Do they still make those cars?
(Long Post Warning here)
The Senator’s investigation has now drawn numerous responses from his targets. The requests are letter requests with both specific and general questions. Many of the specific questions are based on news media reports concerning the possessions under the control of the church or ministry leader. In fact, many of the items described do seem somewhat flamboyant.
First story:
Most pastors own their own cars. And most megachurch pastors
I have met intentionally purchase sensible, dependable autos.
For the past several years I have had the privilege of
working with some “up and coming” megachurch pastors. For the most part I would
lable them in the “Live Simply, give generously” crowd more than a prosperity
crowd.
Their autos, houses, clothes and other possessions reflect
this. (the exception is their fetish for laptops and cell phones.)
In fact, I know a “prosperity preacher” that I visited in the past year. In his parking space was a small baby Mercedes, probably 8 years old, with a few dings and honestly, needed a wash. He said it was his daily driver, cheap to operate and good gas mileage.
He said he had been teaching his people about the importance of being debt free and wanted to model that value by driving a used, paid for car. Like I said, this guy is a "prosperity" "seed sowing" type of guy, but he preaches about good uses for wealth. I may not agree with all his thinking and theology but the practical impacts seemed about the same as the "no debt" Bible Churches.
Second story:
My wife has a cousin that has been a pastor for years in
small towns. He is not a megachurch pastor but rather a patient, loving,
shepherd of his flock. His current church has grown over his 17 year pastorate.
They have added a building, staff, but still it is nowhere near mega status.
In that town I would label it as “the striver” church. There
is a set of “First Churches” in that town that are the establishment, and then
churches like the one he pastors.
A few years ago on one of his pastoral anniversaries his
deacons got together and decided to do something special for him.
Of course, as he tells the story, he was sure that they
bought him a car this distinctive so they would know it was the preacher coming
down they road so they could themselves lay aside anything they didn’t want the
preacher to see.
Nevertheless, he loved the car (as did his grandchildren),
not so much for the “coolness” factor, but rather that his deacons had done
something so nice for him.
Many of these differences derived from different
understandings about the relationship of the pastor to the church. Some pastors
received small stipend-like salaries through the year, but were given a large
“love offering” on their anniversary Sunday. Part of that tradition had its
roots in an earlier, agricultural time.
Still other churches used a multi envelope system with one
offering for church tithes and another envelope for the pastor’s ministry. In
some of those churches, the pastor paid for other pastors through those
offerings.
Without going into complete detail, I would say it was
another way to look at the system of finance which in turn looks different from
my church or some other not for profit organizations.
Other churches have an understanding where all the funds are controlled by the pastor for their distribution to appropriate ministries.
A few answers from my perspective:
1. Every pastor has to answer to God for all they are and all they have. Same with other believers. Teachers have double honor and double judgement, so they have to answer that for themselves. You could substitute BMW, Kia or any other word for Rolls and have the same issue. Should the pastor have a home or live in church owned home? Should the pastor have a cell phone?
All of these things are luxuries to someone.
2. In some cultures, driving a nice car is seen as a
blessing and an aspirational value to be upheld by the community. In others it
is seen as arrogance and a hindrance. The same could be said of houses or
clothes, watches and jewelry.
For myself, I choose to live simply. I cant make a choice for others.
One of the worst, documented, mega-pastors is John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. He pulls out over $1 million annually for personal gain, not including the money for his wife and son. It is all documented on the internet... search Google for "PETITION FOR PASTOR HAGEE TO REPENT".
Posted by: fgn | November 23, 2007 at 10:36 AM