Posted on 04/02/2010 7:56:21 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
education is not materialsim
it may dumb though if u go to the wrong school though
i think this is stupid
these Osteen style churches are nothing more than Tony Robbins meet Jesus
I remember Christ’s reaction to moneychangers in the Temple. I think it would be somewhat the same to modern day money changers in the Church....
I am all for reaching the lost, but this sickens me.
This Church says “Seek ye 1st the all THESE THING, then the Kingdom of God will be added unto you”
I'll take Jesus way
It's certain to be an initial loss. They are hoping to gain new long term customers. But are these the customers they really want? Attracting overwhelmingly Democrat customers is usually a really bad business strategy. They will lose their low-maintenance givers and gain mostly high-maintenance takers.
My wife and I just returned from Corpus two weeks ago after spending the winter there working on a project for the city. We attended the Bay Area Fellowship while in Corpus Christi.
The music was not to our taste but Bill Cornelius is a genuine, some might say, conservative preacher of the Word. He came to CC 9 years ago and started a Bible study in his one bedroom apartment. The growth in numbers from that time has been remarkable.
As a very conservative Christian, I am not a big fan of much of what goes on in the Name of Christ today, but part of that is because of the generation in which I was raised.
A lot of the mega-churches today have made their main Sunday gatherings a center for evangelism rather than ministering to the needs of the local believers. The latter emphasis takes place in smaller groups throughout the week.
If I was in charge, would I take this tact? Probably not, but like D. L. Moody once said to a critic, “I like my way of winning people to Christ rather than your way that doesn’t.”
“Mercedes Benz”
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV?
Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until three,
So oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV?
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town?
I’m counting on you, Lord, please don’t let me down.
Prove that you love me and buy the next round,
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town?
Everybody!
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends,
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
(Janis Joplin)
“where did they get all that money...”
Read the original post.
This has no relationship to the ‘money changers’ in the temple. They were, in a modern day sense, selling ‘offerings’ - come buy a dove for an offering, etc.
Holy ulterior motive, Batman!
This is not sharing Jesus. If they want to give these things away and do good deeds, fine. Call it that, but don't expect these people to keep coming back. They are only there for the handout. To lure people to church in this manner is disgusting. I guess for this church it is still all about the numbers.
Disgusting.
At first glance it irritates me a bit, but at second glance what you see is this. The congregation itself dug deep and donated this stuff. The members themselves came up with a couple million dollars worth of stuff that they are going to give away, apparently to non-members.
We’ve never done anything quite like that, but our church does have a habit that, when we’re in financial trouble, we give money away. Sometimes to another church across town. Sometimes to some other need. This would be on top of the usual giving that the church does. I’ve never heard of a church that donates to another church (and its not something we do all the time). But hey.
We are constantly coming up with ways to get people in the neighborhood to come in and get aquainted. They’ll hold a Saturday bike repair session, people around the neighborhood bring their bikes over and get them fixed. Or they’ll set up and do haircuts for people in the neighborhood. The idea is to get people to come, bring their kids, and get aquainted. Or they’ll have crews of teenagers going out riding buses with a cooler full of bottled water on a hot day and just give away water (it gets hot here). No sermon. Actually, we’ve had a long list of odd projects that were designed simply to get people aquainted.
The result is that we can’t build fast enough to keep up with the growth. We keep building and its not enough. People come, they come back with their wife, they come back with their kids, they come back with their neighbors. The effect is exponential. When you see how a church can grow you have to wonder then about the churches that sit static year after year.
Sometimes for a laugh the pastor asks how many of you all have been in jail. Half the congregation rises. The people we’re getting aren’t the traditional church goers, some of them, but they are coming here. Ten thousand on a Sunday, probably three thousand on a Wednesday, in a small city.
Sometimes you have to shake the dust off and do something. Someone won’t like it, but if you bring people in the Holy Spirit will do the rest.
I don't care who you are...that's funny right there!
marron what your church is practicing sounds like basic Christianity. How odd.
Exactly. This is far more akin to the "Prodigal Son" than Jesus casting out the money changers. Everyone here assumes they know this pastor's heart and that he's just an attention-whore opportunist. Glad ya'll are up on your telepathy, b/c it seems to me that a church couldn't possibly get that successful so quickly without Divine intervention.
This guy's obviously doing something right in God's eyes.
“these Osteen style churches are nothing more than Tony Robbins meet Jesus”
Many, like Rich Warren went to “prosperity theology university” at the Crystal Cathedral.
MyFox Los Angeles |
Crystal Cathedral hit with $2M in lawsuits The 10000-member church was founded more than a half-century ago by the Rev. Robert H. Schuller who preached the power of positive thinking. Crystal Cathedral hit with $2 million in lawsuits - Washington Postall 165 news articles » |
Gala planned as church vendors went unpaid One of Robert H. Schuller's sons-in-law planned an extravagant bash for a Crystal Cathedral anniversary. But church officials say it was ... Crystal Cathedral in Calif. owes money to vendors - The Associated PressThe Crystal Cathedral Is $55 Million In Debt - WFMY News 2 Crystal Cathedral Isn't Paying Its Vendors - Crosswalk.com (blog) NBC Los Angeles all 227 news articles » |
You know, I don’t want to stir up a lot of stuff...
But I think a lot of people DID come to Jesus for what they could get from him...healing, comfort, food (he DID feed the 5 thousand...).
This doesn’t appear to be a come-on. It appears a way to get folks in the door to at least hear the story.
A story many might not have heard in a long time.
C
“I’m a non-believer who has read both testaments, several works of Christian apologetics, and has a great deal of respect for Christianity.
May I ask the believers on this thread....
Wasn’t Christ’s message more along the lines of “come to Me and you will find that your “need” for a new car or a big screen will pass from you??””
It was even more extreme than that: “Matthew 16:24-26 (King James Version)
24Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Essentially, as Christians, we are to give up everything to Christ: money, family, possessions, career, life, in exchange for an eternal life of meaning.
That said, this promotion, as crass and materialistic as it is, may be the best way to reach our crass and materialistic society. The money came from Christians who gave it in hope of saving some. May God call people to Him through this effort.
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