Dear French Creek members and friends,
This summer French Creek Lutheran will be honoring Pastor Anna’s request for sabbatical. We should feel proud that we are following through on the work of the call committee 7 years ago. The planning process is an exciting (and apprehensive) time as we learn what this means for us. The sabbatical committee has made progress in a number of areas:
- We named Steve Hogden and John Christianson as co-chairs. Pastor Anna, Larry Hoppe and I are all grateful for their prayerful leadership.
- We secured Pastor Ben Morris, of La Crosse Campus Ministry, as our primary supply pastor. Pastors Kary Jonas, John Ashland, and David Hendrickson will be available for hospitals, funerals and pastoral care.
- We have dates set – May 21-August 12 (12 weeks, as offered in our employment contract with Pastor).
While the primary definition of sabbatical is to offer Pastor time do to the kind of unplugging and unwinding we are expected to do on the Sabbath, to be clear, this is not a vacation. Reading and learning will be done, among other things, for Pastor to refresh her own spiritual inspiration. She is currently developing her sabbatical plan to present to the committee and council. We will share more from her plan at the annual meeting, and in next month’s newsletter.
We continue to receive feedback – both concerns and words of encouragement. We appreciate your engagement with the process and ask that you continue to share your thoughts and pray for us.
Maren Walz, Council President
You can reach me at council@frenchcreeklutheran.
For further reading check out:
‘Why don’t I get a vacation, too?’ How to talk about clergy sabbaticals