The Fall semester has absolutely flown by. It's hard to believe that October is already over (happy Halloween!) and the November is right around the corner. Before you know it, it'll be the holidays and preparation for Urbana. Then, it'll be 2026!
One of the things that will be coming in 2026 is that Megan and I will be taking a bit of a break... NO, not from each other! We'll probably actually be seeing each other a lot more since we'll be on Sabbatical for the first half of 2026.
InterVarsity does a lot of really great things. One of those things is Sabbatical. Every 7 years, staff qualify for a 6 month Sabbatical. That Sabbatical can be spent studying, pursuing spiritual formation, resting, or some other project. The key is that we won't be holding our ministry activities.
We last took Sabbatical in 2018. We actually used that Sabbatical to move to Omaha. We wanted some unadulterated time to get used to our new city. We wanted to find a church and community. I wanted to find a good beef noodle soup (unfortunately, that never happened) and learn the bus routes (that DID happen!). During this Sabbatical, we won't be moving (thankfully) but we will be taking some time to reset and reconnect with Jesus.
Seven years (really, 8 since we moved) is a long time and a short time at the same time. On the one hand, we still haven't quite lived in Omaha for as long as I lived in Missouri. But, the time that we've spent here has been really significant. We bought a house, started new roles, had a third kid (JoJo!) served as elders at our church, made new friends, got the kids into school, and survived a pandemic, all while living in Omaha these past 7 (8!) years. In terms of ministry, we've seen staff thrive, other staff leave, students groups get planted and cease to exist, and generally face all the highs and lows that come with ministry. I'm still very much in love with the job but I can also recognize that having 6 months without ministry responsibilities will be a good thing.
Number one on our priority list right now is the preparation. We need to write our Sabbatical plans and have them approved. We also need to make sure that the roles we would normally have in the Spring Semester are covered. We also need to make sure our finances are in good share since we won't be doing any Ministry Partnership Development during our Sabbatical.
For that last bit of preparation, this is where I'd love for you to consider partnering with us. If you'd like to give a one-time gift, or even better, become a recurring donor in these next few months, it would help us ease the financial and mental burdens for us so we can enter into Sabbatical well. If you're interested, you can follow this link here.
Last thing: It is Halloween, so here are some photos of the costumes. I'm pretty sure I nailed my costume... =0).
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
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