Dear Faith Church Family,

Roughly 12 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 October, Pastor Matt passed the five year mark of serving as Worship Pastor. Therefore, we are glad to be able to bless him and his family with a time of sabbatical that will begin this July. Matt looks forward to returning to ministry in October 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. This sabbatical is a long-planned, proactive measure with the goal of supporting Pastor Matt’s 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 Matt and for our whole church family. 

Thank you for joining us in making this sabbatical possible. It is a grace-gift for Matt 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

Darand Davies, Mikeal Davis, Derek Olson, Scott Russell, Trevor Russell, and Steven Schilling

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 worship music 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 worship team (occasionally including a guest worship leader) will help us lift our voices in worship through music each Sunday. And 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 Ceiplis family around town? Can I contact Pastor Matt?

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 Matt 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 Matt to "unplug" and decompress.