“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…” – Psalm 37:7
Greetings from the Simpson family! We thought we’d pass along a few pics and stories from the first few weeks of our sabbatical.
Site Visit – Rexdale Alliance Church, Toronto, Canada
Sunder and Shymala Krishnan have been mentors of mine for the past 23 years. Sunder retired from Rexdale in 2016 after 37 years of pastoral ministry with that local congregation. The new lead pastor of Rexdale, Chris, invited me to “shadow” him through a weekend of leadership meetings with elders and staff. They are in the process of praying and dreaming about the next chapter of ministry. Additionally, I was able to have several unhurried conversations at the breakfast/lunch table with Sunder & Shymala about life, parenting, pastoring, marriage, mentoring, discipleship, missions…etc. The time spent with them and their extended family was a great on-ramp into this season of rest & renewal.
Family trip to Ft. Lauderdale
Clyde and Deb Christensen have been great friends and mentors for the last 15 years. They graciously invited us to bring the family down to their new home in sunny south Florida. Lots of time at the beach & pool! Sunshine and 85 degrees is good for the soul.
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Conference @ New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, NY
Once a year, Pete & Geri Scazzero, gather 200-300 pastors and ministry leaders together to discuss what it looks like to lead Jesus’ way in Jesus’ church. This conference had 26 states, 19 countries, and 5 continents represented. It was a very ethnically diverse gathering. I interacted with people from other countries as much as I interacted with folks from other states. The time I spent with 3 members of the prayer team from New Life was a highlight moment for me. I’m doing a follow-up “site visit” to New Life on May 31 as Pete has arranged a handful of meetings with their pastoral staff to learn from what they’ve been learning.
Sacred space day by day…
Scripture, prayer, journaling, silence and blocks-of-time to read broadly have been a part of my daily rhythm. I’m trying to read through the New Testament (from start to finish) during the sabbatical as well as pray through one psalm per day. My journal entries are usually centered around reflections from that time in the Word. As you can see, I’ve got a few other things that I’d like to read my way through! So far, I’ve finished “Seven Story Mountain” (autobiography of Thomas Merton) and “Becoming Who You Are” by James Martin. I’m almost done with “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr, I’m about 1/3 of the way through “Love, Henri” by Henri Nouwen and I just started “Culture Making” by Andy Crouch.
Thank you for the gift these days are to us.
Love,
