Steve Dulin: A practical bridge from Scripture to modern sabbaticals
Steve Dulin is a business leader and faith-based mentor who connects biblical principles to contemporary professional life. As founder and CEO of MasterPlan Business Leaders, Inc., Steve Dulin mentors entrepreneurs and executives through seminars and curricula focused on integrating faith with leadership, profitability, and priorities. A Rice University graduate, he launched Milestone Construction in the early 1990s and led more than 2,500 interior finish-out projects before selling the company in 2009. He has authored a comprehensive business curriculum and the audio series How to Do Business God’s Way, and he has appeared on TBN, Daystar, and business podcasts. His board service with national nonprofits and long-standing commitment to Christian discipleship inform his perspective on sabbaticals as purposeful rest. Drawing from Scripture and practical experience, he encourages preparation, fasting, and an open posture toward God during focused seasons of renewal.
The Sabbatical – From Biblical Times to Contemporary Life
The concept of the sabbatical extends to Biblical times, with the term coming from the Hebrew word for rest, “sabbath.” As stated in Exodus 20:8-11, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God.” To take a sabbath thus means intentionally refraining from productive life to work on one’s relationship with oneself, others, and God. This is not simply a prohibition, but an exhortation to refresh one’s body, spirit, and soul.
In Exodus 23:10-11, the meaning of Sabbath is broadened to include a sabbath year. “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused.”
This observance is not without practical utility: “Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left.” The land, gone fallow for a year, continues to yield its bounty for members of the community beyond those who work the land. Leviticus adds one more Sabbath observance, with each fiftieth year, the Year of Jubilee, which is also reserved for reflection and devotion.
Jesus had a unique relationship to the tradition of the Sabbath, long established by his time. In Matthew 12:1-13, he went through grain fields on the Sabbath with his disciples. They were hungry and started picking grain to eat. When the Pharisees accused him of unlawful activities, Jesus’ reply was that David, too, had broken such a law in his time. When he and his companions were hungry, they entered the House of God and unlawfully consumed consecrated bread reserved for priests. This enabled them to survive.
Jesus went to a synagogue where again Pharisees were looking for an excuse to bring charges against him. He proceeded to heal a man with a shriveled hand, exhorting, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” The Sabbath, then, is a day when tasks necessary for sustaining life, or for the good of fellow humans, may be performed.
The power of the concept of a sabbatical, or a time removed from one’s work, remains with us to this day. US colleges started offering sabbaticals, one-year hiatuses from academic duties, in the 19th century as a way of attracting faculty. In 1977, McDonald’s inaugurated the first corporate sabbatical, and four decades later, some 17 percent of companies maintain sabbatical leave programs.
Today’s Sabbaticals are often religious in nature and may last a week, rather than a year. MasterPlan Business Ministries’ president and founder, Steve Dulin, emphasizes the importance of preparing for a Christian sabbatical about a week in advance, as one starts to slow down and consciously align one’s thoughts around serving the Lord. He recommends undertaking a fast during the sabbatical, as this makes the “spirit more sensitive to the Lord.” He also counsels against planning a set agenda entering the sabbatical, as the aim is “not to get something from God, but to spend time with Him.”
About Steve Dulin
Steve Dulin is the founder and CEO of MasterPlan Business Leaders, Inc., where he mentors business leaders using biblical principles. A graduate of Rice University, he previously launched Milestone Construction, Inc., delivering more than 2,500 interior finish-out projects and selling the company in 2009. He created a comprehensive business curriculum and the audio series How to Do Business God’s Way, has served on boards of national nonprofits, and has appeared on TBN, Daystar, and business podcasts. He and his wife, Melody, have been married for over 40 years.