Faith
LiveSteez research shows that Black churches, in aggregate, have collected more than $420 billion in tithes and donations since 1980. With a Senate investigation into the finances of several mega churches underway, the “Prosperity Movement” has been the target of mounting criticism from inside and outside the Black Church. Specifically, the affluent ministries of The Reverend Creflo Dollar, Bishop Eddie Long and others have drawn the attention – and ire – of some clergy and laypeople alike.
Researcher Henry E. Felder’s study of Blacks’ donation habits demonstrated per capita spending of $508 per year in 2009 dollars. Another source, Tyler Media Services, estimated that Black Church revenue approached $17 billion in 2006.
One church, the Reverend Dollar’s World Changers, reported $69 million in 2006 income, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Mainstream politicians and Black community leaders are demanding a better accounting of the “return on investment” offered by churches to the communities that fund them. Meanwhile, legions of faithful churchgoers defend their pastors and accuse their detractors of applying a double standard that ignores the largesse of wealthy, white televangelists, while underplaying the economic development and social service functions provided by the Black Church.
“The church has gotten caught up in materialism and greed, a lifestyle. Many ministers today want to live like celebrities and they want to be treated like celebrities. In other words, instead of the church standing with the community, the church has become self-serving. It has strayed away from its mission” according to Dr.Love Henry Whelchel, professor of church history at The Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.
Few people – not even the ongoing Congressional investigation by Senator Chuck Grassley accuse the mega church pastors of outright larceny, and congregants generally approve of their pastors’ luxurious lifestyles. However, in a blatant recent example, a father-son pastor team, 76-year-old Richard Cunningham of Moreno Valley and his son, 52-year-old Philip Cunningham of Laurinburg, N.C., pleaded guilty to felony grand theft and fraud charges. The younger Cunningham also pleaded guilty to forgery. Over five years, prosecutors say, the Cunninghams stole from Calvary Baptist Yorba Linda Church and School bank accounts and used the money to buy time shares in Hawaii and Palm Springs, golf club memberships and a Cadillac. Prosecutors say the men have paid $3.1 million in restitution to the church.
LiveSteez’s investigative series will take a forensic editorial approach to quantifying the return to Black America for the $350 billion in tax-favored donations it has given to the Black Church, examining the arguments on both sides of the pulpit. In this series we will seek answers and advisory to the following questions:
- How often and how much do church leaders take advantage of the faith of poor black people?
-We will investigate and indentify the churches they are showing a strong return on investment that goes beyond inspiration.
- What does the black community have to show for the $350 billion in tax free dollars?
- Expert analysis on what could potentially be done with such a huge amount of money and how it could improve the state of our communities.
- Why do some church leaders refuse to participate in the Grassley congressional Investigation, which requested the financial records of several mega-churches.
LiveSteez
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Some pastors are in fact money hungry! However, it would be ludicrous to criticize them all and generalize them all as being money hungry! Thats the devils plan to attack these men and get people to give up hope concerning their salvation! Thats why you see so many people lost because they don’t know what to believe, and at the same time its important that we know the word for ourselves so that we can understand when we’re being bamboozled. Its clear that we live in a body thats not plugged into a socket, my point is we have a soul that when dies goes it goes to heaven or hell based on your decision to accept Christ, thats these brothers messages clearly I’ve sat under both their ministries. All these men here the Dr. Dollars, and the T.D. Jakes all have viable businesses, Bishop Jakes has been putting books out since the early 90′s and has directed movies, and Dr. Dollar, the Dr. means he is a PHD, he was a phsyc counselor for years making $150 an hour, and he has books out, and he has a record label thats under universal music group, with grammy nominee artist. When these men put books out they get million dollar contracts. To sum it up the bible clearly says what ever is in the dark will come to the marvelous light, so if something is up don’t you think it would have been out already. If you know anything about law and business The Senate doesn’t even have the proper jurisdiction to look into Non-Profit organizations, that the IRSs’ dealings. The Bible says it clearly when you seek him first and nothing else great rewards will clearly come your way, the lord takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants. If your blessed your blessed. The bible also talks about messing with Men of God, and how God doesn’t like that and vengeance is his. You see many people fall apart from speaking bad against the lives of his people. But again if your fooling with money of Gods people, God will take care of you.
Some jackleg preacher is hardly one of God’s people. Most of those dudes are nothing but pimps, that took their game off the street corners and into the church building. They know that silly people hear the words “God” and “Jesus” and will turn off their brains and blindly follow any person that they even REMOTELY think is a Jesus freak. Yeah, there are some guys that are legit, but the vast majority and I would say 90% , are nothing but con men.
The “God wants you to be rich/We’ll show you how to prosper” message is a tremendous lure for all races. Built into that message is another: For every dollar you donate to the church, you will receive as much as $100 back. That not only positions God as a slot machine; it encourages larger donations. I was a guest at a ministers’ breakfast, and when it was time for the love offering, one minister said, “I think I’ll give $100 because I really need God to give me a money blessing!”
I’ll be following this investigation. I think it will be fascinating to see how much return the communities served by these churches actually receive. Wouldn’t it be lovely if it’s quite high?
I think it’s a shame how those who are supposed to lead people to Christ are the first to pervert his message. Jesus never preached the prosperity message we here today. The story of PHD pastors who make millions on their books is a bad arguement. Isn’t the pastors mission to share Jesus to the maximum and make it accessable to more people. Why does he sell his books and CDs if he has so much money? Is he a businessman selling the gospel? Why are the prices sometimes even higher than those of the secular world? If his objective is to make millions than great. But if it is to spread the word, those millions should be going right back into doing just that, which would prevent him from being a millionaire. The Bible asks church members to give 10% of their earnings or any money they have as tithe to the churh so the pastor doesn’t have to have another job. This is different from offerings, which is also asked to give for maintaining the church and charity. If a pastor has 10 people paying 10%, that is 100% for him as compared to the average salary of his congregation. So when you have a megachurch with 10 000 members paying 10%, I will have to assume this was not GOD’s plan since during Jesus’s time there were no megachurches but small congragation after his death. The legacy of exploitation of Black people continues by, of all people, Black pastors. May GOD have mercy on the uneducated, eventhough the Bible does state, without knowledge the people perish. It has been written.
All I got to say is “MY PEOPLE WAKE UP!!!!” Giving money to these con men is a sin in itself! Jesus never wore a pimp suit like these men. These pimps are running around in big boats, jets, private villas and big mansions while there own congragation is struggling to find where their next meal is coming from! Their image is subliminally telling you that they are superior to you and they will be next to God in heaven but not you poor man and woman! Just the fact that the’re black makes it worse cause they know our struggle, their forefathers died and struggled in slavery and oppresion just like ours. How dare you take our money and squander it to fulfill your dirty fantasies! Well Karma is definatley Real and what comes around goes around. Ashe!!!
It started with the Romans /the Catholic church these guys are just copy cats .Feed your family first and then help the need in person .
This story is BOGUS. “LiveSteez” has provided NO EVIDENCE and NO METHODOLOGY supporting a finding of $420 Billion collected by black churches.
How We Taxpayers PAY for YOUR PASTOR’S LIFESTYLE
Great piece!
HW
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We’re posting your response.
HW
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all that money u all gave too the church and look at our hood our poor our unemployed our your man killn each orther 4 what $$$$$$ its a dam shame we dont need the white man help we can help our selfs with all that money we need 2 get it 2gether b4 its 2 late what hell we r gon 2 do about it what what i wish i new dam i wish know what 2do
This article is ridiculous; imagine, all the black churches in America over the period of 22 yrs got $420 Billion & someone is crying foul! How much did the White churches collect over the same period? This is pure racism. And the black churches had no expenditure or acquire properties during the time? Or the Pastors just embezzled all the funds? The anti-prosperity folks are nothing more than people who aren’t happy with the grace & mercies God has shown us in the church. Of course, we have bad eggs but that’s beside the fact. This is a sweeping generality & reckless attempt to discredit every black pastor as a rogue & every black congregant as illiterate. Without justifying their display of opulence, most of these Pastors sell enough of their books, cds & dvds to afford the comfort they enjoy. The real problem is the perception that God’s ministers must be poor as well as the inverted logic that because we have poor people around us we must never enjoy the blessings God has graciously given to us. Truth is that being poor is not always a matter of deprivation but of choice & mental laziness. I have seen poor folks who refused jobs but chose to beg in Africa & India! Te poor must be helped to come up; the rich shouldn’t be bullied to go down. What Christ taught is to help the poor but never said to choose poverty.
ebaba,
You are actually wrong. The white churches do take up a lot of money because they are more wealthier than the black community. However they do pour large portions of that back into their community. We did research just in our area alone. They did a study of the finances of the top 10 black pastors and the top ten white pastors. The average house for the black pastors was 1.4 million dollars. the average house for the white pastors was 350 thousand. You know why? The congregation and a staff control the finances rather than the pastor. so funds can go towards developing and helping the needy. As far as them being wealthy. They don’t have to do it off the backs of the people and most of them do. Most of them are very wasteful. We have a very wasteful community and it starts with the Pastors because they have the power. I’ve seen it for myself. No one have had to tell me. I’ve been in their studies and their vehicles and have personally heard the scams.
The church dont need 420 billion dollars the poor people who give do im not paying for anyones college education or cars or vacation homes or private jets when i need to pay my own dayum bills all pimps an will be dealt with.
HOrrible and so many of our people is suffering internationally. I dont give these fools my money. smdh
Leave God’s people alone, Let God be the judge
Let’s remember the scripture itself. No one ever critizies the drug dealer, criminal, mafia, and the like for their wealth. In the Bible the richest people on the plant where those that walked with God: Job, Solomon, his father David, and first Abraham. Why then are we blasting the church? Remember Justus told Jesus the oil that Mary Magdalen(sp) wasted on his feet could have been spent to feed the poor. Jesus’ response was “the poor you have with you always”. Let’s not the the world dictate to us in our house of worship. Psalms says the Blessing of the Lord maketh rich and adds no sorrow. Also, this is judgement time for the church. Every Pastor exposed has an opportunity before God to get it right. We also have an opportunity to get it right. Now is that time. Don’t wait until the Lord starts to judge the world.
Kimberley,
What are you talking about. You can’t compare sinners unrighteous to men who are supposed to be righteous. The world is not dictating. The world is looking at how the christian leaders who are supposed to be the example of Christ, rapping people blind and we are so giddy to have nice things we think nice things are going to fall out the sky if we get in a line. Total ignorance. God is not a pimp. He would not have us to give that way. every leader is not that way but I know a lot of them that are.
PAGANISM AND SLAVE ENTRAPMENT. OUR SLAVEOWNERS WERE CHRISTIANS, THE FIRST SLAVESHIP WAS NAMED JESUS, WAKE UP MY PPL. THEY DONT TEACH US OUR HISTORY BECAUSE IF THEY DID WE WOULD WAKE UP AND SEE LIES AND BECOME THE GODS AGAIN
Warren:
Yes there are wolves in sheeps clothing. What’s going on now is God judgement. There are some pimps of the Word of God. But what did the Apostle Paul say. Some preach Christ to add to my chains but never the less Christ is preached. Yes I still maintain the world is so concerned that we as black folk have that much money. NO One questions the Catholic Church, the Mob, Drug dealers etc for their wealth. I know that God isn’t a pimp. But I believe the World is amazed that we even have this much money in our churched. Let’s watch God judge His church remember this is where the end time judgement of God begains in the House of God.
These pastors are gonna catch HELL from the Most High for THESE STUNTS!
I do believe all the ideas you have presented
to your post. They are very convincing and will definitely work.
Nonetheless, the posts are too short for beginners.
May you please lengthen them a bit from next time? Thanks for the post.
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A “K.J. Bible Christian” believes Numbers 23:19 ! And , standing on that “Rock” he can begin an intelligent approach to Doctrinal Truth . God has said ; that the Gospel of The Kingdom ( That “The 12 Preached ) and “The Gospel of The Grace of God” that Paul preached are DIFFERENT ! To make them as “one-and-the-same” is to NOT believe Numbers 23:19 !!
The truth be told,
Most of the Pastors that are mentioned in these mega churches are business men selling the prosperity message and we as Black folks eat it up as if there will be a trickle down affect.” Creflo Dollar means create a flow of dollars” where is Christ’s message in that? it seems that we all have forgotten these words, ” It is easier for a camel to pass thru the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God! Wake up these guys want to be rock stars but the only talent that they have is charisma and they exploit that amongst the sheep! Learn the word for yourself so that you can recognize the wolf.Even if 420 is off by 100 billion it’s still way to much money for black folks to give to the so called church, the church is the people and the people are broke. When you have ATM’s in churches and churches asking for w-2′ that is a problem. Wake up sheep , wake up!!
When mega-white churches were getting TV deals, starting theme parks, using their influence to play politics…….no white watchdog group came out and challenged were they got the money from and how they used it. Jerry Falwell used church money to start a college, a private school, The Old Time Gospel Hour, and he took over for Jim Baker to run his christian resort in Orlando. Jerry Falwell used church funds to buy up property in and around Lynchburg, and used his influence to shut down black businesses. No money he got from the church went to improving the poverty in Lynchburg. Even the scraps from his church would have helped the poverty issue in Lynchburg and surrounding areas. Jerry Falwell and his church know the Bible and what it says about the poor, but no one goes to his church that is poor. With these black mega churches are they so big they can take over a whole city or town and influence public policy or are they just about the money? Have they branched out within the community to show the money coming in is supporting the less fortunate through church programs where funding is not an issue. Has the building from the building fund been built yet? Is the church creating jobs and circulating tithes back to those giving it? That is all we need to know. What these ministers/pastors make outside of the church is their business. They should pay more in tithes if they are the wealthiest within their own church. These men are not fools and their congregation would be doing the same thing if the pastor was white. Black people are religious prisoners and will damn near kill you speaking out against Jesus and God. Plant this seed that ministers/pastors of mega churches are against the teachings of the Bible and someone is just trying to stir up a hornets nest, then sit back and watch who gets stung.
The interesting thing to look out for as an outcome of any criminal prosecution on this. If accounts are frozen and monies confiscated were will the money be dispersed? I say in caucasian neighborhoods, schools, parks etc.. the same way they still from the African-Americans currently. -OUT
Big Pimping and tax free money.And some say Religion is not big business.Go to church or mosque,pray to God and give your money to a charity of your choice.