Leading a church can be a 24/7 role. Even when taking a regular day off, stress can accumulate over the months. Many churches have instituted sabbatical policies to help their key leaders get needed rest and spiritual nourishment. Some churches, however, use a sabbatical as a time to decide what to do with a leader in trouble. The sabbatical then becomes a code word for “you are going to be terminated, sayonara.”

Keith Duff went on a sabbatical in 2022 and lived to tell about it. He has been back in his same XP role for a full year! Let’s hear about Keith’s experiences before, during and after the sabbatical. Plus, let’s get some insight into his well crafted sabbatical policy.

Resources

• VBC Sabbatical Policy
• See Fletch’s case study: Sabbatical: Siesta, Study or Sayonara?
• and Fletch’s article: Taxable Sabbatical Expenses
• See this section on XPastor for more articles and resources

About Keith

Keith is the XP at Village Bible Church Keith and his family have been part of Village Bible Church since 1997 and has served as one of our pastors since 2005. At Village, Keith focuses on developing and leading the pastoral staff, as well as new direction and entrepreneurial ministry ventures. He and his wife Kate have been married for 28 years and reside in North Aurora with their son, Max , and daughters, Phoebe and Vivian.

Keith has studied at Wheaton College and DePaul University. Prior to joining the staff at Village, Keith spent 12 years in the corporate world as Vice President of the Lemstone Christian Stores retail franchise and served at Village in various capacities, including deacon and elder roles. He enjoys his family, snowboarding with his kids, backpacking, biking, crazy restaurants, theater, electronic gadgets of any kind and the Windy City.