Burns overwhelmed and humbled by Maine grant for sabbatical

    HOULTON — Rev. Randall Burns, pastor of Military Street Baptist Church, will participate in the 2008 National Clergy Renewal Program funded by the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc., thanks to a grant of $43,575. The church is one of 133 congregations across the country, and the only one in Maine, that will support their ministers in the program. In doing so, pastors are allowed to step back from their busy lives and renew their spirits for the benefit of their ongoing ministries.
    Reacting to the news, Burns said: “It’s just overwhelming and humbling to be selected from among the many who applied and to be the only one from Maine. It’s a tremendous sense of God’s love and blessings to me and our church.”
    Now in its ninth year, the program invites congregations and ministers to consider and plan a period of intentional reflection and renewal. It provides a time for ministers to take a break from their daily obligations and gain the fresh perspective and renewed energy that a carefully considered “Sabbath time” of travel, study, rest and prayer can provide.
    Each congregation is eligible to apply for a grant up to $45,000.  Up to $15,000 of that amount can be used to fulfill pastoral duties during the minister’s absence and for expenses related to the congregation’s own renewal. The 133 grants this year total nearly $5 million.
    Pastor Burns will begin his sabbatical after preaching and a send-off celebration on Sunday, January 4, 2009. The theme of the sabbatical is “Returning to Our First Love.” Pastor Burns and the church will be following this journey together to focus on strengthening their love for and relationship with Jesus Christ.  Guest speakers, clinicians, and preachers will fill the pulpit in the pastor’s absence, keeping with the theme of renewal through Easter, when the pastor will resume his ministries in Houlton.
    To set the focus for the sabbatical, Pastor Burns will be attending the Dr. Jack Hayford School of Pastoral Nurture at Church on the Way in Van Nuys, CA.  His wife, Melanie, and their two children, will be joining him in southern California for a week of reconnecting with friends and family before they fly to New Zealand and Australia for the month of February.
    Before they were married, from 1981-1985, the Burnses worked in missions together in those countries, and are looking forward to meeting old friends and introducing their children to that part of the world. They will conclude their time in Australia with time in Sydney and a few days on the Great Barrier Reef. Upon their return, Pastor Burns will spend two weeks in Colorado in spiritual direction and a time of reflection and silence at a spiritual retreat center in the Rocky Mountains.
    This year’s congregations represent 20 denominations and 36 states.  “We have heard wonderful stories from the pastors who already have experienced these sabbaticals,” said Craig Dykstra, Endowment senior vice president for religion. “Their time away has freed them up to pursue personal interests and needs in ways that have given them new energy for ministry – and their congregations have discovered that they didn’t fall apart without their minister around. Indeed, they too experienced refreshment and a new-found sense of their own strengths.”
    The Endowment’s larger goal is to bolster the good work that America’s pastors and congregations accomplish day in and day out and to reinforce and build upon important work being done on both sides of the pulpit. “In our religion grant-making, we hope to strengthen the efforts of today’s excellent pastors, because it is no secret that pastors who have reconnected themselves to the passions that led them to the ministry in the first place are more likely to lead healthy and vibrant congregations,” Dykstra said.