Dear Friends in Christ,
If you have been at HOPE lately you know that I have not. By God’s grace I have been granted a sabbatical…..literally a time of rest….for the months of May, June and July. I will be back in worship on August 12 and ready to share some of the things I have learned and experienced over the summer.
What will I be doing? First, there will be some quiet time, some genuine, down to the soul kind of rest, where I will be “out of the loop” and “off the grid,” so to speak. There will be time for prayer, for reading, for journaling and for listening to what God has to say to me.
There will be some traveling. Pam and I will take a 4 week “road trip” across country, visiting my family in Wisconsin and San Diego. Along the way we will visit 6 of the LCMS congregations that my grandfathers “pastored” over their many years of ministry, 2 in Iowa, 2 in Nebraska, and 2 in Colorado. You can follow this trip on my blog.
The Mission Trip to Haiti, in conjunction with Kempsville Presbyterian, will be another highlight, as our team of 10 works for a week in the village on Pons Dieu. My son Adam and I will be heading off to Chicago and then Milwaukee for a few days in August. I’m looking forward to spending time with him, as well as seeing Ben and his girls Kaylee and Karina in San Diego, as well as Reba (who is expecting in October) and her husband Ian in the same place.
What will HOPE be doing while I am away? Hopefully, more of what we do best: touch people with the love of Jesus! I hope and pray you will do the following:
- Read SIMPLE CHURCH, as we will study it together this fall.
- Keep WORSHIPING weekly.
- Visit another church: what do you like? (or not like?)
- PRAY for Hope, for me, for us all.
- Get some vacation yourself…….because FALL is coming!
Grace and blessings to you all,
Pastor Mark Nieting
To follow Pastor Nieting’s progress visit his sabbatical blog: pastornieting.blogspot.com
