Shift in Strategy

Over the past several months we have been racking our brains trying to find a way forward.  So in early August we devoted a full week, morning and evening to prayer.  The result is that God has given us a shift in strategy that I think makes sense, especially for this market.

Here is the new strategy:

1. Start with one person.  Let the program grow out of our ministry to one person, then two, then more.  And right now we are in a position to begin with one person who desperately needs us and we have an offer from the parents who will pay for us to provide case management and counseling to this person should a property come available.
2. Put the Center for the Cure of Souls (CCS) out in front.  CCS is to strengthen the spiritual life of the community by offering the counseling ministry I have had for several years, hosting seminars and events, and through prayer.
3. Get property, any property suitable to take care of just a few people.  Instead of letting the money we have sit in the bank earning 2% we should put it to work to start the ministry.

• This means renting or leasing a suitable house or
• Buy a house inexpensively to start off with.

We have looked at renting a few properties but it seems that anything that might lend itself to our purposes is owned by people who want to sell, not rent.  Here are three real possibilities that are doable, if we can raise some more money:

1. A 5 bedroom house for about $135,000 just a few steps from the church we rent now.  This would accommodate a few young men.  If we had just another $14,000 dollars we could put 20% down.  There is another larger house for sale a little further down the road and more visible for $270k.  For that we would need to raise 40K.
2. A small orthodox church and parsonage for sale in Ansonia for $375,000.  This is Holy Ground! and provides a sanctuary for daily worship, a restful location for healing and counseling space as well as a home environment for a few Pascha House students.  We would need a down payment of about 80k.

Of course there are other good opportunities as well. We need more start up money!  Some of the money we had received has been used to offset costs and reimburse time.  We have just over $14,000, dollars.  We need to raise more money.  Please consider a generous gift to help us get over this hump. We know that lots of us are struggling, but the fact is there are even more struggling now with life-controlling issues. If you have something to give please do so.  You are investing in heavenly treasure and in setting people free!  Help us to plant this seed that will grow into a great tree.

Thanks

Fr. Matt M.

News for Spring

Dear Friends,

Over the past few months things have been going on behind the scenes.  Joe Scaglia had been finishing up our 501-c3 application.  This was completed and reviewed and has finally gone off to the IRS and the fee paid.  He and I have also been working on our business plan for the next two years.   This year we will simply look to hold one or two fundraisers (one of which is a Bike Blessing sponsored by our church – Church of the Archangels).  Next year we will more aggressively seek to establish ourselves by either leasing or buying a piece of property for the program.  Of course, that doesn’t mean I have stopped looking.  We have one or two places in mind but it is too early to talk about those yet.

I have also spent the last few months expanding the Soul Care offered through the Center for the Cure of Souls (which at present is just me and an office).  But I have been seeing a few people for either spiritual direction or pastoral counseling.  In fact I have been working with some new paradigms in pastoral counseling, taking an integrative approach and calling it “Integrated Soul Care”.  This “Integrated Soul Care” is essentially a Christian therapeutic process that takes the tools of Ignatian spiritual direction, biblical counseling,  inner-healing and an Eastern Orthodox understanding of the intellect, emotions and spirit and integrates them all. In response to the interest I have received in talking about this I have begun the process of creating teaching materials for Integrated Soul Care so that I can share it with others.

Another noteworthy milestone has been the completion of a course in Ignatian spiritual direction.  The course is offered by the Center for Spirituality and Justice in New Rochelle, NY.  They have been teaching spiritual direction for nearly thirty years and have trained directors across the country and in other nations.   I began this course in September and graduated with a certificate in spiritual direction on May 5th.  This course included several good books and many articles, class work, group and individual supervision, role playing and the development of skills.  We also learned how to write process notes and do verbatims for use in supervision.  The course was wonderfully enriching, both on a personal level and professionally.  Through this course I grew as a person, developed useful skills and insights, and it better equipped me to understand the unique contexts I was using these tools in.

As we move forward over the next year we will continue to need support and prayers.  I ask for your prayers as I work towards creating materials for an Integrated Soul Care System, for financial provision, for guidance and for property.

Yours,

Fr. Matt

Christmas Wishes

Is it Christmas time already?!  So much has happened over the last year and I can’t believe that it is drawing to a close.  As we come to Christmas and anticipate the New Year I want to thank everyone who has followed the developments of this ministry and contributed in some way or another.  It has been a bold year.

A bold year, yes that describes it well.  We began 2008 wondering where we would be going with Pascha House and the mission church I pastor.  I remember praying last winter about the vision and for Pascha House and asking God to make the pieces I saw in my heart fit together.  Then I stumbled upon the property in Shelton and there it was!  The whole vision on one piece of property.   Now it waits and we wait.    But it is an expectant waiting, like the waiting we do for the season of Advent.  In the same way the angels tip the hand of God to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the shepherds leaving them with a holy anticipation for the fulfillment of the vision so do we wait.  In the same way Gabriel tells Mary all that will be for the Son of God about to be conceived in her, exciting her imagination, the reality is that the vision will take years to work out.  Mary will conceive and give birth to a child, and she will have to go through months of carrying the developing child.  She and Joseph will be sojourning, finally returning to Bethlehem to deliver the child in a manger.  And then they must be faithful daily to nurture the child, Jesus, until he becomes the man he will be.  Perhaps we are still sojourning, but the birth will come.  Pascha House may be born in a manger, perhaps a small house, but like the boy Jesus, it will grow, eventually fulfilling the vision.

I pray that you will continue to follow our “promise” narrative, our story.  It may be that God will place it upon your heart to leave your gifts for this expression of the promise of Jesus.  The gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh provided for the nurture of the baby Jesus.  This vision will continue to need nurturing.  We are by no means done but are still beginning.

And I pray for your promise narrative, your Christmas story, that the message that God has put in your heart will grow and mature.  I pray that you will nurture God’s promise in you and that in so doing you will have a blessed Christmas and that in this soon to come New Year, in spite of any obstacles, your life will be enriched with the promise of God.

Yours,

Fr. Matt Mirabile

Though it tarries, wait for it!

“For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay. Hab 2:3  NASB

This passage from Habakkuk talks about something we are really bad at doing, waiting!  We are an impatient bunch, especially when it comes to waiting on God for something.  Unfortunately sometimes in the waiting we lose heart and lose faith and stop believing.  We really want God to move as if time could rush forward and the vision would be fulfilled without any personal struggle or sacrifice.  And for those who get the vision it is often harder.  Those who see the vision have a sense of its reality.  It exists in the world of the imagination and with imagination comes a great deal of expectation.  But God tells us that though the vision tarries we should wait for it.

But waiting also carries a promise.  God is telling us that the vision (when it is truly from God) has an appointed time.  Not only that but the vision hastens toward the goal and will not fail.  It is comforting to know that God is more committed to the vision that we are.  Though there seems to be delays we know that it will come and will not delay from it’s appointed time.  It’s not about our time and expectations, it’s about God’s timing and purpose.  This is where we are with Pascha House.  We may be waiting for the vision to be fulfilled but we know that it will come at the appointed time.  So what are we doing with our waiting?

“He is a good soldier, who always waits for things to be enjoyed. Be unwilling to flatter thyself; absolutely put away sloth, that thou mayest daily be ready for what is set before thee, Be careful beforehand; in the morning revisit the standards, When thou seest the war, take the nearest contest.”

This passage from one of the early church fathers Minicuius Felix around 250ad tells us what to do when we have to wait.  A good soldier waits, puts away sloth and is ready daily.  He revisits the standards every day and when he sees a battle takes the contest nearest to him.  For me this translates into being faithful in my daily duties of prayer and ministry.  But there is a contest before me and it is one way to advance the battle.  I am still pastoring our mission church.  This church has always been envisioned as one part of the entire vision.  Since the vision of establishing Pascha House tarries I am taking the contest nearest me.  And God has been in it and blessing it.

As Church of the Holy Martyrs we had been temporarily sharing quarters with a sister parish near by.  It became increasingly clear as the summer ended that we needed to move.  I began to ask God where the Macedonian call was.  God led us into the Connecticut Valley area of Shelton and graciously opened wide the doors.  So we moved the parish and changed our name to Church of the Archangels.  We are now renting Trinity Lutheran Church and have been generously permitted to use the entire facility as long as it does not conflict with their schedule.  They even gave me an office to do pastoral counseling and spiritual direction from.  I then began to ask God about His strategy.  The Valley is suffering badly from addiction.  God told me to present our church as a Church for those in recovery.  So we did an interview with a local paper focusing on our history in dealing with “Recovery” issues and told them some of our stories and our plans to start Pascha House and run Overcomers 12-step programs.  No sooner did the article go to print than we began to get phone calls from people interested in attending Overcomers meetings.  Our small mission church is growing, and God is doing incredible things.

What I see in these events is the vision hastening towards its goal.  It may not be taking the course I imagined, but God is the wind behind it and He is carrying it along.  So don’t lose heart, either on our behalf or for whatever vision God has placed in your heart.  Just be a good soldier, revisit the standards daily, and take the nearest contest.  You may find that in so doing the vision is hastening towards its fulfillment in ways you never imagined.

Keep praying,

Fr. Matt

Undaunted!

We have recently received word back regarding the offer we made on the property at Shelton Plaza.  They declined our offer and told us what offer they would be able to work with.  As it stands there is still a sizable mortgage on the property and in order to liquidate that they would need more than we can offer up front.  This was disappointing news, but I was not ill prepared for it.  I had been fasting and praying for the weeks prior and was poised for it.

That property represented the vision in its complete form, everything i would have liked to see was there and the potential to realize every aspect of the vision.  Whether God led me there to help me see the fullness of the vision, or whether we will still purchase that property one day (or one similar) is in the heart of God.  The important thing that God spoke to me is that I ought not to let the property determine the vision, but should rather let the vision determine what we do with wherever we are.  The vision is first.  Another obvious aspect, and perhaps one that God was saving us from at this time, is the obvious crisis in the banking industry.  As I understand it it would be virtually impossible to get a loan at this time.  Many businesses and people are finding it extremely difficult to find financing and I am sure we would have had a hard time as well. But I am undaunted and moving forward.

After considerable prayer I have decided that for now we will look to rent or lease a church of facility in the valley area of CT.  We are even now in negotiations and I will share more about that as it develops.  I have created a website for the Center for the Cure of Souls so that I can further my work in providing pastoral counseling in the ancient tradition and spiritual direction to people and I am looking for office space away from my home for that.  It is important that I am able to spend my time pastorally, engaged in ministry, rather than in carpentry.  In order to continue the ministry I have been called to I will be charging for my time, but I still need faithful friends to help support us so that we can make this vision real.  I will move undaunted to fulfill it!  I ask for your continued prayers as we seek to serve in the spirit of Isaiah 61, to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the broken hearted, to set free the captives, and proclaim release.

God bless you.

Fr. Matt

Prayer Alert! Offer made on Property

Dear Friends,

After much delay I have submitted a written proposal for the purchase of the property in Shelton, Ct.  As of this afternoon the agent representing the owner has forwarded my proposal to him.  The last few weeks have been strange and strained and I found myself getting frustrated with how delays outside of my control seemed to be happening.  It felt as if things had stalled in the heavens and I struggled to understand it.  No doubt this has been the result of spiritual warfare and I have felt it in my soul.  As I prayed yesterday I felt that God would have me simply submit the offer directly.  Now it is time to pray.  If you are with me in this endeavor, please take time out to pray hard that God’s will would be done.

The property is substantial and with the several structures on it has everything needed for the entire vision at it’s grandest.  It would take us time to grow into it so the initial arrangements are critical.  We don’t want to get in over our heads but we are ready to occupy the land and trust God to provide.  After all, when God gave Israel the promised land they still had to occupy it.  It was the entire promise given but not fully won.  Our prayer is that we will be able to occupy this good land and fill it.  But the emphasis is on the inheritance – the vision and calling – recognizing that oftentimes the actual ground is hard won.  We will occupy the land by doing the ministry to the best of our ability in the present and continue to fight to occupy what God delivers into our hands.  But we can’t fight alone and prayer partners are essential.  Please continue to pray for this ministry, that the vision will be realized.

Thanks,

Fr. Matt

Building a Financial Team

We have big plans and a big vision. I recently remarked that I had the vision to use every square foot of the facility we are looking at. A few years ago as I first began praying about the vision I visited a ministry in Richmond, Virginia similar to our vision and asked the director, “Is it wiser to start with a small building and a few people or go large?”. The answer was “Go large!. A big vision elicits peoples passion and gets more people involved.” So the first part, believing God for the miraculous provision of property, I have faith for. So I asked the Lord, “Great Lord, so what do I do when we get this piece of property? How will I pay for everything and keep it going?” While the property that we are entering negotiations for can support multiple streams of income the Lord began to speak to me about raising a core support team. What does this Core Support Team look like? Here is what the Lord told me to pray and ask for:

A Core Support Team of Seven men who:

1. Have the Capacity to give generously and repeatedly (one does not need to be wealthy but may just have the capacity to give generously on a regular basis)
2. Have a Calling to stand with us in seeing this vision become established
3. Can be Committed to stand with us for the first two to three years once we occupy property

Along with this Core of Capable, Called and Committed men God will raise up others who will also become part of our regular support team. The financial support team is as important as any other participant in the ministry. The financial supporters are as important as the clergy who do the ministry, the volunteer secretary, the MSW, all who participate in the ministry. Some people have the ministry of giving and they are an essential part of the team. We have already had one or two persons in particular who have been steady and faithful supporters of my ministry and we are confident that God will raise up others.

Another important part of the financial team has come to join us behind the scenes. This retired gentleman has been a comptroller for a corporation and is a CPA. He is currently putting together our one, two, three and five year financial projections and will likely stay on with us on a volunteer basis to do the books. We are grateful for His help (he prefers to remain unnamed and behind the scenes).

Please continue to pray for this team and if you meet the “Capacity” criteria to be one of our Support Core Team please prayerfully consider if you are Called and able to Commit to being part of the team and let me know. If you know some one who may be interested in filling this role forward a link to the site and recommend they take a look at it.

As a side note, some of you may be wondering what is happening with our offer on the property. We had hoped to present the offer after our return from Convocation in Florida. As it turns out our Agent is on vacation until the 25th so hopefully we will get things moving again after his return. Please keep this in prayer.

Thanks for standing with us!

Fr. Matt

Property Update and Progress Report

There have been two major issues I have been working on over the past month or so. The first has been simply to put together one, two, three and five year financial projections for the ministry. We need these for several reasons; to complete our 501-C3 application, for our loan applications, and for insurance purposes. I have done these myself several times over but admittedly this is not my strong suit so I have been praying for help. We may have found a gentleman with non-profit accounting experience who seems willing to join our board and help, but it has been hard to connect with him. We need to get this done soon and we need help. Please keep this in prayer.

The second issue is advancing on the property. I have done some research at the Zoning Dept. In Shelton to learn what is on paper there for the property. I learned that the owner had petitioned for a Zoning change from “existing non-conforming” to fit into the corporate development guidelines of the area. This means that under these zoning changes a new owner would have to make an application and statement of use that must fit within the development guidelines. Although he made the Zoning changes and had initial plans drawn up for a five story building our understanding is that he does not want to develop it. In the process I have also learned that the owner is a developer who has owned and developed property all along that corridor, is now 73, and according to reports simply wants to unload the property and retire. After getting some advise from a friend who is a developer I had an unofficial meeting with the chief Zoning official about how we would use the property. The meeting was friendly and the official was helpful, suggesting that we have the owner petition to reverse his zoning changes. If this is done then the city has no stipulations against houses of worship (which is what he suggested we call ourselves since we are in essence a Eucharistic Community assembled for healing the soul) any where in the city. Since this meeting went well I have decided to move forward with an offer on the property. Our plan is to offer Sixhundredthousand dollars and recommend that the balance of the asking price be donated as a charitable donation, which I have on good advise, he can write off over a five to seven year period. We will need to put ten percent down (minimum) if we work with the local community funding group I have contact with. That means we will need at least 60k for a deposit. Obviously we are praying for a miraculous provision of property. God has done things like this for many in the past. I am aware of a church not too far from here who purchased a large old school for a dollar many years ago. Pray that God moves on the owners heart that the last property deal he makes is an offering to God for his success over the years.

Even though Pascha House is not up and running that does not mean that I am not doing that sort of ministry. At present I am providing Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Counseling to several individuals. God continues to bring people to me who are in dire need for the sort of historic soul care I provide and virtually all of them report that they are having more success in seeing me than in seeing their respective therapists or other counselors. I can only say that this is merely the result of grace that God has given me and that my use of the paradigm of the desert fathers in the cure of the soul is effective. At present I am seeing one woman who has experienced the loss of her young son on top of severe depression who would greatly benefit from Pascha House if it were up and running. I have been seeing another good young man who has just gone into a 21day program who will be a warrior for Christ once he has had the opportunity to be restored. There are people who need to be shielded and strengthened in Christian Community for a time so that they can heal and their lives be re-ordered. Please pray for these people.

On a final note. I have been attending Liberty University’s online learning program in psychology for a while now. This coming year I will take a bit of a break from that, at least for the first half of the year, to take courses towards a diploma in Biblical Counseling from the course selection from the American Association of Christian Counselors. Upon completion of this intensive program I will also be able to qualify as a Board Certified Pastoral Counselor. I will also be taking a year long course, beginning in September, in Spiritual Direction. This Certificate program is offered by the Center for Spirituality and Justice and is run by the Carmelites. These programs together will cost just over $3000.00 dollars and the funds are payable before I start in September. These certifications are critical to the ministry I do as they lend obvious credibility to the gifts I already have.

While we have been successful in raising nearly half of the $8000.00 dollars sought in the last newsletter we still need to keep going. We are so grateful to the Lord for showing us his provision and Inger and I are walking in faith. God has shown my wife that our model of provision is not a business model, but an agricultural one; as we sow into people’s lives freely we receive a return later. I do not ask for money from anyone I see, and our church does not “fund” my ministry (although church does contribute a modest amount). I operate on the “Freely you have received, freely give” model. Our trust is in the God who always answerers our prayers. Right now I am praying for funds for our bills for August and for the $3000.00 dollars I need for these courses. Please pray with us and if God moves on your heart visit the “Give” page and make a donation. By doing so you are partnering with us in caring for broken people and restoring them, and you are becoming a partner in fulfilling the vision to make Pascha House and the Center for the Cure of Souls a reality.

Thank you for reading the site and for your prayers and support. Together we are attaining treasures in heaven.

Sincerely,

Fr. Matt Mirabile

Pampered Chef Fundraising

Not too long ago my sister, Lonna Johansen, decided to hold a Pampered Chef Party as a way to raise some money for Pascha House. The party was a success and she raised $148.00 dollars for the ministry. Way to Go! Lonna! Thanks so much.

Perhaps you have an idea for a simple fund raiser you could do that might help raise money. Many events, like this one, are easy, fun and are effective fund raisers. Fund raisers don’t always have to be big golf outings and the funds raised don’t always need to be thousands of dollars. After all, it is amazing what Jesus did with just a few fish and loaves of bread!

Fr Matt

Stoke the Fire!

We have begun 40 days of prayer in our church which we are calling “Stoke the Fire”. Since our church, the Center for the Cure of Souls and Pascha House are all one integrated vision we are praying that God would prepare us to fulfill it and that He would open the doors. Over the next 40 day’s we have committed to pray daily for the birth of this ministry and the purchase of property. Our prayers follow a brief version of the Daily Office of the BCP and includes the prayer below:

“Almighty God and Father, who established a temple for your people, and a Holy Habitation for your Glory, all the earth is yours and you love those who serve you in truth. Provide for us, your people, a sanctuary worthy of your purpose; a place to set captives free and bind up the brokenhearted, a place of prayer and worship, that we may glorify your name in the earth. Amen.”

Please consider joining us as we pray for God’s favor and this ministry.

Zechariah 13:9
“This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘they are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
Ps 107:7-9; 35-38
7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, 9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
35 He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs;
36 there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle.
37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest;
38 he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and he did not let their herds diminish.

Isa 61:7
7 Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.