Excellent selewis! I am going through the exact same deal, I wanted to PM you, but its disabled for you,
I'm going to post my message publicly to get more insight from others, possibly, but I'd really love to hear from you:
Wow. Cool.
I'm going to share the passage that the Lord used to settle me into real estate as one of my three or four main tracks in life.
I am a pastor/teacher at a small new church in Sarnia, Ontario. And for some time the battle between "full-time" ministry and "tent-making ministry" (i.e. part-time ministry, supported by work or business) was being fought at my soul level. It was a difficult transition to make into the business world. Not because I didn't understand it or was unable to do it, but because I had been conditioned to see "full-time" ministry as the better option of the two.
I was reading Acts 20 a couple of years ago, specifically 20:34, where Paul says to the Ephesian elders, "You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions."
I grew up knowing about Paul the tentmaking missionary - how he worked on his own business in order to supply the needs of his ministry life. It was for the very first time a couple years ago when I read this verse that I noticed that the profits from Paul's business not only supplied his own needs, but also the needs of his whole ministry team!
I suddenly wanted to continue investing in real estate for the sake of not only my family's needs, but also those who surround me in ministry and outward from there. My interest in real estate, once I settled the "I want to do this" question and the "it's okay to do this" question, began to thrive. I went from owning 4 properties in the first 6-7 years to adding 7 more in the past 2 years.
I don't know if Paul's business profits were simply given to his teammates as gifts, or if (as may be more likely), Paul helped Luke and Silas and Timothy (and whoever else it may have been at any given time), by showing them how to cut and sew and create tents right along with him. If this is the case, it may also speak something to us about joint ventures and other ways of "sharing the wealth" by using our expertise to help others meet the needs of their lives and ministries as they learn from and share in our business and its profits.
Anyway, all this to say that Acts 20:34 has helped me for two years now. It has grounded me in the reality that business and its profits can be powerful tools to finance the kingdom and advance His purposes. I love it!
