This Year…Top 10 Sabbatical lessons

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Over the summer I normally try to post a couple things that I learned over the previous school year. If you want see the series as it has developed over lots of years then click here. If you have anything you learned from last year that you would like to tell me about, send it my way smcgever (at) pv dot younglife dot org

Some of you know that I work for Young Life and that after working for a certain number of years you have the option to take a sabbatical, or a break from Young Life, to rest and refuel in different ways so that you can come and keep going strong.

I realize that many people reading this do not work for Young Life (my primary aim is for volunteer leaders, so hopefully this is you reading this!), but I’ve heard a few staff read it too. I made a list of some of the things I learned during sabbatical that might be helpful to those leading in Young Life. Some may be more relevant than others depending on your role, but I just thought I’d lump together and let you sort them out. Enjoy, here they are in no particular order…

1. A YL team should be able to operate without YL staff for quite a while (if not permanently).

2. You probably need rest more than you realize (and rest looks very different for different people).

3. When you are gone you are reminded that quality training helps makes things sustainable.

4. You appreciate others giving their lives away even more.

5. Some people rise up in YL leadership only when the void is actually there.

6. The Lord puts some people on your heart you may have been too busy to remember.

7. Lots of people who in truth have the resources to take a sabbatical will say, “I should really do something like that”, or perhaps more common, “That must be nice…”

8. It is just another reminder that John the Baptist was on to something when he said, “He must become greater, I must become less”.

9. Going out of town, or the country, is almost required to do a proper sabbatical in our uber-relational ministry.

10. Your family will really be blessed.

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PS… If you are looking for summer camp follow-up resources see this post and maybe this too.

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