Personal Update

Where I've Been and Where I'm Heading

To my friends, family, and subscribers:

It’s been a wild ride, professionally, for me over the last year. Many of you are already familiar with the details, but I suspect that many of you are not. So, as I launch this newsletter/website and the new book, I thought it would be a good opportunity to fill you in on what has brought me here!

The Past Year

In May 2024, an old college friend and roommate asked me to work for him at his mortgage company. Feeling that it was the Lord’s doing, I left my job in logistics and started my first-ever remote position. (His firm is in Colorado.)

I loved it on multiple levels and spent most of my time building a rudimentary CRM that made the operations of his business much smoother and more consistent through automation.

However, in late October, it became clear to both of us that it wasn’t quite the right time for his business to incorporate my position. I’ll spare all those details because they aren’t that important. What’s important is that it was a healthy, mutual breakup, with nothing but love left between us (and more than ever before). On top of that, it left Kayla (my wife) and me in a position to trust God for what was to come next.

Within a day, we were given faith that I should pursue writing for a season, specifically to finish a revised version of No Longer I (which I published the first time in 2020). This project is something that had been burning in my heart for a long time. I have learned a lot since writing the first version, and the more I learned, the more I felt it needed some major updates. But between a full-time job, pastoring the house churches, and raising a family, writing was very difficult for me to make time for. And the Lord knows I wasn’t going to leave my job to pursue writing, so he gave me the nudge I needed!

We knew I wouldn’t be earning any income during the months I spent writing, and we also didn’t know what I would do occupationally once I was finished. We just knew that God would work all that out!

For the next five months, I worked on the new edition — minus a couple of months in the middle, being distracted with my head in the crypto space (that’s another story) — and when I completed the first draft in February, I knew it was time to start considering what was next.

God Made a Way

Rewind three years. I remember sitting on my couch thinking about the things I had to write before I die. It’s the kind of feeling in your bones that this is something you have been put on the earth to do. At that point, it was about two things: (1) the second version of No Longer I that I just completed and (2) the book on ecclesiology — i.e., God’s design for the church — that I will start writing this month.

I knew that for this to happen, God would need to make a way for me to write, so I prayed that he would. And sometimes, you just know that he’s heard and will answer. This was one of those times. I didn’t know how; I didn’t know when; I just knew that he would. And now, he has.

Without sharing too many details — because I don’t want to give away the anonymity of these patrons — a couple has recently offered to pay me to write for the next 12 months, both to promote/market No Longer I and to work on my next book about the church. They believe in me and my message and simply want to help spread the word, with no strings attached.

This is exciting for me, personally. But it is even more exciting for the kingdom as more of God’s people learn about who they are in Christ. Please pray with me that this purpose may be fulfilled through my work.

I am so grateful for the generosity, and it is clear to me that this was God’s doing. What love and faithfulness!

What’s Next?

If at all possible, I desire not to get paid for the task of overseeing/shepherding the church. (This is something that I will write about in the new book, so it’s not worth getting into the WHY here.) Yet I am called to support my family and, thus, need to have some sort of work to earn a living. However, in that endeavor, I also lose some flexibility to serve the church's needs in the way I feel called to.

All that to say, I have always wanted to find an occupation that affords me supreme flexibility and a livable wage — a sort of “tent-making” job — and I see a possible future where writing becomes that for me, Lord willing. At least for the next 12 months, it will be, as I work on promoting No Longer I and writing the next book.

What happens after this year remains unknown, and that’s perfectly okay. I am treating writing as something I will do on a project-by-project basis, as I never want to put myself in a position where I have to conjure up content that God has not inspired me to write. For now, I am eager to give my full focus to something that I care so much about and to see what comes out of it.

This website (jacobhotchkiss.substack.com) will serve as my landing page for all my content, as well as a means to stay in touch with y’all. I intend to make my books permanently accessible here for free so that there is no barrier preventing someone from reading or sharing these things that I believe are so important. I trust that there will still be plenty of people who desire to buy the print or Kindle versions on Amazon. But regardless, I feel strongly that things pertaining to God’s word should be accessible somewhere for free.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for their love, support, and presence in my life. The most precious gift in life is this fellowship we have with the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and one another.

In Christ,

Jake