You made some good points and you may be right. But, just in case, we will keep an eye on things.

Hi Dee and Deb,
I’ve not commented here before, but appreciate your efforts and the research you’ve done.

While mulling over the proliferation of Christian conferences, it occurred to me that they’re a steroidal version of the old-fashioned revival — or camp meeting. When I attended SGM’s Celebration conferences for several years, I was refreshed and renewed — at a huge cost. And the cost was off-putting, though I realized that the rental of a huge facility, the dormitories, the meals, etc., did not come free. However, the price we paid was MORE than we paid to attend similar-length conventions of secular organizations that were held in posh hotels and conference centers. So, I had to wonder then, and again now, while reading about T4G, etc. — WHO is getting all this money? And WHY would a minister who is fairly paid for his labor expect huge speaking fees? (if indeed, they do, and I do not know what they are paid — but a financial report could certainly clear up this question. And not just a “lump sum” kind of report like my former church handed out, that lumped “salaries” into one category so that nobody knew how much any staff member was paid. And are these conferences organized as non-profit organizations or as for-profit enterprises or are they sponsored by a church or other ministry?

A friend contacted me recently, aghast that her church voted away their own voting rights and became part of James McDonald’s Harvest Bible Chapel “family of churches.” And now, every member is being heavily encouraged to fly halfway across the nation to attend “Harvest University” — at no small registration cost, not to mention travel, hotel, and meal expenses, not to mention missed work. (At least one family decided to take that same amount of money and give it to real mission work. They were told that they should consider the University “mission work.”) So I have to ask, if there’s a whole CHURCH involved, why don’t they just bring said University to the congregation?
Conferences, revivals, camp meetings — I’m all for them. But I won’t go to another one unless I know where or to whom my precious dollars are going and that “big names” are not being paid exhorbitant fees. There are many gifted preachers and teachers who believe their work belongs to God, and joyfully give their work away for a fraction of what a “big name” might draw, believing that the work they do is part of their church job description. But in the end — the gospel is the gospel — and thank God, he didn’t give his gifts to just a handful of celebrity-types, but spread them throughout Christianity. Thank you.

Nope. Paul would have lived off the offerings of other people. In some places, he might have avoided that by tent making.

Paul obviously did not sell his letters, as they were written to his recipients. But he did not have any printing expenses either, and he only wrote one copy.

When they had big meetings, I don’t know where they met. They met in houses. Bigger meetings were certainly likely on farms and such. Who was housing 5000 plus women and children. Were they just walking down streests and such and sitting on crops or fields? Or did people rent places?

The problem is we either have insitutional ownership (i.e. the Catholic Church, where the church owns everything). One works for the church. Writes for the church. Church owns the facilities. Writers, priests lives well, but the church collects and owns everything.

Or we have a sort of Priesthood of the Believer captialism. You write a book – you pay to have it printed, or enter into a contract for that. You sell a book – pay someone to market it and stock it. you get a cut of the sales. The individual writes as he/she believes God is leading. Publishing houses don’t own the work, but they sell and market.

Writers can give their material away. I don’t know anyone who does that. Some might give the proceeds away. I think that Rick Warren did that with a lot on the Purpose Driven Life.

LifeWay is a money making enterprise with a spiritual purpose and goal. They DO charge for the reprinting of Paul’s letters and such. And A LOT of money is made. But what’s the alternative? Who would make the rules? Would it be any better than what we have?

For all of its faults and hucksterism, I think that spiritual free market capitalism is the way to go. It’s just that we wish the flock were more discerning.

The Priesthood of the Believer is wrapped up in all of this. I don’t feel comfortable telling people what they can do, but your comparison with the servant spirit of the NT apostles is on target. But since we don’t know what’s being done with the proceeds, it’s hard to be informed.

That’s why I support disclosure. That should be a big issue in the church, in my opinion.

“If any pastors are reading this, I would ask for some insight into why salaries are often hidden from this who are supporting the church.”

Joel Gregory wrote about this in his book after leaving FBC Dallas in 1994. He made his salary public info in the book. 164,000/yr plus a 100,000 sign on bonus. That was 15 years ago!

He said that they are not made public because it would be an issue for tithers who make much less. He is right.

Years ago, one of my best friends became involved in a cult, The Way International. By God’s grace and protection, I had no desire to have anything to do with them. But I went to her wedding at Way Headquarters in New Knoxville, Ohio, and “Dr.” Victor Paul Wierwille officiated — what an experience — man, I could tell you some stories! Among the many red flags that flew over my tertiary association with that bunch was the bookstore in the “church” building — and the Mastercharge / BankAmericard Welcome Here sign on the front door of the sanctuary. (This predates Mastercard & Visa!) The Way charged exhorbitant amounts of money for their Power for Abundant Living classes. I was a college student at the time — and biblically illiterate — but one thing I knew was that church was something that was basically FREE. When I joined a PDI church, I was shocked that they charged a fee for the new members’ class materials, but chalked it up to covering costs — but I’m not sure why the cost was not part of church operating expenses covered by tithes and offerings. Wish I had run the minute I realized the only other group I’d seen use those tactics was a bona fide cult.
Churches used to have libraries. But now, they have bookstores. Hmm. VP Wierwille turned out to be a trendsetter.

If you ask me, a church or conference bookstore ought to be a non-profit enterprise, selling said books at cost. If they aren’t, they ought to say so.

Conferences cost money. Reasonable registration fees are understandable — even expensive registration fees would be understandable if there was an open disclosure of costs.