Dear Friend,                    June 26th, 2021    

For the summer of 2021, Kingdom Rice is unfolding perhaps the most faith-filled, profound initiative of them all. From July through September, I’ll be embarking on my first ever sabbatical!

Why a sabbatical and why now? 

For over seven years, I’ve been focused on a very outward mission, ministering to leaders, laity, and non-Christians to propagate our vision of healing and joining together through a more holistic, collective biblical paradigm. A sabbatical would shift this outward mission to an inward one so that I can focus on the interior work of soul care and process seasons of trauma like the 2019 one when I was abruptly cut off from my family for two months. Investing in this inward mission will help bring further healing for my soul and sharpen KR’s effectiveness. 

Altogether, my internal goals include the following: rest, refresh, rhythms, reimagine, and relationships. This kind of interior work can’t be done in a one week staycation. I’ll need a couple weeks just to detox from ministry and shift into neutral. Then it’ll take another few weeks to focus in on these goals. To help me accomplish them, I’ve retained a spiritual director, an EMDR therapist, a music teacher (to continue training in voice and keys), and people to pray and hold me accountable. Someone’s even curating fiction for me to read! During my last month of sabbatical, I’m aiming to integrate new rhythms into both my life and into Kingdom Rice. I’m happy to report that our rhythms have already drastically changed…because of Ruby, our newly adopted family dog! 

The “irons are hot.” Just in the past week, I led my first 2021 in-person Chinatown immersion, released a ground-breaking support-raising book from a minority perspective, equipped minority missionaries from across the country with the book, accepted an invitation to share my faith to a divinity-school trained atheist, met with school administrators to discuss how to integrate aspects of honor-shame into their Bible curriculum, and wrapped up key conversations with partner leaders. But instead of “striking” while the “irons are hot” we need to discern which irons best align with God’s will. This sabbatical will help bring such convergence.

Unplugging from all this ministry activity will be difficult for me. But the Kingdom Rice seeds have been planted in print, video, and most importantly of all, through disciples. The discipleship process will continue without me during my sabbatical; and now we have a suite of tools to help. For example, one Chinatown immersion already happened without me inspired by our Chinatown webinar. And the people I’ve coached in our cohorts are continuing to lead in their respective contexts. And newsletters? They will continue via  guest authors (they are already written and in the pipeline). Thank you for your financial contributions. They’ve enabled the tools we’ve created, the legacy we’re leaving, and this sabbatical (This is indeed a paid sabbatical). I welcome any sabbatical inquires or blessings, although I might not reply till the Fall (my email will be fielded by a volunteer). Enjoy the newsletters from our guests this summer and God bless until I return in October! 

Love, Steve