Can I Cancel Your Subscription to Being Called Hospitable?

I just got a phone call. Our ministry's booking for June 5 was just cancelled because no one called to confirm the event, so it wasn't on their church calendar, and they've made plans for the weekend now.

Four problems here.

Problem One: I called and confirmed the event two weeks ago. The church secretary was very excited that we were coming back, since it's been a few years since Jeremy and Lydia ministered at their church (see Problem Two). Just two weeks ago, the event was officially on the calendar. How it mysteriously disappeared is something I cannot comprehend without an admission of what is really happening.

Problem Two: We had a booking at this church last year. We called to make sure everything was still on, and the pastor apologized, because we were not on the church calendar (#trending) and he booked a guest minister from Lithuania. The pastor claims that he must've forgotten to write down the date, which is why he refuses to handle anything about booking anymore. From that point forward, we were supposed to schedule ministry dates through his wife and/or the church secretary. Which we did. Which I confirmed two weeks ago.

Problem Three: We do not waste gas if we do not have to. This booking was placed here because we have other ministry events happening in that state both before and after that date. We arranged for lodging with friends of ours who attend [the church that just cancelled us again]. To be specific, Jeremy is painting at a larger band's concert two days before our ministry date, then we have a TV interview, a large outreach at a secular music festival, a benefit concert, and a special church service lined up in the area for the following week. All of those events are still booked, but Problem Three is dual-edged in that (a) it's bad enough that our travel plans now change short-notice, as well as lodging plans with our good friends, and (b) it's very closely tied to Problem Four.

Problem Four: This was a money-making event for us. I hate to sound crass that way, but you must understand: we make no money at the TV interview, we are donating our time and services at the secular festival outreach, the benefit concert isn't exactly benefiting us, and the special church service is now the first time that our ministry will actually generate any income at all on this trip. What is even worse is that this church has an average attendance of 1,200 people. The last time Jeremy and Lydia were there, they only took up a love offering, but the total came to $3,400. Our ministry operates on a baseline of $1,100 per week in order to cover gas, food, and fuel costs for everyone driving from separate places for practices and getting together to make our ministry trips. The weekly baseline also includes a below-minimum-wage pay for our members. At this point, we have been donating our time and costs and working extra jobs so that the ministry won't have to pay us out of money we don't have.

This church's love offering would have covered at least two weeks' worth of pay for our team. It would have covered all of the upcoming events that we aren't making any money on. It would have helped us recover from three weeks of little income.

But we won't see a love offering that supplies our needs, because we weren't on the church calendar. Except, you know, when we were.