God is Good! On Thursday I completed the last of my real estate exams. This has been a critical step for us in terms of settling into Medicine Hat and becoming self-supporting. Let me explain how this fits into what we are doing here.
When we began to dream about planting a church in Alberta, one of the questions we had to answer was, “how would we support ourselves in Alberta?” That question could have been answered in many ways. We are immensely grateful for everything that Grace Brethren Canada have done to help us get where we are. We can’t imagine where we would be without their investment into us through mentorship, leadership opportunities, chances to join in to the larger Grace Brethren family through participation in ministeriums, district and national conferences, and so many other little ways that have gotten us to where we are today. Still that being said, the reality is with more and more church plants across North America, regardless of organizational affiliation, full-time support is not possible. Grace Brethren Canada is still a small organization and can only support so many full-time staff.
So, when we considered how we would support ourselves, we realized that God had gifted us with several different options. One opportunity which remains as a backup plan is seeing Cheryl utilize her bachelor’s of Nursing degree and broad experience in mental health nursing to obtain employment in that field. However, this remains a backup as with 3 children under 3 in the home, they need a mother’s love right now the most. Myself, I have a background in several fields, but some skillsets require updating to be employable in the field (such as forestry and computer & network support). In looking at my last 9 years in particular, God has been building in me a skillset which emphasizes sales. Interestingly, the particular field in which I have honed these skills has been in working closely with real estate agents across the USA and Canada, helping them do their businesses better. It set me up for considering a new career in real estate.
Real Estate is a field that has a lot of short and long-term potential. Short term, it is a business that builds on itself, and if done with diligence can easily support our family. Long term it has two benefits: the first is scalability: as God builds His church, His people will require more time. Real Estate can be easily scaled to fit in with the time demands as the church can begin to support us. The second long-term advantage is that a successful real estate agent can employ others to help grow the business. Assistants can be brought on to help which are also scalable positions – which can then in turn possibly help to support church planting interns while they grow to plant the next wave of churches to come after. This supports not just a congregation here, but also the long-term goals of Grace Brethren Canada: to see churches planted all across this vast nation!
So, back to today. Having completed my exams, the next step is to onboard with a local real estate company. God has already blessed us with a solid relationship with the manager of the Century 21 office. The man is a Christian and an elder of his church. He has lived in Medicine Hat for over 40 years and has many connections, and the ability to help me grow my business as quickly as possible. I have already explained to him my vision of growing a business for God to see new churches started and he is fully supportive of our goals. This is an absolute Godsend as many real estate managers are only interested in how many sales you make, and care only how you can generate wealth for themselves. With a money-centered manager, it would be hard to proceed with our vision but with the man God has prepared for us, we are very excited to get going.
The reality is that starting a real estate business costs money. There is business software needed to manage all the tools we need such as communications, marketing, advertising, and prospects. There are marketing items like signs, publicity pieces, business cards, and more needed to be purchased through the company. There will need to be advertising purchased to raise my profile in the community. We are believing God for all these funds but we believe that God also wants to work through His Body. So here we are, laying these needs before you, and asking you to consider partnering with us to get our real estate business launched successfully. Here is a breakdown of the expenses that will be entailed:
| Items | Cost |
| Century 21 Onboarding Package (includes company website, profile, business cards, lawn signs, open house signs, access to c21online, and more) | $1400 |
| Professional Contact Management and Marketing System | $479 |
| Professional Website Presence | $419 |
| Initial Advertising | $1000 |
| Total: | $3298 |
For those of you in the USA, you might consider a move to real estate to be foolhardy given the hard economic conditions especially surrounding foreclosures, short sales and such of that nature. In fact, while Canada’s housing market did take a hit as the recession hit, it has in most areas recovered. Alberta was hit harder than some provinces, and the market is slower here but it is by no means as bad as it is in many areas of the USA. There is still a lot of reason for optimism in Alberta, not least of which is the largest driver of employment and wealth here is in Oil, and with oil sitting above $80 per barrel right now, this province is well positioned to flourish in the recovery.
Join us in initiating the next stage our our church planting effort. If you are in the USA you can participate through GBCanada USA and you will be receipted for a charitable donation. Please follow the link to help. If you are in Canada, you can participate through Canadahelps.org and you will likewise be receipted for a charitable donation for your income tax return. We need your help urgently at this point, as the outlay for these expenses will cut significantly into our savings which we are living on until the real estate business begins to produce income. Thanks again for your prayers and encouragement on our journey. We look forward to reporting on what God has in store for expanding His Kingdom in Medicine Hat!
Tags: medicine hat, real estate, support
