MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

        This past Monday morning at 9:32 a.m. a Priority Mail package was delivered to the Religion Office of the Lilly Endowment in Indianapolis, Indiana.  With the acceptance of the package my Sabbatical experience that started back in the fall of 2007 was finally, officially complete.  My report to the Lilly Endowment started with two words:  Mission Accomplished. 

        Our church graciously provides a Sabbatical for the ministers every seven years.  My first Sabbatical was in 2001, in my eleventh year of ministry at First Baptist.  I was eligible for another Sabbatical in 2008, but our church’s financial situation had changed and I knew that I would need to find outside funding.  That was when I looked into the Lilly Endowment, the premier foundation for Sabbatical grants. 

        I have a couple of minister friends who had received Lilly grants and I talked to them in the summer of 2007.  They told me how generous the grant could be (up to $45,000) but also told me that since they had received their grants, the competition and requirements for the grant had become much more intense. 

        In the fall of 2007 I received the application packet for 2008.  It was much more involved than I ever anticipated.  I realized the application process would take months and the amount of work, planning, and coordination that the application required was staggering.  I had to ask myself the question “Is it worth it?” 

        One of the key components of a successful application was the coordination and involvement of the minister and the congregation.  The Lilly Endowment doesn’t even use the word “Sabbatical.”  They speak of church renewal that is shared and coordinated between the church and pastor.  So one of the first things I did was invited several members to join in planning the church renewal experience.  We determined that the renewal would revolve around storytelling with the theme, “This is Our Story, This is Our Song.”

        It was in this group that the idea of intergenerational SS classes was suggested.  We started working on the requirements of the detailed application. 

        The application had to be submitted by early May, but I would not hear anything until October.  Detailed itineraries, budgets, program ideas, themes, a ten-page narrative, and other documentation such as my ordination and our church’s tax exempt status from the state of North Carolina were all required.   When I finally mailed the exhaustive application form in May of 2008, I was very confident that it would be accepted.  

        As October neared I closely watched the mail.  Nothing came.  The month started and the first week passed, then the second:  nothing.  By the third week of October I was getting discouraged.  Finally, on one of the last days of the month, a single first class letter arrived from the Lilly Endowment.  “This doesn’t look good,” I thought, and I was right.  The letter informed me that our proposal had not been accepted and went on to explain that the endowment had received more applications that ever before.  The letter did state that I could call and set up a telephone interview to determine the reason the proposal had failed.  I almost didn’t do it.

        After getting over the disappointment of being rejected, I finally made the call.  A time was established for the following week.  I was scheduled to talk to the director of the entire program. 

        She was a very pleasant woman who quickly put me at ease.  The first thing she said was, “You had an excellent proposal, one of the best we have seen.”  I was shocked.  I didn’t know what to say.  She quickly added, “And I guess you are wondering why you didn’t get the grant if your proposal was so good.” 

        “Well, yes,” I stuttered. 

        “Because you will kill yourself,” she said with a laugh.  “You are going from one conference to another, flying all over the country.  You are on the east coast one week and in California the next!  You are supposed to have some fun!  Redo the proposal, but don’t schedule so much.  Have fun!”

        The call had lasted less than five minutes. 

        Here’s a confession.  Before I mailed the proposal Joyce told me.  “You are scheduling too much.  You will kill yourself!”   I should have listened to my wife. 

        I went back to the drawing board.  I scheduled an Alban Institute seminar on storytelling and a week at the famed Chautauqua Institute for intellectual stimulation, but then I planned a week in New York City to see Broadway Shows, a family trip to Belize, and a month in Italy. 

        “It sounds crazy,” I told Joyce.  “But what do I have to lose?”

        The new proposal was mailed in May of 2009.  On the final week of September a thick packet arrived the mail. The cover letter started with one word:  “Congratulations!” 

        The Sabbatical was August – October of 2010.  The final component was last year’s church retreat.  But then I realized that the final reports and accounting that I needed to prepare were almost as involved and detailed as the original proposal.  I don’t normally procrastinate, but I have.  I planned to complete it last summer, but never got around to it.  The reports were not due until March of 2012 so I kept telling myself I have plenty of time. 

        I thought I would complete them during the holidays but was too busy.  Finally, last month, I knew that I had to get it done.   Thanks to many of you for helping with the evaluation.  When I mailed the Priority Mail package last Saturday, I felt like I had graduated from school!  It was finally over! 

        Here is how my final report began:

Mission accomplished!  My much anticipated and carefully planned Sabbatical was everything I hoped it would be and more.  I returned from the three month Sabbatical rested, renewed, and recommitted to ministry with new energy and enthusiasm.  Specifically, the Sabbatical was designed to sharpen my skills as a storyteller, find spiritual renewal, spend time with family, rest, travel, read, and write.  My goal was to link my stories with God’s story of redemption and through the synergy of our new stories, renew our faith traditions, experience transformation in ministry, and form congregational identity and mission.  One of the big overall goals for our church was to emerge from the renewal experience with a new story for our ministry.  In many ways, I believe this was also accomplished, although this element of the program is much more difficult to measure. 

          The first significant factor that led to the success of the program was the timing and relevance of the Alban Institute Seminar, “The Power of Story to Transform Your Leadership.”  When my original proposal was submitted in the spring of 2009, the Alban seminar schedule for 2010 had not been released.  I felt that this seminar (originally titled “Narrative Leadership in Congregational Life) would be a key component to the success of my Sabbatical, but did not know how it would fit into the schedule.  The 2009 seminar was in October.  When the 2010 schedule was released I couldn’t believe my good fortune.  Perhaps, Providence would be a more accurate explanation.  The seminar had been moved to the final week of July.  My last Sunday was July 25, 2010.  My wife, Joyce, and I left early the next morning to fly to Connecticut for the seminar that started on the morning of July 26.  The seminar not only provided the context and foundation for the Sabbatical experience, but also provided the educational component that I needed to help me prepare the Intergeneration Sunday School Classes for the church.  We left the Alban Seminar and traveled to Chautauqua for a wonderful week of intellectual challenge and structure that resulted in the completion of the Sunday School lessons and provided the spiritual inspiration to launch the Sabbatical.

Thank you First Baptist Church and the Lilly Endowment for an amazing experience!  And thank the good Lord that the final report has been received, the mission has been accomplished, and it is FINALLY OVER!