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News & ArtsThursday, December 31, 2009
Religion / Money Newsflash: Celebrity Pastor Needs Nearly a Million Dollars
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Rick Warren loves you. And, totally coincidentally, I'm sure, he needs a lot of money from you, too. Is it un-Christian of me to say that I hope he doesn't get it?
“Dear Saddleback Family,” begins today’s missive from Warren. “THIS IS AN URGENT LETTER unlike any I’ve written in 30 years. Please read all of it and get back to me in the next 48 hours.“I have thrilling news to share with you below but first some seriously bad news: With 10% of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated. Still, with wise management, we’ve stayed close to our budget all year. Then… this last weekend the bottom dropped out.
"On the last weekend of 2009, our total offerings were less than half of what we normally receive - leaving us $900,000 in the red for the year, unless you help make up the difference today and tomorrow.”
...YOU CAN HELP SAVE THE DAY 3 WAYS BEFORE JAN 1.1. Click HERE right now to and give as large an end-of-the-year gift as you can to help avert this crisis. If we all do what God leads us to do, we’ll all be a part of a miracle.
2. Mail in your gift today. Gifts must be postmarked in 2009 to be posted as 2009 gifts for tax purposes. Mail to: 1 Saddleback Parkway, Lake Forest, CA 92630.
3. Drop your gift in the box at the front door of the Ministry Center at 1 Saddleback Parkway so you know for certain we get it TODAY or Thursday….I love you so much. It is a deep privilege to be your pastor….
In other news, I just found this video:
1
Well, Oral Roberts pulled some shit like this back in the 80's, and it worked, so there is precedent.
2
I feel like sending Warren a message saying "well, I can't send you any money, but how about this, I'll pray for everything to work out for you?"
3
@1 - no, Oral Roberts said that if he didn't raise $x, he would die. This letter, on the other hand, is pretty much normal for large charitable organizations. I get shit like this from the Democrats and various Democratic campaigns all the time.
4
@3 Oh yeah, that's what it was. I was thinking "big name pastor asks for large sum of money" and Roberts immediately came to mind. Yeah, at least they're being upfront about needing the cash for operating expenses rather than some "God will strike me down unless you give" plea.
6
Let me see if I've got this straight: They pulled in half of what they make in one weekend and it left them $900K in the hole? That means they usually get $1.8 mill a weekend???
We're all in the wrong line of work.
We're all in the wrong line of work.
8
So does that mean they get an average of $1,800,00 in offerings in a single weekend? Or am I reading this wrong?
13
The fact that the ministry is that much in the red is also interesting considering I read that Warren decided to "reverse tithe" the profits from his "Purpose-Driven Life" books: he keeps only 10%, donating the remaining 90% to the church. I guess now I want to know where all the money goes.
15
Unless they're putting almost all their donations/tithing to charity doesn't this fly directly in the face of what Christ taught i.e. the money making temples were bad, bad, bad? Didn't he, you know, go in and destroy one out of anger?
I don't understand how Christians can preach from the bible and yet have such a poor understanding of what the word Christian means. PROTIP: It doesn't mean running a church that asks its members for almost a million dollars.
I don't understand how Christians can preach from the bible and yet have such a poor understanding of what the word Christian means. PROTIP: It doesn't mean running a church that asks its members for almost a million dollars.
16
@6 and 8- Actually, most churches count on end-of-year giving to make up for budget deficeits run during the rest of the year. The congregation I belong to was about $30,000 behind where we projected being at the end of November, and they counted on December to make it up. I have no idea if we made it or not, but if the Christmas service I went to attendance was about half what it was last year), and my own giving (zero, because I just couldn't manage it this year and because I gave plenty of my time to the cause this year) are any indication, we probably didn't make it.
Still, our whole budget, including salaries, is probably around $1.5 million, so I don't feel that bad for the Saddleback people.
Still, our whole budget, including salaries, is probably around $1.5 million, so I don't feel that bad for the Saddleback people.
17
With this, Rush Limbaugh in the hospital with chest pains and Jeff Dunham's show getting canceled, I'm starting to believe in festivus miracles.
18
Great!
Now I have to call my bank and find out what will happen if they try to deposit a check made out for NO Dollars and ZERO cents...
Now I have to call my bank and find out what will happen if they try to deposit a check made out for NO Dollars and ZERO cents...
19
"The church does not make its financial information public, so it’s impossible to tell just how big of a hole in the boat this $900,000 represents." —Rick Warren
"All things are possible to him that believeth." —Mark 9:23 (KJV)
"All things are possible to him that believeth." —Mark 9:23 (KJV)
20
If Warren wants money from me, he's going to have to get down on his knees and suck it out of my ass. I can get a few quarters up there, I'll bet.
21
It should be common sense to be very cautious about donating to organizations that don't even try to be financially transparent, but the people who send 10% of their paycheck to Saddleback Church every week aren't folks you would assume too much common sense from. I think the argument they make is something about it all really being God's money regardless of where it originated, and the Bible says to tithe so you just do it no matter what. But what's wrong with wanting to be sure that "God's money" isn't being used to make Pastor Rick's boat payments? Lots of churches practice at least some degree of financial transparency, but you notice that the bigger megachurch ministries never do.
23
I'm sure a lot/most of that money doesn't go to the people who need it, but it's worth noting that a major source of megachurches' popularity is how many services and charity they provide to their members.
24
from JoeMyGod blog comments:
on Guidestar.org, look for Purpose Driven Ministries. This is the main unit and from 10/07 to 10/8, the last IRS 990 listed, they only brought in a paltry $74 million.
Now, there are about a dozen other organizations listed relating to Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven Ministries. Maybe someone with more time than I would like to peruse those 990s. Interesting that the "PEACE" branch of the ministry only spent $19k. Gee, really working hard on that one aren't ya Ricky.
on Guidestar.org, look for Purpose Driven Ministries. This is the main unit and from 10/07 to 10/8, the last IRS 990 listed, they only brought in a paltry $74 million.
Now, there are about a dozen other organizations listed relating to Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven Ministries. Maybe someone with more time than I would like to peruse those 990s. Interesting that the "PEACE" branch of the ministry only spent $19k. Gee, really working hard on that one aren't ya Ricky.
28
@18
If I got a check for nothing, I'd just round-file it. So it'd just cost you the value of the check, envelope, and stamp. Since they aren't transparent, they probably don't report donations and such to the IRS either, so I doubt you could get around it by making it a penny. Too bad.
If I got a check for nothing, I'd just round-file it. So it'd just cost you the value of the check, envelope, and stamp. Since they aren't transparent, they probably don't report donations and such to the IRS either, so I doubt you could get around it by making it a penny. Too bad.
29
"I can't" with the these Christians anymore....I wish I could believe like I used to but I just can't.
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