Rob and DaNae Reynolds share their plans for the next few months as they travel on Rob’s sabbatical.
After 8 years in the role as SIM NZ Director, the board has approved a 12 week sabbatical for Rob to focus on home assignment support raising, study, and personal reflection. One of the challenges for the Reynolds is that a portion of their support comes from US donors, but they don’t get the traditional home assignment time that our members get every few years. They’ve realised that trying to connect with supporters during short vacations to family doesn’t allow the time needed. Because of this, Rob and DaNae will be spending half of this time connecting with donors in the US in order to keep people aware of the work here in NZ and invite new people to join their support team.
The remaining time will be focused on reflection and study. Both Rob and DaNae will attend Breathe, a debrief retreat for cross-cultural workers, and say, “We’ve realised that while we recommend to all our partners that they take part in a formal debrief, we have never done one in our 27 years of ministry. It’s about time we lead by example.”
Rob’s study time will focus on revisiting a paper done in seminary focused on understanding the pitfalls of one’s preferred leadership style with a focus on unearthing and building self-awareness of blind spots in leadership. “My hope is that I come back with a better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses as a leader to prepare me for whatever the next season of leadership needs from me. I’m praying for renewed clarity in what the SIM NZ office needs in this next season of ministry.”
While they are away, Helen and Michelle will be sharing the leadership role of the SIM NZ office. Feel free to reach out to Rob (nz.director@sim.org) or the office (nz.info@sim.org ) if you have any questions in the coming weeks. We would also love it if you would keep the Reynolds and the SIM NZ office team in your prayers as they prepare for this time away.
