You Won't Go Broke as a Pastor

One of the first things that comes to mind when you begin to sense God's call to the ministry is what it means financially. I don't mean you're weighing whether or not to say yes to God, depending on the dollars. You just wonder how you will manage. You trust the Lord to take care of things, but you need to get to work on the details.

When God called me to the ministry, I was a prof at Wheaton College. Sharon and I had two boys, ages one and four, and we owned a little house just northeast of the campus. So we sold the house, moved to Fort Worth, Texas, for seminary, and lived off the equity, using it all up. Along the way, I picked up a little income writing youth material for David C. Cook, doing some military duty as a reservist at Ft. Hood, and supply preaching at a few churches. Our Toyota kept running, and life was good in student housing.