Shasta Lake, CA | What God Can Do When We Take a Break

“There’s another problem,” he told them. “I don’t know how to do baptisms. And people want to get baptized.”

After 13 years of full-time ministry, running Heritage Coffee as a missional space, and sharing the good news with people far from God, Stuart and Sara were approaching burnout. The coffee shop had been a crucial space for networking in the city, building relationships, having spiritual conversations, and inviting people to their house church, but running a small business was emotionally and physically exhausting. 

They took a 3-month sabbatical, handing off responsibilities at the coffee shop and their house church to others. So much of the weight of keeping things going was on Stuart and Sara’s shoulders that they really didn’t know what would happen while they were gone. But it didn’t matter anymore—they needed to rest and connect with Jesus.

It took about a month for them to untangle themselves from the anxiety they lived with daily. After that came rest. Deep rest and playfulness and a time of learning to be still and really listen to Jesus. By the end of sabbatical, they knew they never wanted to go back to the way things had been before.

By the end of sabbatical, they knew they never wanted to go back to the way things had been before.

When they returned home, they met with Chris, one of the people who’d reluctantly agreed to lead the house church. He first told them some people had left. “That’s ok,” they reassured him. “It happens.” Then Chris said, “But we keep growing. More and more people are coming every week, and our house is full. There’s another problem,” he told them. “I don’t know how to do baptisms. And people want to get baptized.” The house church had doubled in size in the three months they were gone! It was no longer “Stuart and Sara’s house church.” It was Chris and Hillary’s, filled with people in recovery just like them, and big enough that it was time to multiply into two groups.

Stuart and Sara discovered that rather than falling apart in their absence, both the coffee shop and the house church were thriving! The managers at the coffee shop had needed to hire a bunch of new people, and these new staff were leaning into the mission side of their jobs more than any staff before them.

Stuart and Sara had to figure out how to support the amazing things God was doing in these emerging leaders. So they invited them to join a Disciple-Making Cohort. Now they have 20 people from the house church, the coffee shop, and other Kingdom spaces exploring the DNA of gospel movements and learning to make disciples. Young adults from the coffee shop are hearing about gospel movements for the first time and interacting with Chris, who’s been using Discovery Bible Studies for years. 

“We’ve learned that our performance doesn’t equal fruit,” Stuart shared. “It almost feels like more permission to play and to rest. We’re going to keep doing what we do but from a very different posture, doing a better job listening to what the Lord’s up to.” God can do so much more than any of us ask or imagine, even when people take time out for a sabbatical.