Dear friends, it is with much gratitude that I begin writing this post. By this March, God willing, our house will be fully paid for. It's time to celebrate! (See below.)

In case you don't know our story: Over nine years ago we began an adventure of financing a home in Atlanta through microloans. Nearly 90 individuals or households participated in this experiment, some accepting our offer of 10% interest, some declining interest, and others sending gifts rather than loans. These generous people were an extended network of family, friends, and friends-of-friends, including about fifteen to twenty people we had never met. Nearly all were members of Jesus' church, so we coined a new term for this crowdfunding effort: churchfunding. We bought our house in March, 2016 and every month since then God has provided funds to repay our lenders, usually $500 per month. 

2024 Year-End Report: A year ago, we owed $7,855.00 in loans. As we start 2025, we owe only $1,500.00, which means our final payment is scheduled for March. (We've done our utmost to keep faithful records of loan repayments using a spreadsheet that Rodney Troyer and Jesse Kropf created for us, but if you think we still owe you money and your last name is not Mast, let us know ASAP! 🙂)

Open House – April 12, 2025

To celebrate the goodness of God and his people, we're planning an all-day open house on Saturday, April 12, 2025. 

If you helped in any way with our house purchase (loans, gifts, etc.) or work on our property (repairs, yard cleanup, etc.), then you are invited! We'd love to say Thank You again in person.

What to expect (God willing):

  • Come and go whenever you wish from 9 am to 9 pm
  • Tour "The House that God Bought"
  • Meet other "churchfunders"
  • Enjoy the beauty of Atlanta in the springtime
  • Eat (light refreshments throughout the day and probably more at mealtimes)
  • Sing and pray during an evening hour of thanksgiving and praise

Since this has been a group effort from the beginning, let me throw this out there: Do you have other creative ideas for how to make this a God-honoring, people-loving day of celebration and blessing? For example, if a crowd plans to come, does anyone want to bring a grill and prepare supper? 

More thoughts:

  • If you're traveling from far, we wish we could host you here, but we really don't have sleeping space for crowds, especially since we're expecting to let people tour the house. You are welcome to find other area lodging and spend a weekend here, joining us for church Sunday morning.
  • We plan to also invite local church friends and neighbors on our street.
  • If you plan to come, it would really help if you let us know at least a month in advance (by mid March), so we know how many people to plan for.
  • If you see a reason why April 12 is a bad date, let us know ASAP. Our spring schedule is very busy, though, so we don't have many good options. 

I see that April 12 is also National Catch and Release Day and International Day of Human Space Flight, so we won't hold it against you if you're busy elsewhere. However, it's also National DEAR (drop everything and read) Day, and our house is full of books...

Seriously, churchfunders, don't feel pressured to be here, but do consider this a  personal invitation. We will celebrate and give thanks whether with many or few, but we'd love to see you on April 12!

In Other News

Our main house project for 2024 was replacing more windows—one in the main bathroom, three in bedrooms, and a set of bay windows in the kitchen. Two of them were 1950s-era, single-pane windows that wouldn't open, so we are really enjoying the upgrade!

Before (bathroom)
Before (front of house, bathroom and bedroom)
After (front of house, bathroom and bedroom)
Removing the center column from the kitchen window for a better view.

I should probably also mention that I installed a cat door in the living room wall, which has significantly reduced stress for both us and the cat.

I used one of my late father's tools for this job.
Training Oliver to use his new door.

In other good house news, I successfully appealed our property taxes this summer, which will bring considerable savings over coming years. And, looking ahead, Habitat for Humanity has approved us for a program where they provide a forgivable loan for essential house repairs. If this proceeds as planned, in several months we should have a new roof and hopefully also a non-leaking shower in our master bathroom. Maybe in time for our open house?

Family life in 2024 was much like years before, except that it seems each year gets busier as our daughters grow. They are busy with homeschool and a variety of orchestra programs, which means Zonya is busy with the same. She also did several waste audits (a side gig), read lots (including George MacDonald books), and continued her ten-year Psalms memory project. 

After a string orchestra concert where most of us played.

I still teach piano, work for Choice Books, and help lead music at church. Our oldest daughter was accepted into the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra this fall, so I enjoyed taking her to rehearsals, where I spent time in a college theological library scanning the stacks of Anabaptist and Mennonite books.

A typical view from my Choice Books truck at the Atlanta airport.

We enjoyed using my Beginners' Bible Reading Plan as a family this year, reading it at mealtimes. Based on our reading, I tweaked it a tiny bit (fixed a typo and added a total of seven verses).

God willing, our family will take a long-anticipated trip to the west coast later this year, so we've been spending a lot of time recently planning that. It's pretty much now or never if we want to do it before our daughters start leaving the nest!

Speaking of the passing of time, I'll end by noting that today is exactly one year since my maternal grandmother Verna Gingrich passed away. I'm thankful for her example of faithful trust, love, and gratitude in the ordinary opportunities of life.

My grandparents Edwin and Verna Gingrich, several years before my birth. My mother Elaine is standing directly behind Grandpa.

Since this is my last churchfunding report, I'll say it once again: Thank you to each of you who made it possible to buy our home here in Atlanta! Your collective generosity has forever changed and blessed the course of our family's life.

For Christ and his church,
Dwight Gingrich

PS: A few more photos. The first two were on April 12 of this year. See how beautiful it will be when you come?

Our back door on April 12, 2024.
The view from a north Georgia cabin on April 12, 2024. We spent a weekend away and enjoyed a sunset from the top of Brass Town Bald, Georgia's highest peak.
Our front door this fall.