We Closed on Land for the Paid-For Parsonages for Pastors Project!

[mv_video doNotAutoplayNorOptimizePlacement=”false” doNotOptimizePlacement=”false” jsonLd=”true” key=”cxh6lkkudymq8ulprecq” ratio=”16:9″ thumbnail=”https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/v1636656169/fr5qoztdtteokoqpj3dm.jpg” title=”Jamie after closing on land for parsonages!” volume=”70″] Hey everybody! Guess what? YESTERDAY, we closed on 5.48 acres of land for our Paid-For Parsonages for Pastors project!

Can you believe it? I am still in shock. God is SO GOOD!

Before I tell you the story, let me first say THANK YOU to every single one of you, our amazing readers, for helping to make this all possible!

In case you aren’t familiar with the project, read the details about why I want to build parsonages here.

But, long story short, the Lord has led this ministry to step out on faith and build PAID-FOR parsonages for pastors of local churches who don’t earn enough salary from their churches to be able to support their families.

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Many pastors are only earning salaries in the $20,000s and $30,000s per year gross, and they aren’t able to provide for their families plus sustain the rigors of full-time ministry with a salary that low. So, they are in crisis. They are having to choose between staying in the ministry versus quitting the ministry in favor of being able to feed their families and provide for their families’ needs.

We aim to do something about that.

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This Paid-For Parsonages for Pastors Project will provide pastors with a starter home, paid for free and clear, IN THEIR OWN NAME. That way, they never have to worry about one of the biggest costs in life–housing–and they can carry on with the work of the ministry.

Can you imagine what it means to the Kingdom to have even ONE pastor be able to stay in the ministry?

Think of how many people just ONE pastor impacts each week:

• How many people discipled?
• How many people prayed for and prayed with?
• How many counseling sessions?
• How many preachings of the Word?
• How many healings, miracles, and deliverances?
• HOW MANY SOULS SAVED when a pastor preaches the Gospel?

Keeping preachers in the pulpit is HUGE, and it’s absolutely essential.

Yet, statistically, only 1 in 10 families in the church tithes. You may believe your church is different because your pastor praises your generosity all the time, but ask more questions if you think that. They may “speak those things which are not as if they already were,” praising the church’s generosity, but still: 1 in 10 families tithes.

That’s it.

This is why churches have very little money, and it’s why many churches aren’t paying their pastors decently, and it’s why pastors can’t afford to put food on the table, pay their electric bill, or sometimes even live on their own at all.

But I digress.

Suffice it to say, the Lord is making a way for us to impact the Kingdom in this area one family at a time.

It’s only the beginning. We have the land in hand; see story below. Now, we still have to believe God for:

• Sponsors for the forestry mulching with a skid steer, so we can determine the best possible site plan for the land;
• Sponsors for the survey and site plan itself;
• Sponsors for earthwork to build the road;
• Sponsors for installing the utilities;
• Sponsors for each of the 4 parsonages we plan to put on this land (for construction of each actual house itself); and
• Sponsors for the landscaping of the site.

We are at the beginning. We have a long road to travel. But you know what? It is a beginning, and buying the land is a HUGE deal.

So here are the details on the land:

Thanks to God and you–your prayers and your amazing Kingdom generosity–the land is paid for. And it’s 5.48 acres.

It’s beautiful. 

It’s wooded with gorgeous hardwood trees.

It’s mostly flat, with a little bit of “roll.”

The land was originally listed at $59,000, but the Lord helped us. We ended up paying $45,000, plus $400 for a perc test, plus a little over $900 in closing costs …

And the deal closed YESTERDAY.

And it’s paid for.

Free and clear.

As it should be, because this is GOD and God always provides.

And you know what else?

The Lord woke me up around 2 AM on October 13, 2021, telling me to pray and speak the Word over houses and land for some pastors I was interceding for.

After that prayer time, He told me to lead our corporate fast (with all of you, our amazing friends) for 21 days for houses and land. He told me to pray specifically through our 21 Days of Breakthrough Prayer guided prayer plan. (Also available free on YouVersion or in paperback and ebook format here, on my online store.) The Scripture He led me to and told me to stand on for land was Amos 9:15:

“I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God” (Amos 9:15).

So we–everyone in this ministry community who wanted to–all began praying and fasting for houses and land on October 13.

And I began aggressively speaking out the 250 confessions over your finances that are found here in this ebook and here in this paperback book. Aggressively. Sometimes dozens of confessions a day, but sometimes HUNDREDS of confessions a day.

Because those 250 confessions focus heavily on land, and on receiving from the Lord.

At the time, no physical land was in sight for me/us here at this ministry, except for with our spiritual eyes.

But you know what God did? HE took us to the land.

Sometimes, miracles happen AS YOU GO. Therefore, as we fasted and prayed, we stepped out and faith and began hunting for actual land.

My husband and I and my son spent hours driving around, checking out different properties on the weekends. Minister Michael helped us too. I put on my hiking boots and started hiking through the woods on several properties. We stepped out and believed God and showed Him our faith by going after it.

And God responded. YOU responded.

The Lord captured so many people’s hearts and led them to give, and the money came in.

We found a tract we wanted–the tract we just closed on. It was listed at $59,000, but we didn’t have anywhere near that. We made 2 offers that were rejected. Finally, the Lord sent the rest of the exact amount He knew we needed, and with the help of our great real estate agent, we were able to make a deal.

The deal required a perc test for septic systems, and it was supposed to have already been done by the sellers.

But it wasn’t. So we had to get one. Most of the approved soil scientists were backed up for months, but that wasn’t going to work for us. But you know what? GOD sent us to one soil scientist who could do the perc test within days. I called and called him, over and over, to schedule. (Sometimes you have to kick down doors!) When he was able to schedule, I was actually on vacation 2 hours away. I left my vacation with 15 minutes’ notice and drove 2 hours there and 2 hours back to get the perc test done.

And it turns out … The soil scientist and his assistant were 84 years old and 76 years old, respectively, and both were Christians. They are as nice as they can be, and they helped us a lot. Their biggest question, though, as they mapped out the septic fields, was:

“What denomination of pastors are you going to serve with this project?”

When I told them we’d serve any pastors the Lord leads us to at the time, their biggest question then became:

“How are you going to get Baptist pastors and Methodist pastors and Presbyterian pastors and Pentecostal pastors and non-denominational pastors to all get along in one subdivision?” 🙂 (I answered that the pastors would just have to find something to agree on under the blood of Jesus.) 🙂

But anyway, beloved …

God did it.

The first day of the fast was October 13. The Lord sent both money and land out of His miraculous hand, and we closed on the land yesterday–November 10.

And what God is doing and did for us, He will do for you too.

Did you hear that, friend? God is no respecter of persons. What He did for us, He will do for you. What He is doing for these pastors we will serve, He will do for you too.

Because:

• Your house is Kingdom, too.
• Your finances are Kingdom, too.
• Your family is a Kingdom matter, too.

And it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. It is His pleasure to give you every good thing, so that His Kingdom can come and His will can be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Listen to these two videos:

The first video is me encouraging you about one area of finances, and the second video is about me encouraging you in another area. Both are important.

Video 1, recorded just before land closing:

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Beloved, we are just beginning on this journey. We are just getting started.

We aren’t making any promises to anybody because we don’t know how long this will take. I do know that the Lord has shown me that there are people whose hearts will be gripped with this project and they will sponsor entire houses. If that’s you, please contact me, and I’ll show you the floor plans we are looking at. But whether the Lord takes 1 year or 10 years to finish this …

This day, everything changes.

We choose to be among the spiritually-violent ones who, according to Jesus in Matthew 11:12, take the Kingdom by force. We aren’t going to let the devil take out Kingdom pastors anymore if we can do anything about it–and we can do something about it. In whatever area we are called to, we can each do something about it.

So do you want to link arms and partner with us on this? Here’s how you can help:

• Pray for us. Saints, please pray. This is the most important thing you can do. Ask God to give us wisdom and provision.
• You can help sponsor these projects financially. Whether you want to sponsor a $1 flower bulb for the landscaping or sponsor an entire house–or the utilities, or the road, or the forestry mulching, or the survey and site plan–you can give. Every gift matters; it will take ALL of us, working as a Body, to get this done. Just pick “Paid-for parsonages for pastors” as the designation when you give here.
• You can help physically. If you own a construction company, or an excavating/earthwork company, or a building materials company, or a painting company, and you want to donate labor or materials when the time comes for that, we need you. We aren’t “counting on” anything for free; but, if it’s in your heart, we want to make it possible for you to bless the Lord with your labor if that’s what you want to do.

Here is the timeline I would love the Lord to provide for:

It is my desire to finish the site plan, survey, utilities, and road this winter, so we can break ground on the first house in March. That means all the money for all those things will need to be in, for I will not do anything on this unless each part is paid for in advance in cash.

Thank you so much for reading this far and for agreeing with us in prayer. Please continue to pray, and we will see what the Lord does over the coming months!