"Irene" comes from the Greek--it means peace. There's a good name for a devastating storm!

I hope all of you survived the storm and are up and running again. At our house we were without power for 36 hours; had to bail water from our basement when the sump pump stopped running. And--for the first time in my entire pastoral ministry--we had to cancel Sunday morning services!! This never happened during our tenure in Minnesota, despite having several Sundays one January where the wind chills dipped below -50 F with blizzard conditions.

We are thankful that there was little damage to the church--some water damage through minor leaks in the roof. Those are currently being patched and repaired. Shout out to Josh Kellam for his help in this matter.

And we are grateful to those of you who gave on-line or who mailed in your offering to the office. Thanks! In years past we would not be paying that much attention to such matters, but this year we have been tight in terms of cash flow. I do want to report that your faithfulness in giving has been awesome this summer. Even with missing last Sunday, due to economy measures put in place and some cutbacks in benefits and due to your giving we are coming to the end of the summer at about a break even point between expenses and budget income! From where we started out the summer this is really remarkable. Thanks for your faithfulness. And we encourage you to keep it up as we move into a new ministry season this autumn.

Sabbatical for Pastor Rick. Debbie and I will be heading out on sabbatical after services, Sunday, September 18. Our plan is to be gone for two months, returning November 21.

Those who have been around Kensington Baptist/Wellspring for some time will realize that this will be my third sabbatical during my tenure as Senior Pastor of this fellowship. The plan for sabbatical leaves was part of my original call here, intended to provide a time for rest, renewal and refocusing every seven years. This has been intentional in order to facilitate a long tenured ministry.

I am very grateful for the two sabbaticals in the past and for the one upcoming in mid-September. I utilized my last sabbatical to bring the manuscript for Equally Yoked to completion.

For this coming sabbatical, Debbie and I will be starting with two weeks of vacation to drive across the American west on a northern route, making our way to Redding, California. We plan to retreat in the foothills outside Redding for about six weeks, within ten minutes of Bethel Church. It is our plan to immerse ourselves in the life, ministry and ethos of that great church to glean what we can and bring back fresh perspectives and impartation for the ministry here at Wellspring. We have been invited to do so by Steve and Wendy Backlund and will have access to the inner workings of the staff and ministry while there. I will also be doing some uninterrupted study on an issue the Lord has spoken to me about. More on this in the future. On our way back to Connecticut we will take a more southern route, pretty much driving straight home except for a day or two visiting our parents in the Cincinnati area.

As has been our pattern in the past with my two prior sabbaticals and with the sabbatical Pastor Wes enjoyed a few years ago, no church funds will be utilized for costs of the trip or expenses while in Redding. I will be paid my salary, as has been the practice in the past for prior sabbaticals.

Again, I am grateful to the congregation for the opportunity to be away for this season of renewal. These past several months have been quite trying for all of us. I intentionally sought the Lord and the counsel of others as to whether I should postpone this trip, but felt consistently the nudging of the Lord to proceed.

Please pray for us as we are away--and for the staff and elders who will carry on the ministry and leadership. Debbie and I are asking the Lord for safe travel, for divine appointments with key people, for rest and renewal, for fresh vision and for encounters with the Lord himself.

Thank you again for this privilege to serve such a great congregation as Wellspring and for this upcoming time of renewal.

Blessings,

Pastor Rick