"Tentmaking" Pastors and Alex's Business

How does a pastor survive in a small church in a village where a majority of people in the village are unemployed?  This is easier to do when you are single or married without children but what about  a pastor who is married with children?  How can he survive?  Does he need to leave the ministry?  This question is one of many that we have had to consider if the churches in rural communities are to grow and have a sustained ministry.

What have se seen so far?  Well, pastors live like everyone else does.  They tend a garden and sell extra crops, some raise animals to sell.  Pastors take any opportunity they can find.  Some may start a business.  In the Bible we know that Paul worked as a "tentmaker" (Acts 18:3-4) and that is what is needed.  We need "tentmaking" pastors.

In Buenos Aires, Pastor Alex and Carol are "tentmaking" as well.  Until he hurt his back, Alex worked as a butcher in Buenos Aires.  Carol worked alongside him, plucking chickens and keeping the business records.  Because of his injury Alex had to close his business.  Now Alex is recuperating and he and Carol were thinking about how they will make a living as Alex continues to pastor.

A few weeks after our initial discussion, Alex shared that after much prayer, he felt he should go back to being a butcher.  Being the town butcher really helped him keep in touch with the towns people. You see, here people buy meat for the next meal or the day.  Many don't have a refrigerator with a freezer.  So instead of buying food for a few days, they buy the perishable food for that day.  As a result, people buy from the butcher whenever they have money meat. As the local butcher, Alex gets to see most everyone in the community during the week.

Now when I first heard Alex's plans, my first thought was…you are going to injure your back again!  But Alex had thought about that and planned to hire a young man to work with him.  Also, he has ordered some pulleys that will make lifting the meat much easier.

I suggested to Alex that he build his business slowly and not get into any long-term debt.  He agreed and said he would be visiting his old clients (schools) in the next week to see if they would be place orders with him again.  A week passed and he called me to say that all but one of his clients were ready to make orders.  All Alex needed was a freezer and he could start.

So we started praying that God would provide the money for a freezer and that night I received an email from someone asking if Alex had any needs.  The timing was of God and the amount being offered was more than enough for a freezer.  A few days later we were able to purchase a freezer.  The plan was made that Alex and Carol would pay back the cost of the freezer and that money would be used to help provide a loan to another who is developing a business.

This past Monday, Becky and I visited with Alex and Carol and right away Carol pulled out their business records.  She showed me all of the orders that they had in just 10 days and the profit with each order.  All we could do was praise the Lord!  Alex said to me "Ricardo, you have been buying our propane gas (for cooking) for some time now and I thank the Lord for that, but now I want to thank the Lord that I can buy the gas myself.  Glory to God!"

It has been an amazing year walking with Alex and Carol.  It hasn't been easy but we have seen God work.  The stories of God's provision are numerous.  And now we are getting to see the pieces come back together and we are stronger; our faith in God has grown.  We give the glory to God!