Friday, September 10, 2004
San Diego county is like many regions around the country - we've experienced a blindingly rapid rise in the cost of living. Housing is extraordinarily expensive. The median price of a home here is over $550,000. And let me tell you, the house that half a million dollars buys you isn't very impressive. Our affordability index is right around ten percent - in other words, 90 people out of a hundred cannot afford to buy a home in this market.
In one sense, Michelle and I are very grateful to have been able to get into the home ownership game during a low spot in the housing market and a high spot in the stock market several years ago. It's become discouraging, though, even though we got our piece of the action. We know that if we were to sell our home and move to another home of equal value, we couldn't afford it - our property taxes would nearly double.
This is one aspect of life and ministry in this time and place. It's not the most important one by any means. And yet it does have an impact. This makes the notion of house/simple/organic churches even more like a no brainer.
