If any of you have been following my research (which I don’t think even my own mother is doing!) you may have noticed a dramatic decline in updates on this website. There is a reason. My family and church were awarded the National Clergy Renewal Grant from the Lilly Endowment. We were given a fully-funded four-month sabbatical from life and ministry at Community Church in order to “remember the story” of God’s love for us personally, as a married couple, as a family, and as part of God’s great love story for the world.
From January through April, I’ve spent time alone in an off-grid cabin in Maine; my family has spent a month in a beach house near Jaco, Costa Rica; Joanna and I spent a few days in Paris before embarking on an 7-day cruise in the Mediterranean, and we took our entire family to Kampala, Uganda for two weeks for a missions trip to Watoto Church and Watoto Childcare Ministries.
I have only returned from this time away very recently. And only now am I re-engaging in my research project, hoping that I can recover any of the momentum lost with the various schools I’ve been interacting with over the last year.
Here are some photos from the last four months.
It really was an incredible blessing.
But I’m back.