After sixteen years of ordained ministry (nine of which have been with St. Thomas), my family, the Vestry, and I have decided this summer is a good time for me to go on sabbatical. To help you understand what that means, I’ve written these answers to the FAQs:
On Sunday, September 25, I will give a report on my time away. This will also be our Annual Parish Meeting!
First, I’m going to make up for some lost time with my family. As you can imagine, my family and I haven’t been able to follow a regular rhythm of the week or year. Sundays are a work day as are the major holidays. School Spring Breaks often fall on Holy Week. Thus, we’ve missed a lot of trips and weekend experiences with my immediate and wider family. We hope to do some traveling and enjoy some experiences we haven’t been able to do.
Second, I will be doing the bulk of my research for my Doctor of Ministry dissertation. In 2015, I was offered a scholarship to pursue a Doctor of Ministry degree at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA. I began in June 2016, and I am researching the question, “What do non-churched people in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, think about the relevance of the Church in the Secular Age.” The last, but most time consuming, step is to conduct multiple group and individual interviews, analyze them, reflect upon their answers through a Biblical lens, and then write my dissertation. A sabbatical will allow me to dedicate the time necessary to complete this program.
Third, I will also use this time to enjoy my time with the Lord and reflect on my ministry. I will be following a Scripture reading and prayer plan with the goal of enjoying the Lord Jesus for his sake. I will also be spending days with spiritual mentors listening to their advice. Finally, I will be reading books on ministry that will help me reflect on what I want the next chapter of my ministry at St. Thomas’ to look like.
In my sinfulness, I also don’t trust God with St. Thomas’. I’m afraid of what might happen to it if I’m not constantly tending to it. This April 13, 2022, interview with Baptist Pastor Howard-John Wesley sums up my feelings pretty well! When I get nervous about my sabbatical, I remember it’s necessary for me to serve you at my best. I look to Leviticus 25:1-7. God tells his people to even give the land time off every seven years. Instead of constantly working the land to squeeze every bit of usefulness out of it, let it rest. Let it grow wild. Give it time for the soil to become fertile again. God promises he will provide what God’s people need during the sabbatical year. Trust that he will take care of the land for you.
What’s true of the land is true of me. I have not given myself a break from the daily and weekly demands of ministry that allows my soil to become fertile again. This can only be done by a prolonged season of deep reading, prayer, and reflection. This will allow me to better serve you for the years of ministry the Lord has in store for us.
Listen to this quick message from Mike Miller, our Missionary in Greece.
Join Hamilton Smith for this quick video tour of our new worship space in Mount Pleasant.
Since so many people suffering from COVID-19 are isolated from family, friends, and clergy, many of you have asked if and how God comforts us if we’re alone. Listen to Kathy Pyle’s testimony of how God comforted her while suffering from cancer.
Hello all!
In light of these uncertain times and being kept away from our communities of friends, I wanted to share some truths that come from scripture.
I will post an article about a certain topic every week accompanied by an audio of that article as well. You can read and listen along with your student if you please and hopefully that will spark some good, encouraging conversation.
This is a different way of interacting as a church body in this time but my hope is that this will minister to all of you in this crazy time.
Blessings! Adam
Hello all!
In light of these uncertain times and being kept away from our communities of friends, I wanted to share some truths that come from scripture.
I will post an article about a certain topic every week accompanied by an audio of that article as well. You can read and listen along with your student if you please and hopefully that will spark some good, encouraging conversation.
This is a different way of interacting as a church body in this time but my hope is that this will minister to all of you in this crazy time.
Blessings! Adam
Dear brothers and sisters:
Peace to you all in the name of Jesus Christ. Today we start a new series entitled God’s Clinic. In it we study from Scripture how Jesus Christ deals with our infirmities, whether spiritual, mental or physical.
Dr. Sharif Yacoub
Dr. Sharif Yacoub has been actively involved in Christian ministry and teaching his entire life. He founded and leads “The Way” ministry, an online Evangelism and Discipleship ministry to the Middle East. It currently has 700,000 followers on Facebook. He holds a Diploma of Christian Ministry from Trinity School for ministry. He is also a full time Endocrinologist at Roper Hospital. He is married to Elena and has 2 daughters and a step-son.
Hello all!
In light of these uncertain times and being kept away from our communities of friends, I wanted to share some truths that come from scripture.
I will post an article about a certain topic every week accompanied by an audio of that article as well. You can read and listen along with your student if you please and hopefully that will spark some good, encouraging conversation.
This is a different way of interacting as a church body in this time but my hope is that this will minister to all of you in this crazy time.
Blessings! Adam
Post Seminar Project, Hamilton Smith, May 16, 2017
I find a deep mine of comfort in this thought, that Jesus is perfect Man no less than perfect God. He in whom I am told by Scripture to trust is not only a great High Priest, but a feeling High Priest. He is not only a powerful Saviour, but a sympathizing Saviour, He is not only the Son of God, mighty to save, but the Son of man, able to feel.
This excerpt from J.C. Ryle’s sermon The Ruler of the Waves sets forth an element of Christology that is easily overlooked: Jesus the sympathizing Saviour. Ryle points out His sympathy is only possible because he was fully Man as well as fully God. The pastoral importance of Christ’s full humanity is clearly seen in the atonement, but Ryle brings this different pastoral benefit of Christ’s humanity to our attention. Why is this important? Not only does a sympathetic Christ provide a “deep mine of comfort” to suffering believers, but I argue that this truth can also be used as an evangelistic tool to those who do not believe.
In order to prove this point, I will begin by exegeting the key passages from Hebrews (2:16-18; 4:15-5:3) as they are the foundational scriptures for this Christology. In this first section, I will show the Biblical foundation for understanding Christ as one who sympathizes with us, and I will expound the core texts by showing the multiple dimensions of this sympathy. Moving from this direct textual interpretation method, I will then show how Christ fulfills the Old Testament office of the High Priest by being the sympathetic man that office has always required. I will conclude with a short application of how this truth could be an effective method of evangelism.
Use the link below to download the full text…
