evening.

I finished my pilgrimage with an evening of reading Patrick's writings, and prayerfully journalling in response, while in the first church he established - Saul Church.

I can't say that in these experiences I received any remarkable revelation or redirection from the Lord, which I'm now bringing back with me to trumpet to the world. Mostly, I received the comfort and assurance of our faith in fresh ways, and a few surprising love-filled visits of the palpable presence of the Holy Spirit in my spirit.
I also won't be returning with any specific 'incredible' new ideas or programs that will solve every problem in my life and take our church to some grand new heights. Mostly, I received strengthening and renewed desire for the paths we are already on - making more and better disciples together as a church, in particular nourishing new baby Christians and new baby churches from infancy into maturity, as we all seek to live joyfully and daily on God's mission of love to the world. My ambition is to be a humble, servant-oriented pastor leading by example, and with God's Word and God's Spirit as our hope and power.

Many of my best friends are books. Here are some that have accompanied me these months: The Contemplative Pastor (by Eugene Peterson - this describes who I want to be), Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (by Harari - i bought it for the updates on pre history, the author has many interesting theses though many I don't agree with), Life of St Columba (by Adomnan), Resilient Ministry: What Pastors Told Us About Surviving and Thriving (by Guthrie and others - a must read for ministers), Colonies of Heaven: Celtic Models for Today's Church (by Bradley), Money After 40 (by the Motley Fool guys), Maid: A Novel of Joan of Arc (by Cutter), The Other Woman (by Silva - latest in my favorite spy novel series), Ivanhoe and Rob Roy (by Sir Walter Scott - two classics, set in Scotland and England, that I hadn't read - fun reads), and A Year in Provence (by Mayle).
I am grateful to the elders of our church for our long standing sabbatical practice. It is a rhythmic investment in the long term health of the ministers and of the congregation, with many proven benefits. I wish every workplace had more kingdom-oriented values and practices such as this one, and I'm glad for me and our staff that the elders (and by proxy the congregation) value me and the rest of the staff so tangibly.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am so looking forward to my first day back in worship with the people of God called 'Lake Forest Church - Huntersville' on Sunday August 5th! One reason I wrote this entry is so that for those interested, its a full account of my time away, and for those not interested, now I won't need to over-share and bore them with all this on August 5th.
I close with this blessing posted in Saul Church (previous picture) for those who come through as 'travellers.' It is what I hope guests and regulars alike experience in our new public spaces at LFCH, because we are in fact all travellers.
