The Mission Church of the Nazarene

     There is a problem when you aren't making money as a pastor, and you move into an old house and church building, that problem is called finances. We are extremely blessed, because we were given alabaster funds for our house, and the district is reimbursing our moving expenses. We also have mission trip teams coming, who are paying for their own projects.
    We try not to complain, because we recognize that we are starting off in a much better place than a lot of church planters. Only, today we had the air conditioner and furnace serviced. Our house is in pretty great structural shape, but as a whole, it's been very poorly maintained. Everything is dirty, and there seem to be issues with a lot of things. The sump pump had to be replaced, the floors had to be replaced, the front door had to be replaced, and now the furnace has to be replaced. 
    The positives are this: 1) It's June and not November, so we have a little bit of time to get the furnace replaced. 2) It would make sense to have the a/c replaced at the same time, but it's not a necessity (at least as of today) 3) We have a little bit of money from alabaster to hopefully help with that. 
     The downsides: 1) There are still a lot of other projects that need to be done on the house. Painting, redoing bathrooms, fixing some window screens, cleaning everything, getting new light fixtures, etc. 2) I don't have a money making job yet. 
      There are definitely moments where I think "What in the world did we get ourselves into?!" But, there are other moments too. Like yesterday when I dropped my friends' marriage license in the mail after officiating their wedding this weekend, or when the random man knocked on our door because he heard we were affiliated with the church across the street. Those moments make it feel great to be a pastor, even if money's tight. Even if we are eating pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner each night. There's still an optimism in my heart, hope that God is up to something here. 
    Nothing has gone as we had planned. We moved, I got shingles. Boxes still aren't unpacked, we haven't even picked out paint colors, my truck is still sitting in Mundelein, because I haven't had time to go take care of it, we had to buy all new appliances, a new sump pump had to be put in, our furniture didn't get delivered when it was supposed to be (we've been sitting in folding chairs for what feels like forever now), and now we have to buy a new furnace before we can use it. And... we aren't even homeowners!!! 
     In the midst of all of that, there is still hope. Hope that as we work and clean up our home and church, that the Holy Spirit will continue to work through us to do a work in our neighborhood and city. Some days that hope is all we have to go on, but being in the midst of God's will, even when hope is all we have, is better than anywhere else we could possibly be.