Obedience, and Waiting on the Lord

Patrick Kinchler is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hello, we are Patrick and Anna Kinchler. We own and operate a couple of thrift stores in Omaha, Ne called Forever Yesterday Thrift. We have been open for just over five years and in this time, we have been able to serve thousands of people. From the unique and all-inclusive service, we offered, to the financial donations and donations of hard goods, clothing and furniture, our heart has always been to serve those in need. Our time in business has provided not only us, but many others, life-changing experiences, all to the glory of God. My personal salvation story comes as a divine product of operating our business together.

We have donated countless hours of time to serving our community, from homeless shelters and trash cleanup to handing out food to those in need on the street and overseas missionary support, we have given away more clothing and mattresses than we can count, we were able to baptize multiple people and offer many hours of time with God through discipleship, Bible study and authentic community. God has blessed us beyond measure and the fruit that has been born is beyond understanding. It has been such an incredible blessing. In my flesh, many mistakes have been made, failures occurred, and many lessons learned. From starting an ecommerce business, which I thought was my ticket to wealth, and accumulating significant debt to prioritizing making money over everything else and putting Anna in positions she did not want nor was she equipped to handle. Our success combined with my desire to be wealthy lead me into places of worldly pleasures and lust for more.

However, when God graciously saved me from the depths of despair, in November of 2020, he began to change my heart and set me in motion to reprioritize my life. This divine intervention prompted a profound commitment to dedicating my life and work to serving Him. By listening to his gentle voice, and saying yes, even in the times of uncertainty, He has changed us both in so many ways. Our obedience to His call has led us to let go of our old lives and take grip of what He has for us. But it was not until a short-term mission trip to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation that He revealed to me that money had become my idol. It was His guidance on this trip that we started to take stock of “where we were” and evaluate ourselves honestly. He did not desire our wealth or how much we could give, but our complete devotion. Shortly after this trip we closed our ecommerce business to focus on unity in our marriage and at home. Though the debt remained, we redirected our efforts and sprinted to convert the warehouse into a second retail location.

It was March of 2023, on a marriage vision retreat, that we received our call to ministry. Embracing our retail business as a vessel for ministry, we embarked on this new journey, trusting in His provision and guidance. As the months passed, the Lord unveiled His plan in unexpected ways, leading me to pursue a ministry degree and calling for further surrender and to shut down our business. However, to our discomfort, we added that he meant only the cleanout portion of our business. The cleanouts had been the hand that fed us for the last five years and our entire business had been dependent upon it. It was scary enough so we ascertained that it MUST be what he meant. After a three-week sabbatical, much prayer and fasting we said yes to the Lord (unknowingly under OUR terms) and shut down our cleanout business in January of 2024.

In the months since heeding this call, He has blessed us with wisdom, clarity, and direction and through his guidance, a correct understanding of his revelation. Now realizing that “Shut it down” was not confined to a mere segment of our business but symbolized complete surrender and sacrificial obedience to His divine will.

In unity, we are responding with a resounding YES. While it is incredibly challenging and wrought with fear, our unwavering faith and hope rest solely in Him. Our hearts desire is to continue the ministry that He has put on our hearts and continue to serve His people. Through this process, we have already begun and are excited to watch him move. While we love how we have been able serve in the past, we look forward to serving under complete surrender. We have already started the non-profit process and offering ministry services in multiple ways. We just signed a lease on a discipleship house for men and look to Him to help us start another for women. We have begun offering a Bible study within corporate environments and will continue offering discipleship, Bible study, and authentic community within our home and abroad.

While we are encouraged in Him, we have poured all that we have into this business and have very little left. Our home is tied to our debt as collateral, we have put all our savings into it, and on many occasions have willingly foregone personal pay to ensure our obligations are met. Your generous donations will fuel our ongoing endeavors to continue the ministry, enable us to navigate the necessary steps in gracefully closing our business and resolving our debt with honor, while providing us with a brief window to regain our footing. We are liquidating our business and taking the precautions to glorify God in all that we do.

As we step out in faith, we humbly acknowledge our need for your support on this transformative journey. We are stepping out of the boat here and we need your help. Will you prayerfully consider donating to the ministry that the Lord has put on our hearts? Your prayers and contributions will sustain our ongoing endeavors for His Kingdom and glory.