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This is Pastor Derek's final comments from May 15th to the church.

Dear Faith Church Family,

Roughly ten years ago, having come to understand the value of sabbatical time for pastoral staff, we put provisions in place that offer our pastors the benefit of three months of sabbatical time once they complete five years of ministry. A pastoral sabbatical provides a pastor the opportunity to step away from his day-to-day responsibilities for a needed, intentional season of rest and renewal that strengthens his spiritual health and helps him be effective in long-term ministry.

This past April 2nd marked 5 years of Pastor Derek serving as Lead Pastor. Therefore, we are glad to be able to bless him and his family with a time of sabbatical that will begin in mid-May. Derek looks forward to returning to ministry in mid-August having benefited from this intentional time of rest, renewal and spiritual growth.

Due to the unique pressures, schedules and stresses of pastoral ministry, sabbaticals are common in church ministry settings. Unlike the emergency respite leave that we needed to give Derek about a year ago, this sabbatical is a long-planned, proactive measure with the goal of supporting his long-term spiritual health and ministry. We are thankful and excited to be able to provide this time, knowing that through the sabbatical, the Lord has good things in store for both Derek and for our whole church family.

Thank you for joining us in making this sabbatical possible. It is a grace-gift for Derek and family from our whole church family because we believe in caring well for those who lead and serve us. We look forward to a great summer of God’s ongoing work in and through the Faith Church family!

With love in Christ,

Faith Church Elder Team
Grant Boustead, Mikeal Davis, Marty Friesen, Derek Olson, Trevor Russell, Grant Stewart

QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE:

What is a Pastoral Sabbatical? - A pastoral sabbatical provides a pastor the opportunity to step away from his day-to-day responsibilities for a needed, intentional season of rest and renewal that strengthens his spiritual life and helps him be most effective for long-term ministry. Taking times of sabbatical are common in pastoral ministry and Faith Church provides this opportunity after each 5 years that our pastors serve. Sabbaticals are necessary and important because of the significant, unique pressures, schedules and stresses of pastoral ministry.

What might a Pastoral Sabbatical include? - A sabbatical plan is developed by the pastor (in consultation with the elder team) with the intention of maximizing physical rest, spiritual refreshment, and family time. It likely includes some combination of things like: growing in Jesus through practicing spiritual disciplines, reading good books, getting away for spiritual retreat, connecting with ministry peers and mentors, long-range ministry planning and/or preaching prep, and vacation-type travel and recreation.

What does this mean for the ministry of Faith Church? - God will continue His good work in and through the ministry of Faith Church during this time! As always, our pastors, elders and others will teach us from God’s Word each Sunday. Our staff and elders will continue to lead and care for us. As usual, God calls each person in the Faith Church family to continue doing their part through serving, praying, giving, caring, worshiping and more!

What if I see the Olson family around town? Can I contact Pastor Derek?
If you see them, you are certainly welcome to greet and interact with them as you normally would. We do, however, ask that you not contact Pastor Derek and that you avoid taking any church-related details, concerns, or questions to them. Instead, please direct those to other staff members or the Elder Team. Thanks in advance for your help in allowing Pastor Derek to "unplug" and decompress.