COVER STORY 20 APRIL 2024 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition up exponentially, so you have to learn to carry that weight, and I don’t think anyone is prepared for it… so we feel the burden, and we try to release it to God and have our team carry it with us.” Suzanne Sauder, agreed that as the lead pastor’s wife, she didn't expect the burdens to be so great, “but I think the biggest surprise was that still the joy outweighs the burden, and I'm so thankful for that.” And when it comes to her husband, Suzanne describes Doug as an oak tree, saying, “he's not shaken or uprooted easily, and that has really helped.” Rest and refreshment Because of the pressure on pastors, burnout tends to be high. It can also have a detrimental effect on their marriages and family, so Calvary Chapel has instituted a policy that would allow pastors and ministry leaders to take a sabbatical after seven years or more as a time of rest and refreshment determined on a case-by-case basis. Pastor Doug and Suzanne took a sabbatical during the three months of summer last year, and Sauder said it helped him “get his awe back,” specifically the awe of Creation and the awe of God’s sovereignty in his life. Sauder acknowledged the move as a preventative measure. “We know what we went through 10 years ago, and we don’t want to go through that again, here or with any of our campuses or leaders.” “Before I went on sabbatical I was not feeling deeply anymore. You’re going from wedding to funeral to counseling session to a critical email to people clapping, you’re the best, you’re the worst, this range of emotions. You’re absorbing all this stuff, and if you’re not careful, you can lose your way. So just being able to rest and unload all those things, that was great! We came back so ready for the next decade or however long God has for us.” For Suzanne, the sabbatical was an opportunity for them to do some hiking in the mountains, which is where she feels refreshed. And she said, “it just awakened our souls again. It was great for our marriage. It refreshed our body, soul and spirit, and rekindled our imagination. But I think the biggest thing is that we could feel again.” While Sauder said the sabbatical was not about seeking anything specific from God, rather refreshing and reconnecting as husband and wife, the message he received from God is, “You’re not in control and that’s a really good thing." Sauder said it also caused him to reflect on how he can be more of a spiritual father to people instead of just an organizational leader. Taking the lead Calvary Chapel is clearly a leader in the region, exerting a tremendous amount of resources, both people and finances, on what Sauder calls Kingdom infrastructure in the city. “We’re always asking how we can move the gospel forward with new church plants and through nonprofit ministries that focus on mercy and justice.” For example, Calvary Chapel helped form 4KIDS more than 25 years ago then watched it become an independent ministry which now has offices in Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, Indian River, Hendry, Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. They’ve also launched Calvary House, a year-long residential addiction recovery program, currently serving 45 men and 12 women. And they’ve recently taken an integral role at Hope South Florida, a ministry to those experiencing homelessness, which started as Shepherd’s Way in 1995 and evolved into what is now called Hope South Florida in 2010. They’ve partnered with churches in Hollywood and North Miami to bring Christian education into other areas by opening new CCA campuses. They also provide coaching for nonprofit leaders, to help raise the waterline for everyone. “We’re stewarding our people, stewarding our property and our resources, and we’re also doing our best to steward our influence,” said Sauder. The Bible calls it favor and I’ve watched churches in this city, larger churches like us, say if we’ve created it and you can use it, great! The most openhanded churches that support other churches and help others out are the ones God blesses. God’s saying, I will fill the open hand. The more you sow seeds, the more there will be an abundant harvest that will cause many people to give thanks to God. When given the opportunity, we try to do this as much as we can.” What is their current priority? Calvary’s mission is to make disciples. “The best way we can do that is to plant churches and develop leaders, so we have an emphasis in Christian education,” said Sauder. “We’re dreaming about what it would be like to have more Christian schools all throughout South Florida so more kids could be discipled. We’re not trying to take over the state or the country. We’re focused on the tricounty area. There are 7 million people in this region where we have influence, so we want to pour our time and energy into this. So our mission statement is, reaching our community, changing our world. “We use the acronym ARM. We Advocate for the vulnerable. We Raise up the next generation, and we Mobilize missional leaders. Those three things are what we’re focused on.” Advocate for the vulnerable is about getting people back on their feet. It’s Hope South Florida for the poorest families in our community, Every Mother’s Advocate (EMA) to help prevent family separation and empower moms, 4KIDS for hope, homes and healing around the foster care system, Calvary House for drug and alcohol recovery. “We also have a ministry called Lifestyles with a full-time employee that goes into the women’s jail and invites people into discipleship programs when they are released. And we’re looking for how to get other churches to come along. How do we do this together?” Raise up the next generation is Calvary Christian Academy (CCA), kids and youth ministry and college ministry. “We’re looking at college campuses, asking how we reach FAU, Broward College. How do we partner with ministries like Fellowship of Christian Athletes at the university level and with the churches that are closest to those college campuses?” said Sauder. Mobilizing Missional Leaders is getting regular people to think about how they can be trained to share the gospel with people and live a life of purpose. In keeping with that, Calvary Chapel founded Ocean’s Edge School, 18 years ago, to raise up a generation of worship leaders. It’s now turned into a residency program and will branch out in the fall to include 10-month certificate programs in both ministry leadership and worship, including song writing, performance and music production where students will be discipled well. As Calvary looks forward, Sauder said, “the thing I think about now is, as we take ground for the kingdom through church plants, Christian education and outreaches, the biggest issue we have is not property or money, it’s leaders. If you don’t have the right leaders, everything we’re building falls apart. It might look great, but if you lose your way, if you lose that white hot passion to share the gospel, it falls apart. So, my big focus for the next decade is about building people!” Calvary Christian Academy CCA plays a large role in developing the next generation of missional leaders. Opened on September 5, 2000, with 450 students in kindergarten through 6th gf 3i c o 1t Ti l p a F H i a R c F L G c t The Sauder Family - Megan, Kaden, Suzanne, Doug, Kennedy, Jackson Credit: Justus Martin Photography (Contunued from page 19)
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