By ANNA CLAIRE O’CAINE
Clockwise from top left: Hadley, Mandy, Tim, Harper and Titus Neese.
Tim Neese has lived in Flowood since he was 10 and is the owner and sole builder of Neese Custom Homes. He is husband to Mandy and father to his two daughters and son. Tim, a former worship pastor at Pinelake Church, spoke with MCL Contributing Writer Anna Claire O’Cain about what God has taught him through his business and how he uses his occupation to minister to others.
“The name of our business is Neese Custom Homes, and we are a custom home building company,” Tim says. “We mainly focus on new construction here in the Flowood, Madison, Jackson (and) surrounding areas.” Tim’s business walks alongside clients through nearly every part of their home’s construction, he says.
“We can help them from the very beginning of finding property to build the home on, to drawing and designing house plans, and then we kind of stick with them throughout the whole process — from conception to completion.”
He continues, “We’ve been super blessed.” Tim shares that his company has built well over 100 homes since their start in the summer of 2014. “I’ve just been incredibly blessed that God has brought us really just one great family and great clients.”
From serving as a worship pastor at Pinelake to transitioning to full-time work with his business, God has taught Tim new ways to reach his community. “(Using the business as a ministry) can be a challenging thing to do in any occupation that we’re in, just because I get so busy with the task at hand of building these homes and getting these clients what they want … sometimes we can lose sight of that and often need to be reminded that God has put us in this place and (has) given us the degree of success that He’s given us so that we can be a minister for Him.”
Tim notes that everything they do in running their business, they strive to do in a way that’s honoring to the Lord. “From having integrity at the forefront of everything we do to openness, honesty — we try to treat all of our subcontractors and clients in a way that’s pleasing to the Lord.
“In the construction field, a lot of the laborers, sometimes they’ve had challenges in life that have brought them to where they are. They may not be in many environments where they’re treated with respect and dignity. We try to engage (them) where they are and encourage them.”
Tim says that God has continued to affirm truths to Him since the start of his business. “My dad has always told me from as long as I can remember that God honors those that honor Him, and that truth has held up with numerous scriptures for sure … we’ve seen that to be very true with our business (as) we continue to take steps toward Him.”
Tim says that he continues to surrender His business to God and allows Him to do whatever He wants with him and his business. “The more that we do that, we’ve seen God bless us more and more. … He’s just affirmed that truth that I’ve always known, but He’s affirmed it in super practical ways: ‘Tim, keep honoring Me, and I’m going to keep honoring you.’ When we stepped into building as a full-time profession, Psalm 1 was a huge scripture to us.
“We’ve just felt God say, ‘Whether you’re building homes or leading worship, fill in the blank — as you’re honoring Me with your daily steps, whatever you do, I’m going to bring blessing to that.’”
For more information about Neese Custom Homes, visit NeeseCustomHomes.com.
Anna Claire O’Cain is a former English teacher and current grad student in the clinical mental health counseling program at Liberty University. She is married to her best friend, J.T., a teacher and youth pastor. Most of all, she is a believer who is passionate about serving God through missions and worship. Through MCL, she now uses her love for writing to serve the Lord in a new way.
