Creflo Dollar and the Almighty Buck

It is time to pass the offering buckets at World Changers Church New York, and Troy and Cheryal Anderson are eager to give the Lord his due. They wave their blue offering envelope overhead, as all around them worshippers whoop and holler their praises to God. Inside the envelope is 10 per cent of the weekly pay Troy Anderson takes home as an electrician's apprentice -- he earns about $30,000 US a year -- and a little more for the church's building fund.

The Andersons, who live in the Bronx, are struggling financially. A few weeks ago, the couple, who have two young children, had no money to buy groceries. But they believe what their pastor, the Reverend Creflo A. Dollar Jr., said on this recent Saturday night about the offering time: "It's opportunity for prosperity."

"Remember," said Dollar, a familiar figure across the country because of his Changing Your World television show and best-selling books, "if you sow a seed on a good ground, you can expect a harvest."

Dollar, whose Rolls-Royces, private jets, million-dollar Atlanta home and $2.5-million Manhattan apartment furnish proof to his followers of the validity of his teachings, is a leading apostle of what is known as the "prosperity gospel."

It is a theology that is excoriated in many Christian circles but is becoming increasingly visible in America, according to religious scholars. Now, it is beginning to establish a foothold in New York City, where capitalism has long been religion.

Dollar - his real name - is the most prominent among a host of prosperity preachers who have put down roots in Manhattan. He is quick to insist that he warns Christians to "love God, not money," and teaches "total life prosperity," meaning prosperity not only in finances but in everything from health to family life. "Money by itself cannot define prosperity," Dollar said in a recent phone interview. "When you say, 'prosperity,' people think money. They are not incorrect, but they are incomplete."

Asking the faithful to donate is a part of virtually all religions. Outside of Christianity, Muslims pay zakat, and Jewish synagogues have membership dues. Conservative Protestants see tithing - offering a portion, usually a tenth, of one's income back to God and the church - as a biblical mandate.

Many Catholic churches suggest that tithing be divided between the local church and a charity of their choice. Most teach that believers can trust God to take care of their needs. It is the connecting of religious faithfulness, especially in giving, to material riches that causes many Christians, including other evangelicals, to accuse prosperity teachers of verging on heresy.

"There's no question that almost every Christian leader - Reformed, Pentecostal, however you want to call it - sees it as a blight on the face of Christianity," said Timothy Morgan, deputy managing editor at Christianity Today, an evangelical magazine. "Yet it's so seductive."

The theology taps into the country's self-help culture, said William Martin, a professor emeritus of religion and public policy at Rice University in Houston. "One of the goals of America is for you to become prosperous," he said. "For the church to put a blessing on that and say, 'God wants you to be rich,' is quite appealing."

While prosperity preachers were largely discredited in this country in the late 1980s with the rash of scandals involving religious broadcasters, the booming television ministries of a coterie of new prosperity kings, including Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn and Dollar, demonstrates its staying power.

Dollar, 41, a former college football player, started World Changers Church in Atlanta in an elementary school cafeteria in 1986. The church now has almost 25,000 members, say church officials.

But New York City is Dollar's largest television market. And just over a year ago, Dollar began flying up from Atlanta to preach at Saturday night services in the theatre at Madison Square Garden. Membership at World Changers Church New York is now at more than 5,000, church officials said.

Frederick K.C. Price, a prosperity preacher from Los Angeles, has also set up in New York and others are following suit. New York has long been acquainted with prosperity preachers, having given the world the Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, the indefatigable man known as "Reverend Ike."

Reverend Ike, a religious broadcasting pioneer who favoured gaudy suits, fancy cars and aphorisms like, "the lack of money is the root of all evil," became a fixture on 1,500 television and radio stations in the 1970s. These days, Reverend Ike maintains a lower profile but continues to minister every week from his church in Upper Manhattan.

The Andersons started attending World Changers last summer. Cheryal Anderson, 29, discovered Dollar on late-night television. When the couple learned he had started a church in New York, they decided to visit. On their first Saturday, Dollar preached about loving others.

"I thought, 'Are you kidding me?"' Troy Anderson said. "You're preaching on love to a bunch of New Yorkers?" Cheryal Anderson wanted to join the church right away, but Troy, 32, was more cautious. The next week it was Cheryal Anderson having second thoughts. They agreed to become members in their fourth week. Dollar's mantra is to preach the Bible with "simplicity and understanding." And that is what many of his followers say they appreciate most: his ability to decode the Bible and offer advice for daily living.

Troy Anderson said he started to apply Dollar's teachings on love at his job, trying to be more helpful to people. The couple also started to apply his teachings on tithing. But just as they started to give, their children became sick, and the family began to fall badly behind on the bills.

"Things went from bad to worse," Troy Anderson said. A few weeks ago, they had no food and no money. A concerned neighbour, however, surprised them with groceries. Another friend offered winter coats for their children, ages 5 and 7. The Andersons attributed the unexpected gifts to God's provision and said they looked to the testimonies of others in the church for inspiration.

Dollar and other prosperity preachers say they take their message straight from the Bible, noting that figures like Solomon and David were wealthy. But many evangelical theologians contend that prosperity preachers are quoting selectively.

Prosperity is indeed prominent in the Old Testament, but the hardship experienced by Jesus' followers is prominent in the New Testament, said Professor John Jefferson Davis Jr., who teaches systematic theology and Christian ethics at an evangelical institution outside of Boston.

"Part of the problem is things are out of focus here, and what Jesus makes very clear and central, self-denial and bearing your cross, is somehow left on the cutting-room floor."

Wall Watchers, an evangelical organization that monitors the finances of Christian ministries, gave Dollar's organization an "F" grade for financial transparency in its yearly report and urged donors not to give to it and other similar groups. World Changers officials say members can inspect audited financial statements on the church's finances if they desire, but they declined to release them to The New York Times.

According to church officials, The New York church collects an average of $345,000 a month, which works out to more than $4 million annually; the Atlanta church's operating budget is $80 million a year. The offering collected in New York stays entirely in New York, Dollar said.

About $800,000 of it goes toward renting the theatre in Madison Square Garden; an additional $84,000 pays for the church's rented office space nearby; only about $120,000 is spent on the salaries of three people who are on staff. The bulk of the rest, according to church officials, is designated for the church's building fund. The church hopes to raise $200 million for a complex in the city.

Dollar's salary is set by a compensation board at the Georgia church, but he declined to reveal it. He also declined to say how much of his salary and fees he donates back to the church, except to say that he is one of the church's biggest givers.

He and his wife live in a million-dollar mansion in Atlanta that is owned by the church. He has said that his two Rolls-Royces were gifts from congregants. But shortly after he started the New York church, he and his wife, Taffi, purchased a $2.5 million apartment in the new Time Warner Centre on their own.

As for the Andersons, they are confident that material rewards are on their way for them. They have already grown tremendously in other areas, they said. It is just a matter of time before the blessing spills over.

One has to be careful to be a good steward of the money given to God in the tithe. I pray these men are being faithful to do that. One thing though, when reading the story of Abraham leaving the city of Ur, Abraham did not leave Ur a poor man. He left with much affluence that allowed him the ability to obey God. He also honored Melchizedek the symbolic forerunner of the ministry of Messiah with a tenth of all he had. When God warned Noah of impending destruction, God also made provision for Noah. When Israel left Egypt they left with the bounty of Egypt that became much of the materials to build a temple--and they left whole--body and spirit. Thus, the idea that preachers are just supposed to poverty stricken to give their message a lift is not really biblical. It all comes down to stewardship. These preachers will have to give account for what they have been given. 1 Peter 5:2-3 warns those who shepherd/tend a church- to do so carefully without coercion and not for the advantage the office provides. They are to be living examples of God's grace, God's sufficiency and Godly living. The example of the struggling family believing God's word to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse is correct, see Malachi 3:10-11.
May God honor His word to them for their act of faith in His spoken word. It is more powerful than any sword and divides to the very truth of any matter.

IMHO, this is just another article to smear all of Christianity as a money hustle.

I don't agree with Dollar's affluent lifestyle, but I'm not going to judge it. On the other hand if these people cited in the article continue to give what their heart tells them. I'm confindent that they will reap a windfall in blessings, maybe not dollars but they will not go unrewarded for their faith.

You can't out give God!

To me, tithing was meant to help others in need. We, and the many churches throughout this country, have allowed the many different levels of government to take over that commission.

If we really want smaller government, we each need to help our friends and neighbors. Just giving money does not eliminate our responsibility to those around us.

JFK said it best. "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." The best thing we can do for our country is to get the government hand out of our pockets, and start living, daily, the commission God has given each of us.

Thanks for your input.

There is absolutely no evidence from the New Testament that the early apostles lived the 1st-century equivalent of this lifestyle. Historical evidence from the period shows exactly the opposite.

The apostle Paul even chose to take no money at all from congregations, instead earning his own expenses by making tents in his no doubt massive amounts of spare time. Although the implication is that others of the apostles did not follow his example in this, there is no evidence at all that they lived lavishly.

IMHO, this is just another article to smear all of Christianity as a money hustle.

From the article:

There's no question that almost every Christian leader - Reformed, Pentecostal, however you want to call it - sees it as a blight on the face of Christianity," said Timothy Morgan, deputy managing editor at Christianity Today, an evangelical magazine.

Looks to me like the article is doing quite the opposite - contrasting confidence men like Dollar to the sound doctrine of the church.

Essentially, there's no difference in Dollar and Simon the sorceror who tried to buy the gifts of the Spirit.

Peterson is not a race pimp, never said he was. Neither is he the guy to front Conservative values to the urban and working class Black community. He built his career on trying to establish himself as "the other Jesse" and by attacking Jackson (and anyone who follows him) with insults and accusations.

He has expanded his attacks to include all of Black America - witness his 'essay' on WND of last September that started off by saying "we all know" that most Blacks are immoral and lazy.

Certain Whites might like to see a Black man attacking like that and so Jesse P will continue to find a following here and there but only a bonehead would believe that this insulting behaviour will buy him any degree of respect or following in his own race. It's just like Kerry calling our troops terrorists and then asking us to follow him...it ain't gonna happen. We despise Kerry and Jesse P gets the same response from those he attacks....Black America.

The proof of this is in the numbers. How many Black Americans did JLP ever get to climb on board his "National Repudiation of Jesse Jackson Day" train? Five? Six? A dozen? So few that he doesn't even try any more. Without the occasional Hannity circus act or WND JLP would be an asterisk.

If his attacks make you feel good then by all means carry his water. But don't think that using him as a messenger from us to Black America does anything but make it harder to get the message across. He may be a good man and well intentioned, an argument can be made either way, but what he is not is effective.

You may now continue the childish insults...

I truly believe if the church was as effective as it was meant to be, then the welfare system would disappear. People are meant to work, Paul said so, but the church operates in its position of truth and authority that Christ gave us, a whole lot of things would be changed. The store house of the old testament was a place meant to help the widows and those in true need. Today the store house has changed a little. No longer does the local church have that role alone. Many ministries are funded by people who give so they can bring hope to those who need it most. Teen challenge in New York is one, Bill Wilson is another one--they live in New York also, though not quite so grandly as Mr. Dollar. When I give, that money is released from my hand as an act of faith.

Wrong. See my earlier post. David was a very wealthy man, Solomon was a very wealthy man. I understand the New Testament apostles had very little in terms of worldly wealth, yet in spiritual terms--they were rich. Today, there are so many examples of people God has blessed with wealth and they in turn give to help others. God pours in to us, that we might pour out. Our bucket is open on both ends. God also has those who have little in the eyes of the world, and they give so much more.

"Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Who is this Wall Watchers group? If Dollar's salary is overseen by a board of directors, if the ministry's finances are reported to his congregation openly, who is this organization to say they have the right to know anything about the man's or ministry's finances?

I am the treasurer for our church. I prepare a quarterly financial statement and it is posted publicly for the members of our congregation to see if they are interested in knowing the fiscal condition of their church. I do not report to other organizations nor do I report our Pastor's salary to anyone outside of our body. It is agreed upon by the members of our church and confirmed by our board.

Most people also assume these Pastors of larger churches take all of their money from the church. They often overlook that these people are authors of books/tapes which sell well and generate an income seperate from what they receive as a pastorial salary. If they are generating income based upon their own work, why is it wrong for them to have nice things? They earned it. Also, isn't 2.5 million inexpensive by Manhatten NY standards?

And yes, people do give Pastors gifts, some lavish. Our own Pastor was in need of a vehicle a few years ago. Out of the blue (actually, after much prayer on his part and trusting God to provide his need) someone sent him a blank check with the instructions to go to a particular car lot here locally and choose a car/truck of his liking. To this date, that vehicle has 250 something THOUSAND miles on it and still runs like new.

So Pastor's should be homeless? If not, who sets the limits on how much their homes should be worth?

Jesus owned and still does own everything in this earth. He was not poor. All of His needs were supplied just as He promises all of our needs to be supplied according to HIS riches...and I am not talking strictly monetary needs either.

Of all the prosperity teachers, Dollar is one of the most balanced I have heard. IOW, he isn't all about money first. Of the messages I have heard him teach, he emphasizes spiritual propserity first.

So Pastor's should be homeless? If not, who sets the limits on how much their homes should be worth?

No, pastors should not be homeless. I would imagine that a pastor, given access to the kind of dough Dollar has, would have a better sense of proportion -- somewhere in between lving under a refrigerator box and living in a palatial mansion. A happy medium.

That quote comes in the context of Jesus' calling people to follow him. One man says, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replies that "wherever he goes" means "no place to lay his head." He might have meant that literally, but he might have meant it as a example of the sacrifice one might be called upon to make by following him.

Jesus owned and still does own everything in this earth. He was not poor.

The first part is true, the second part is not, if you take it to mean being poor in earthly things. We know this is true, because he voluntarily gave up any earthly glory: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, being obedient unto death, even death on the cross."

I take Christ's teaching and his way of life to be an example for his followers. It's hard to do, even imperfectly. But the Apostle clearly means this as a model for Christians: "Let this mind be in you..." I'm not going to judge Dollar in any way that I wouldn't be willing to judge myself, but it seems to me that the Christian gospel would have more credibility in the world if Christ's followers made a better effort of following his example of servanthood.

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