Evangelical pastor Rick Warren’s plea for donations to fill a $900,000 deficit at his Southern California megachurch brought in $2.4 million, Warren announced to cheers during a sermon at the church on Saturday.
Warren said the amount raised after the appeal was posted online Wednesday included only money parishioners brought in person to Saddleback Church by New Year’s Eve. More was arriving by hand and by mail, he said.
“This is pretty amazing,” said Warren, who made the announcement by bringing out 24 volunteers each holding a sign for $100,000. “I don’t think any church has gotten a cash offering like that off a letter.”
How depressing . . . for the TEC progressive gay activists who were all hopeful over Saddleback’s shortfall.
It’s amazing what can be accomplished when you stick to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ rather than some half-baked “new thang.”
Where were these people’s giving before this “plea”? Why wouldn’t regular attending congregants not know that their church was in a pitfall such as this?
My guess is that when the economic tsunami swept over Southern California, it had a sudden and dramatic impact on a congregation with an ASA of 22,000. A pledge reduction of less than $50 per pewsitter would create an immediate shortfall of $1m.
[Off topic comment deleted by Elf]
Well I still have question about this Theophilus, because from some Mega Church goer friends of mine they are financially secure and the economic tsunami as you describe it didn’t really hurt them as much as it has some other smaller churches. [Edited]sometimes when our ministry on all fronts rely so heavily on loads of money then I think the focus has shifted. I still marvel at how the Apostles and Disciples of the first century were able to accomplish as much as they did with out 2.4 million dollars. Yes, Yes …I know…it takes money to do ministry….but does it really take that much to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior? I wonder?
[Edited by Elf – subsequent posts have also been edited or deleted refering to this one]
#6–your questions should be answered by a read of the actual letter posted by Rick Warren on December 30. The link is [url=http://is.gd/5KTFG]here[/url]. Scroll down a bit to the 30th. Also, he comments on the matter in the entries for the 31st and 1st as well.
#3 and #4, Rick [url=http://www.saddleback.com/blogs/newsandviews/index.html?contentID=3412]explains it this way[/url]: [blockquote] The cause of our financial shortfall was NOT a management issue but simply by the way Christmas occurred in this year’s calendar. After 10 packed Christmas services, and with Christmas Day on Friday, many people were out of town or too tired to come back for weekend services, so the unusually low attendance created an unusually low offering. That is understandable. [/blockquote]
My understanding is that Rick Warren, personally, only takes $$$ from the sale of his books and no salary from his church. In an organization this size $900,000 is not much as stated by another poster. The outpouring is an expression of what this ministry means to people and the faith people have in good stewardship from this ministry. Also note that there is no “name it and claim it” prosperity teaching attached to this request. It is a simple, honest request from this pastor’s heart with no manipulation of any kind. It warms my heart and saddens my spirit that more Christians are not responding the the gift of “generosity” that is ours through His spirit. Christians everywhere are responding to this economy with fear based giving …. and that is sinful.
Amen, Julia! This should be an example for all of us, not something to criticize.
I have read (sorry, I don’t have a link at hand) that the Warrens practice “reverse” tithing – they contribute 90% and keep 10%.
[blockquote]The cause of our financial shortfall was NOT a management issue but simply by the way Christmas occurred in this year’s calendar. After 10 packed Christmas services, and with Christmas Day on Friday, many people were out of town or too tired to come back for weekend services, so the unusually low attendance created an unusually low offering. That is understandable.[/blockquote]
Actually it is not….all churches suffer loss during a vacation period, mostly in the summer, but for some reason Christmas and Easter bring more to church! And by this statement it make it appear that he lost a regular $900,000 in one month…really? e makes that and more…..WOW!
By the way I am not the media and I don’t listen to media as it is 98.9% liberal biased and quite frankly I rely on common sense. My common sense, even though it is not scientific nor an expert analysis, just has a huge question mark about this story….that’s all I’m sayin’.
let me reiterate …..I AM NOT QUESTIONING HIS TAKE HOME PAY!!!!
TDillon #6 – – you wrote: “Maybe Pastor Warren is livin’ a little too large and I am not making a snide remark about his living conditions private or congregation wise” – that seems to me to be a reference to his take-home pay that you deny in #13.
[Edited]….maybe it is taking too much money to keep Saddleback a float….. Maybe the Church is becoming more that what it is suppose to be……..how many homeless could be fed with that amount of money?……how many displaced out or work men & women struggling inteh U.S. could benefit from that amoutn of money?……
[Edited by Elf]
At the least, this shows that money does not rest in some Scrooge McDuck bank vault at Saddleback, but passes rapidly through it as a conduit to the ministries to which Rick alludes in his blog. That said, a couple of weeks of low giving should not send any well-managed church into panic mode.
Thank you Br_er Rabbit….
[i]”…but passes rapidly through it as a conduit to the ministries to which Rick alludes in his blog. That said, a couple of weeks of low giving should not send any well-managed church into panic mode.”[/i]
Whether this was a panic or not it was an ALERT PLEA from Rick Warren that money is desperately needed. Why?
RE: #15. [blockquote] how many homeless could be fed with that amount of money?…… [/blockquote] The first question to ask is, how many homeless are alreadby being fed by the ministries of Saddleback? I’ll guess the number is substantial, and it is the homeless and other needy that stand to suffer for a shortfall in donations.
Br_er Rabbit #18….that can be said for a great many churches through out the Nation….but I am only hearing of Saddleback Church making a plea such as this. And please …. [b]I am not saying that making this kind of plea is a bad thing[/b] but only that this is the only HUGE MEGA Church making this kind of plea for this kind of money to make up for a short span of time where “donations were down.” Although Salvation Army and the Red Cross are not churches the donation giving for them is and has been way,way, way down for a longer period of time. Something about this in my gut is not making any sense.
Actually, the Salvation Army is a church.
Well then maybe they should be consulting Rick Warren on how to be more successful in raising this kind of money!
add to my # 21….may the Salvation Army could consult Rick Warren on how to make this kind of money [b]in a short span of time to do the same kind of work[/b] that both the Salvation Army & Saddleback is doing.
[blockquote] maybe they should be consulting [for] Rick Warren on how to be more successful… [/blockquote] TLDillon, you are correct. The BBC did a half-hour segment on the Salvation Army this morning (4am my time) and cited them as the most efficient large business organization on the planet, both for-profit and not-for-profit. They specifically cited the U.S branch of the Army, and said these were measurable performance criteria based on amount of overhead vs. services delivered, etc. But most of the rest of their report was interviews with British members of the Army rather than the U.S.
I’m sorry, TLDillon, if I misunderstood, but your comment “Maybe Pastor Warren is livin’ a little too large and I am not making a snide remark about his living conditions private or congregation wise” certainly sounds as though you are making a snide comment (“livin’ a little too large”) – you can’t just say you’re not making a snide comment right after making one, and expect a reader to know that it wasn’t meant to be a snide comment. I don’t mean to belabor the point, but it was a snide comment, maybe warranted, maybe not, and I understand your greater point about church management, but own your comments.
Branford….Again it was not my intent….you can pick my comment apart all you want and you can belabor over it all you want and you can do anything all you want…..it is still a free country for awhile! I still have my questions about this and I think there is more to it than what we know now and may know for a quite a while.
[Commenters are requested to stay strictly on topic and be careful how they express themselves – Elf]
Don’t know what happened to Brandford’s last comment but I was responding to it in my #21 post….. Oh I see now….my apologies to the Elves! I’ll shut up now…..I’ve made more than my share od comments.
Many pastors in this country have sent similar pleas to their congregation. The only difference is anything Rick Warren does makes the news. Most bulletins I see show deficits and have requests for year end giving to meet them. I know that whenever “mega church” hits this blog there is a lot of negative reaction. As Christians we should be proud of the work done by this congregation and many others of many traditions and sizes and for the mostly positive press the work of the Church does gives to the christian witness.
to follow on #22, I was at the Brooklyn Tabernacle on Sunday and Rev. Cymbala told how they faced a $6 million shortfall and it was covered by just two donors, one of whom has never even met Cymbala (and donated $5 million). God is good…..
Baptist clergy have a real knack for asking for money in a direct way that produces results.
I’ve never met an Episcopalian priest who is good at this. They seem to think that it would be seen as self-serving to ask for more money.