“My home burned on Saturday a week ago. The production guy at our new church said, ‘It’s ironic that the pastor of Home Church is homeless.’ Sometimes, you need a laugh during hard times.

I bought my house in 2012 after graduating from high school. I gutted everything and did a lot of work to make it a home I loved. I hand-cut every board for the floors and the ceilings. I even built the counters and the couch. I finished most of the work around my birthday in April but had just added a new front door with windows that let in more light. I woke up that Saturday morning, walked out of my bedroom door, and said, ‘Man, I love my house.’ It felt good outside, and I was happy.  It was the perfect day, 

My friend asked me to run somewhere with him. We were on our way back about 2 p.m. when my mom called–someone told her my house was on fire. Surely not. Must be another house. She lived close by, so I asked her to check. She called back and said, ‘It’s on fire.’ My first thought was about my dog: he was outside and should be fine. My second thought was about my office in the back of the house filled with things I had been buying for the church: computers, tents, cameras, and curtains. We’re a brand-new church, and every penny counts. We don’t have the funds to replace that stuff. 

I came to my house and saw the smoke. Firefighters were spraying water and breaking windows. I broke down in my front yard. All of the time, money, and hard work put into it. Everything I owned. Gone. I sobered up and found my dog. A fireman I knew checked on my office. Everything for the church should be okay. I felt a little more peaceful.

Word got out, and so many people checked on me that it was overwhelming. One asked if we were going to have church the next day. Of course we were. I lost almost everything, but I still wanted to worship God. It was Saturday, but Sunday was coming.

On the Wednesday night before the fire, my message for the youth was about getting out of your shell and moving to a different one. A turtle grows with its shell, but a hermit crab finds a new home as it grows. If the shell is too big, too loose, it becomes a burden. If it fits perfectly, there’s no room to grow; we get stuck. We must be obedient in knowing when it’s time to move, even though we’ve made our shells comfortable and want to stay. I asked the group when was the last time they had to move shells or grow past the one they’re in? I didn’t know that message would come full circle a few days later, that I would be the one breaking out of the shell I loved and becoming displaced.

I was a youth pastor in Florida when God told me to plant a church, but it took years. We planted Home Church four months ago and had our first service in June. The name means God being back home. We’re family and doing this together. New members opened their homes for church services, but a building just fell into our laps. So much has happened in the last four months with starting Home Church and helping the congregation through their own difficulties, sicknesses, and deaths of loved ones. I’m trying to take it a little at a time.  

I always wanted to have the faith of Job, who sat in ashes and still praised God. Now’s my chance. I didn’t have insurance on my house, and I’ve been doing odds-and-ends jobs to pay the bills because I don’t take a salary from the church. But through all this, I’m like, ‘Alright, Lord, wherever you want me to go.’ I’m more wide open than I’ve ever been–and I don’t have anything to pack.  God is showing me that I can make a home, but home also has to go with me.

I’ve been listening to the song ‘Good Plans’ by Red Rock Worship. God is my Father, and I know my Father has good plans. I have the peace of being in my Father’s lap right now; He’s holding me. My dad died when I was nine. I don’t have many memories of him, but I think about God’s love as how my dad would have loved me. It is easy to love my students and others because I think my dad would do it for me. 

My Father has a plan and another shell in his timing; He will never waste my pain. Since I’ve been through this, I’ll be able to help someone else going through their own fire. It’s beauty from ashes.”

Here’s the link to the Go Fund Me to help Eric recover:  https://gofund.me/536cce82. 

Mo’bay Beignet Co. will have a benefit for Eric on November 24, and he’ll be serving that evening from 4pm to close.

(His home before and after the fire)