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Oliver Stewart
Omaha, NE
First I would like to give honor to God, Jesus Christ, and then my pastors — Pastors Jim and Deborah McGaffin at Liberty Christian Center — for teaching me about seed time and harvest time. In October of 2005, at the suggestion of one of my pastors, Jim, I went to a financial Freedom seminar hosted by Pastor Bill Krause in California (The last time I posted this on flippinghomes.com, I got some negative feedback from other posters, one stated how could I follow a man that I only knew from a 3 day seminar. At the time, I did not go in to a rebuttal. But I would like to say that after serving as his personal usher, I know that he likes a strawberry frappuccino with non-fat milk, hold the whip cream from Starbucks. So I know him better than you would think.)
During one of the conferences here in June, I was chauffeuring Pastor Krause and his wife back from their hotel, and he asked me what I did for a living. So I told him about my real estate business and how I fixed up houses and sold them. He stated that he had done this at one time and used some of the workers in his church and used the profit in the church.
I had been negotiating with a lady in California who had a house in Nebraska next to my current rehab project, for about 4 months. Her renter had moved out and it had been abandoned for about 4 months. We had agreed upon a price, but my banker wouldn't fund it because it was too high and my market was slowing down. All the time we had been negotiating, I never knew what SHE did for a living. After our last correspondence, she signed her e-mail. Pastor. PASTOR, I thought. I try not to flaunt the fact that I am a Christian in business situations. At the time my business was stagnating and my heart's desire to fund many of our projects at church was going unfulfilled, after all I am a King (A teaching from Kings and Priest that I learned from Pastor Charles Nieman). After talking with Pastor Krause and using truths from sermons that my pastor (Jim McGaffin) had taught about using "what's in your hand" and "unusual offerings", God gave me a creative idea of using the deal I was ready to discard. It all began to come together as I prayed. I sent an email to the Pastor in California and shared my heart with her and told her if she could come down in price, I would complete the rehab using as many workers in my church as I could and... give 100 percent of my profit to the church (an idea from the 6 month rule)... as a seed for one of the affirmation goals that I have set with Pastor Krause. I also gave her my Pastor's e-mail and the link to our new website (Thanks, Mary Willamsen). She sent me an e-mail back and stated that she was going on a retreat and she would let me know. She came back from the retreat and said, "send her the contract and she would sign it."
My wife (of soon to be 25 years, thanks to the help of my pastors) and 1 were in agreement and together we went to our pastor to tell him our intentions and to have accountability. The rehab started in Oct of 2006 and I did use as many of the workers in the church as I could, but to stay on schedule, I had to use some worker's who arent in my church. My roofer, Pedro is a deacon at his church and a great inspiration and friend to me. Most of the rehab labor cost of around 11,000 dollars went to members of my church or area churches. Well on Monday, March 5th 2007, my wife and I had the privilege of planting a seed of $10,020.41, Our first 5 FIGURE OFFERING! To some that may be a lot, to others very little, but to me it is a sign of obedience to God's word spoken to me in a time of prayer. I will close with my favorite prayer that I gave to my youngest son. Brandon Wesley Palmer Stewart as he left for Iraq, serving in the United States Army: The Prayer of Jabez:O Lord bless me indeed,
And enlarge my territory
And may your hand be with me
And protect from evil, so I do not cause harm
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