Since our “churchfunding” house loan was a public adventure, I want to give public updates from time to time. How is it working for us by now? Very well, thank God! We remain deeply grateful for our house and are making monthly repayments as planned.
(Here is the post that officially launched this churchfunding adventure. We purchased our Atlanta house on March 25, 2016, paying the seller in full immediately, thanks to loans and gifts from nearly 90 individuals or families.)
At the beginning of 2017, we owed $55,112.50 in house loans. By the end of 2017, we owed only $48,037.50. Here is the story of that $7,075 difference.
We repaid $6000 in loans in 2016 at the planned rate of $500 per month. All our “older lenders” have now been fully repaid and we have started selecting lenders of all ages for repayment, using prayer and a random number generator.
Another $1,075 in loans was forgiven this year. Two lenders turned loans into gifts, and a third clarified she didn’t want any interest after all. What a blessing!
When can the remaining lenders expect repayment?
At $500 per month, we should have all remaining lenders repaid within 8 years—before the end of 2025.
(Note: Careful readers may notice that the figures here don’t match what I reported a year ago. My figures last year were too high. When we first invited loan pledges, we received more offers than we needed, so we declined several of the last offers. A simple glitch in our spreadsheet, however, made it record these offers as if we had actually received them. It was a pleasant discovery midway through 2017 to find we owed over $5000 less than I thought! If any lenders have questions about this, please contact me directly for more details from our records.)
Cash Flow and House Happenings
Our cash flow has stabilized a lot over the past year. It helps when you don’t have to install a $10,000 AC and heating unit like last year! I continue to work three days a week for Choice Books, and piano teaching is growing. I had about eight students a year ago but I finished 2017 with about eighteen. I have another half dozen ready to begin this month. Unlike a year ago, income is pretty much equivalent to expenses, thank God.
Some of our largest expenses in the past year included braces for our oldest daughter, a new washing machine, and our biggest 2017 house project—finally installing a kitchen sink! Mark and Marj Otto and their family generously volunteered several days to help us with this project.
Here is a “before” picture:
Zonya patiently endured the above for 15 months. Can you understand why she looked like this when things improved?
Here is a photo of the kitchen sink area today:
We hope to replace or add a couple more cabinet sections over coming years, but the most urgent kitchen renovation is definitely now done.
For 2018 I expect to turn sights elsewhere, probably first to unfinished closets and hopefully to several dead trees looming dangerously in the backyard. Other projects such as a leaky shower and an unusable basement entrance will await their turn.
“The house that God bought” has seen many ministry opportunities over the past year, such as:
- Many house church gatherings
- Overnight guests, including Irma evacuees
- Lending a listening ear to senior piano students
- Sharing our yard, bike pump, and cups of water with neighbor children
- A couple video discussion evenings with neighbors and friends
- A “living room recital” with piano student families
- Sheltering neighbor children during a domestic dispute
- Hosting international students
- Homeschooling our children
We remain deeply grateful for all our churchfunding supporters, and we welcome prayers that we will faithfully steward this house for Jesus in 2018.
For Christ and his Church,
Dwight & Zonya Gingrich
