Ministry Downfalls, Corruption and Pendulum Swings (3)--- Follow The Money

The one thing that is also striking is the gross and wanton misuse and abuse of money. Some of this is coming out. We see it with Vision Forum, and even in ministries that haven't quite collapsed yet...the Mark Driscoll's and James MacDonald's. These people in addition to being awful teachers have abused their offices and enriched themselves.

Average people are rightly shocked and would be a great deal more if they really learned how these ministries work. Houses, cars, utilities, meals and travel can all be paid for by the 'ministry'. That's the secret to living well under this system. Get the ministry to pay for everything and then at that point your salary which for many of these guys can be several hundred thousand a year is in reality a great deal more.

Since Vision Forum has shut down apparently Doug Phillips is going to have to move out of his 'ministry' house. It's rough when you lose your free house. I don't think anyone feels sorry for him though. Apparently his behaviour wasn't a one-time fluke. It's been something that's been going on for many years. His whole ministry and testimony have been exposed as a sham.

In some cases they're also getting book royalties and then of course there's the racket known as the Conference Circuit. Just do the math. The amount of money being pulled in at some of these events is pretty staggering.

Start by figuring out how many people attend these conferences and what they're paying to be there. You then realize that they're pulling in enough money to pay for everything (facilities, food etc...) and still have significant amounts left over. I realize that's the unofficial goal in such events, but if you're going to be non-profit than the 'profit' has to be transformed into an expense. It's called bonus time.

Some of these so-called pastors and leaders are making thousands upon thousands just to speak for a few hours.

Get your family members on staff or in the case of Driscoll use your ministry's money to promote your book which in the end will make you (and yet not your donors) a great deal in the way of royalties.

A few years ago I read about how a particularly well known Reformed pastor was considered exemplary because he took such a low salary. I chuckled because a few years earlier I had gone online and obtained his ministry financial statements. It's pretty amazing to read how $6-7 million a year is spent. And yes indeed a salary of $120,000 or so in an organization of that size is really sacrificial and admirable. Right?

Of course I immediately wonder, does he have a house payment? Does he pay for his car? Does he pay the utilities at the house? Even small churches will provide their 'pastors' some pretty generous expense accounts which can pay for a lot of things. Whatever their salary is, you have to remember it's really rather inflated because their expenses are often not the same.

I'll grant that he lives in an area substantially more expensive then where I live, but does it warrant that he makes about five times what I do?

Is that jealousy? Not at all. I'm not after his money. I'm just exposing what must be called criminality. Yes, we have many Christian leaders that think godliness is gain and are quite busy making merchandise of the Church.

What, did you think that all those engaged in such practices would be doing so with malicious intent?

Not for a moment. Many of these men have drunk the nectar of delusion and honestly believe that they are serving the Lord. Some will have a rude awakening when the stand before the Throne. (Matthew 7.21-23)

You'll know them by their fruits. Well, some of them are bearing some pretty rancid fruit.

This person (the pastor taking the low six-figure salary) professes to be a servant of Christ and by comparing himself to other contemporary celebrity pastors, he can convince himself that he's pretty humble. Some of these guys are making $500,000 a year with free housing and expenses. I think I could live off that. That's reasonable right?

At this point I could also mention the way denominational and 'ministry' bureaucracies' function but I won't. And if I get started on Missions organizations and how that racket plays out we'll be here for a long time. So I will leave those things at present. I've written about some of them before.

And people don't think the Evangelical Church in America is every bit as bad a Medieval Rome? Wealth is power. And not a few of these guys have been ever more dazzled by the ego-boost that comes with political connections and walking the corridors of power.

As I've said before I am deeply ashamed to have worn the uniform of the US military. Yet, I am thankful for the lessons I learned. They weren't the lessons the US government wanted me to learn, but I am nevertheless thankful.

My job afforded me the opportunity to witness power and prestige. I worked the flight line. We handled everything from toilet paper to jeeps to troops to nuclear weapons. There were also spies and certainly important officials. There were press conferences in our terminal building that I was able to attend and I often was aboard the plush executive planes these figures traveled on.

I was able to float around in the background and witness Senators, Joint Chiefs, Cabinet Secretaries, Generals and others firsthand. The most telling to me were their staff members. They had bigger egos than the people with the positions. Power is infectious. Not a few of these pastors have tasted it both in their congregations and in the culture at large.

As sad as it is to see these downfalls, I am glad if it continues to aid in the awakening of the faithful remnant.

What I am most sorry to see is the erroneous pendulum swings that some in their eagerness to break with counter-cultural abuses, overly embrace the culture.

For further reading:

Rejecting both Egalitarianism andPatriarchy in the Church

Michele Bachmann and Dominionism