Our Senior Pastor, Joe Trussell, is going on sabbatical in Fall 2023!
What does that mean?
We’re glad you asked.
What is a sabbatical?
Pastor Joe has been serving us as a congregation for 29 years, and we are so thankful and lucky to have him at the helm leading us.
Over the past 10 or 12 years, the church board has offered Pastor Joe a Sabbatical on a few different occasions, but — we don’t know if you know this about our pastor — he wears quite a few different hats and he’s never really felt like it was the right season for him to be away.
Well, the time has come where he has agreed to take some time off to recharge, and the board has granted him seven to eight weeks off to do so. We’re going to miss him, but we believe this is an extremely important part of our journey as a church and much deserved by Joe.
What does this mean for us?
Obviously, we’re intentionally using the word Sabbatical here. Not vacation, not paid time off, not a leave of absence.
That said, we truly hope Joe takes some time to relax and enjoy being away from his day-to-day responsibilities here.
But a Sabbatical means something different from vacation.
If you haven’t heard the word before, you can probably recognize the root word within of “Sabbath,” and you likely have a basic understanding of that concept since it’s literally #4 on the list of the Ten Commandments.
The concept of Sabbath goes deeper than the weekly day of rest. We find examples of Sabbath throughout Scripture around certain festivals, holidays, farming practices, and, yes, even employment.
A Sabbatical is a time period set aside for refreshment — physically, mentally, and spiritually — IN THE LORD, and we are trusting that the Lord will fill our pastor to overflowing during this time.
What are our responsibilities as a congregation during this time?
#1) Pray for him. Joe is not going to be sitting around doing nothing. He’s going to need our prayers. Let's pray for God’s anointing on his time away and for God’s protection.
#2) Commit to not trying to contact him. And don’t just hold things to bury him when he returns. If you need something from the church during this time, don’t text his phone. Don’t leave him a voicemail. Call the church office (417-876-2200), and we will do our best to assist you with your needs.
(An aside here: don’t be bothering Faith either. Just follow this blog to stay updated on his progress.)
#3) Keep coming to church while he is away. If you’ve been paying attention on Sunday mornings, you know we have some very exciting growth happening, and the Holy Spirit has been faithful to meet with us every Sunday.
Don’t miss what the Lord is doing here.
You’re needed here just as much as the Pastor. Just because Pastor Joe is gone for a few weeks, doesn’t mean the mission of our church changes.
We’re still going to do our best to transform nonbelievers and casual Christians into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
What will Joe be doing?
Q: Where is Joe going?
A: Joe has chosen to spend his sabbatical time on a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts. He’s going to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. It’s a trail that has incredible history behind it — following the route that Christians and others have followed for centuries, starting in southern France and walking across northern Spain westward toward the coast. It ends at Santiago de Compostela — the traditional burial site of the first missionary to this part of the world: St. James.
There’s lots of info on the Camino to be found here, and you can watch a fantastic documentary film about two best friends — one wheelchair-bound — who did it together here.
Q: Will he be safe?
A: Conveniently enough for this particular trip, Joe has been hiking in mountains his whole life. He was born in the Andes mountains in Bolivia, and has climbed some of the world’s highest peaks, including Mt. Ararat, Kilimanjaro, Nevado Sajama, and many others. This trail will be far less strenuous and dangerous than many of those.
Joe is also fluent in Spanish (again, he was born in Bolivia), so he’ll be able to communicate easily as he crosses Spain.
Also, the Camino de Santiago is known as a safe journey. It’s not uncommon for people to walk it alone, but it’s also a communal experience — strangers on the Camino traditionally help each other if someone runs into trouble.
Q: Why did Joe choose to spend his Sabbatical this way?
A: Well, this is not Joe writing this, but here’s our take. Mountains renew Joe’s spirit. It’s one of the ways he can feel Jesus close beside him. He’s also a bit naturally introverted, and having time to think and pray without being “on” socially as a pastor is a wonderful thing for him. He’ll have a month and a half of walking to spend praying, thinking, listening to/reading Scripture, and letting God speak to him. In the evenings, he’ll be doing some writing/journaling and maybe connecting a bit with other Camino travelers.
He’ll also get to connect with the centuries of history of followers of Jesus who have journeyed the Camino — in a sense sharing the journey with them and learning from the times of prayer and reflection they wrote about during their times on the trail.
Q: How do the logistics of this work?
A: Joe will stay in some hostels, and a few times in monasteries (some of which have been hosting Camino travelers literally for centuries).
He’ll have cell phone coverage almost the whole way (but again, don’t text him with questions if you can possibly avoid it).
He’ll be carrying a smaller and lighter backpack than he’s used to carrying in the mountains, since he doesn’t need to bring a tent or all his food.
Q: How can we pray for Joe?
A: Ask God to restore his soul and that he would be re-created rather than just having recreation.
Ask God to protect him.
Ask God to give him strong legs and freedom from pain (he’s got kind of a history of foot problems, especially here recently).
Ask God to help him not take a wrong turn and end up in Moscow. (No, uh, that’s not actually a concern. Look at a map. See how that would be pretty much impossible? Yeah.)
Ask God to give him divine appointments along the way to bless others and be blessed by people he meets.
Ask God to give Joe freedom from worry about what Pastor Jim and Pastor Patrick are doing back home!
Who is preaching while Joe is gone?
Besides our church staff, God has blessed our church with several fantastic retired former pastors and missionaries. They’re all gifted communicators and teachers of God’s word. Pastor Richard Beckham, Pastor Dennis Painter, and Pastor Mark Surbrook will be filling in, as well as our staff pastors.
If you have further questions, please email Pastor Jim at jimpurtle@yahoo.com.