Building a home [HOMEMAKER DAY 1]

The corner of my backyard and future treehouse

I'm building a treehouse/fort/shack/hot-tub in my backyard in the next 30 days for under $200. On the last day, I will sleep in it. Why?!

It's March, and that means the start of new 30 day Blogrimage! If you don't know what a Blogrimage is, please click http://www.pradeepan.com/blogrimage

When I started dating my wife from small town Kansas, I found out that her sister's husband built her a house. Immediately, I understood the high caliber of her family, and felt a little timid telling them about the website I built Amreitha (my wife). 

I'm not very handy, but I like man-caves and I like challenges. 25 weeks ago, I started a church (http://www.kalos.church) and it's been one of the hardest things I've ever done. Very quickly, I realized that I need a creative outlet different from my work with the church. So building a house in the backyard seemed like the perfect 30 day challenge. 

Over the next 30 days, here's what I hope to accomplish and write about:

• Find inspiration for tiny homes and treehouses
• Learn from people who know how to build
• Scavenge for free materials (via friends, trash, facebook, craigslist, etc)
• Build the house
• Decorate the house
• Host a house-warming party
• Sleep in the house

If you have any ideas or resources, please help me out! I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm excited! If you want to join me, please feel free!

Done but not done [500K DAY 30]

It's been 30 days since we started and it's done, but it's not completely done. 

We've fundraised our hearts out. So many messages, calls, texts and awkward conversations. Did we raise $500,000? Nope! Did we raise a lot of money? Yes! 

In fact, tomorrow on Social media (@kaloschurch), we're unveiling a miracle story that's the equivalent of raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. I can't wait to share!

After all this time working to raise money in order to make known the beauty of Jesus, I am greatly encouraged. Thank you all for following along on our journey!

We're done, but we still have a long ways to go for reaching our goal. Thankful for all who have helped, and we'll be having a lot more private conversations as we get closer to launch date. 

If you want to give, please visit http://www.kalos.church/give 

We could use the help!

Eve [500K DAY 29]

Tomorrow is the last day of the 30 day blogrimage. I hate to say this, but I'm so happy this is the last day! Writing about money--specifically asking for money--is not the easiest or most fun. 

We still have 5 months until we're most likely going to start our first service, so we have more time to raise support. Behind the scenes this will happen, and won't be talking so much online about asking for money. 

As of now, though, we have a steady supply of monthly givers, and are very encouraged with how far we've come in a month. We still have more to go, but we're way closer to our goals. 

Miracle [500K Day 28]

Something crazy happened today! I can't share right now, but we're going to let the world know on Friday what exactly this miracle is all about. I will say this directly translates into this Blogrimage, and it is so good. 

God is always good, even when our circumstances aren't the best. Still, I want to say...GOD IS GOOD! This miracle really shows me that God can make something out of nothing!

Random [500K Day 27]

Money is coming in from the mos unexpected places. Friends I haven't talked to in years, acquaintances from different faiths, and people I've never interacted with are giving. 

When it comes to tasks like asking for money, people often give up before trying. Now that we've put ourselves out there, the most random of people are stepping up to strengthen our vision. I'm glad we tried--all this work is paying off.  Thank you to all who are helping!

Last Business Week! [500K Day 26]

Going into the last Monday of the Blogrimage! 

Technically, it's not the last full business week. The blogrimage ends on Thursday. We're really hoping that all the people who have committed come through this week. Not only that, we're hoping that more people sign up to support Kalos Church. Overall, we're having a blast with this process. In preparation, many church planters told us planting is the worst thing ever. Don't get me wrong, we're going through low lows and high highs, but overall this is an amazing adventure. There's nothing else I'd rather being doing.

As grueling as fundraising may be, the reward of seeing people commit to advance the Kingdom of God is amazing. So many new relationships and heart moving gestures from people. 

Today, we met three new pastors. One of them, who has church planted a lot, asked us to consider joining his church planting network. Oddly enough, his church is called Cornerstone (the same name of the church I worked at for the last 5 years). If we weren't actively networking, recruiting and fundraising, there's probably 15 incredible leaders I wouldn't have met. I'm thankful for this process!