This past February marks 20 years of me being in full-time ministry. This November, I will have been a pastor at Riv for 17 years. That means I am roughly at the halfway point of my vocational ministry career. Over these years, I have watched Steve Sommerlot and Paul DenHerder (two of the founding guys at Riv) and often have thought, “I want to run the race well like these men.”
Because our desire is that I am able to run the race and end well, the elders and I have decided together that I am going to take a sabbatical this summer.
I will be spending some of the time decompressing, traveling, and visiting other churches. But I am mostly (and this is the part I am most excited about) going to go through an intentional and guided process that will take a deep dive into my life and ministry.
Practically speaking, this means you won’t see much of me over the next three months (especially online). Additionally, there will be other guys who will be teaching both live and on video more than normal. I am also going to largely disappear from social media and direct all of my emails into a black hole so I can start fresh in the fall without having to dig my way out.
If you have any immediate needs, feel free to reach out to any of the Riv Pastors.
Our plan is that I will be back to teaching and my normal rhythm in the beginning of September.
Please pray for me during this time!
See ya soon.
Noel
PS – You can navigate my site from the links above if you want to look at any of my old content while I am gone.