For almost three years now, we haven’t really had an office. We have worked out of the spare bedroom, our kitchen, coffee shops, and our colleagues’ houses. Working from home has been a challenge at times because of the distractions and the constant shuffling of space when it needed to be used for something else. Perhaps the biggest issue, however, was that it is so difficult to shut off from “work mode.” Since we worked from home, there was always another email to respond to or task that we could work on – our minds never shifted gears from “work” to “home”. Needless to say, Amy and I, along with the rest of the staff from rechurch, have been looking forward in eager anticipation for the day when we would have an office. Now that day has come, and we finally have an office! (Well, we almost have an office).
On Friday we got approved to move into an old house as the official rechurch office. We had been praying about finding one in a great location and for it to be a good price. It seems that God answered those two prayer requests, because it is in the prime location, directly across the street from the mall where our church meets and on a main road. The cost was also better than we could expect. There is just one small caveat – the building is run down and looks pretty terrible on the inside (so maybe it isn’t that small of a caveat, actually).
For the last few days we have been in the office, trying to renovate it and get it up to a workable quality. We have been cleaning, sanding, jib-stopping (spackling) and painting. Several people from the church have joined in and tonight we hope to finish painting. The next step will be to fix some broken floor boards, and then sand and refinish some of the hardwood floors that have been covered by carpet for many years. We will still have to rip out an old, unusable fireplace and completely renovate a defunct bathroom as time and funds allow.
Even with all the work still to be done, we are so thankful that our prayers for an office have been answered. We look forward to rechurch using this building for effective ministry for years to come.
