Four and a half years ago,

as my wife and I were preparing to plant our current church, we faced

a dilemma. Should I take a secular job, so that we would have some income,

and be a part-time pastor? Or, should I become a full-time missions pastor

and live off our savings until the money ran out, hoping for the best?

Waymon Ahart, a certified public

accountant, said to me recently that anyone contemplating starting a new

business should really plan to operate for two years before realizing

a profit. We didn't have enough money for two years.

At best, we would be able to

live off our savings and accumulated vacation pay from my previous church

for a maximum of four months before our accounts would be empty. My wife

was still a year away from completing her master's degree and was in a

rigorous program that demanded her full attention. She would not be able

to work and go to school. We agreed that she needed to stay in school.

I had already determined that

we would take no salary from the new church for the first four months

so that we would be able to purchase the many things that are needed to

establish an office and offer services of worship. We would need a copier,

bookshelves, a telephone, advertising, a desk, chairs, file cabinets,

telephones, and other items that I didn't even anticipate.

We would also have to have

a keyboard, microphones, bulletins, prayer books, vestments, a chalice

and paten, a processional cross, altar cloths, altar ware (a church like

ours needs expensive items, even a mission congregation) and other materials

and necessities not anticipated.

There were no denominational

funds available and there were no wealthy benefactors on board. In fact,

we didn't even know if anyone would show up for the very first meetings.

We had worked hard for many

years before we approached anything resembling prosperity and now we prepared

to lay it all on the line. We even emotionally prepared ourselves to have

to give up our home, if necessary. We put the matter in God's hands and

determined to trust him for the outcome.

In the first gathering, 11

people joined the members of our family to unofficially begin the new

mission. For the first month, we received no offerings at all and began

to tap the savings account.

Over the next few months, the

congregation would grow slowly and, little by little, we began to purchase

the things needed for the church. Early in December, the fourth month,

I realized that I had not factored Christmas into my personal family budget.

Our savings were nearly gone,

there was little money in the church account, and we had no money to buy

gifts for our family, which included children, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren.

I calculated and recalculated

our budget but, no matter how I tried to tweak the figures, the money

just wasn't there.

On a Saturday morning, I sat

with the family and explained our situation and related that, for the

first time in 25 years, we would not be able to have a "normal"

Christmas. We would have a tree, a Christmas meal, and token gifts for

the smallest children, but that would be the best we could do for this

year.

They received the news wonderfully

and tried to convince me that gifts didn't matter. But it mattered to

me.

After the meeting, I left home

and began to do the Saturday morning errands. For the first time in months,

I was depressed, dejected and anxious.

Before returning home, I stopped

at the post office to collect the mail. Scooping the letters and flyers

out of the box, I walked to the table in the lobby to go through the mail

and toss the junk stuff into the trashcan.

I picked up one envelope, opened

it, and pondered the irony of receiving the first Christmas card of the

season after such a meeting earlier in the day. I opened the card and

a slip of paper fell out. I bent down to retrieve it and discovered, to

my surprise, a check written to me from a former church member in a previous

congregation.

The check was for several hundreds

of dollars. The note written inside the card said, "Dear Pastor David

and Cindy. Today during our prayer time, the Lord impressed us that we

were to provide Christmas for your family. The enclosed check is not for

your new church but for you to have a Merry Christmas. God bless!"

As a lump formed in my throat

and the tears spilled down my cheeks, I realized, for the first time,

that the church would succeed. Before that day, I had believed that we

would make it but, now, I knew it.

I was humbled to realize that,

even before I was aware that our budget didn't include Christmas, this

precious young couple had already written their check. I was even more

chastened when I realized that, while I was having the meeting with the

family, the Christmas card was sitting in my post office box just waiting

for me to discover it. Before we had prayed, God had already answered.

The next month, we began to

receive a salary and, over four years later, we have never missed a meal

or have been late on a bill.

The church has acquired nearly

12 acres of land, we are planning to build our first church facility,

and we give, as we have since that very first Sunday, 10 to 15 percent

of our offerings to missions and to the poor. We still have our house

and have never missed a Christmas.

"Trust in the Lord forever.

For, in God the Lord, we have an everlasting rock" (Isaiah 26:4 NASB).

[Father David Epps is rector

of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church in the Fayette/Coweta

area. He may be contacted at [email protected] or at www.ChristTheKingCEC.com.]