Supply Side Jesus

This morning I woke up and had a friend send me a link to a comic from beliefnet.com. To be completely honest, I was put off when I saw the article was written by Al Franken, a political liberal. The only time I liked Franken was when he played that guy on SNL with the light blue sweater. But that aside, I found that as I read this comic, the more I found myself allying along side with what he was trying to get across.

Take a moment and read the comic here.

Regardless of Franken's political stance or religious belief, his satire proves an extremely valuable point. What do you think?

Ever wonder how much ministers get paid?

If so, don't go here. Well...I'm sure the survey is accurate, but certainly doesn't represent any ministers I know.

The youth ministers they surveyed came up with an average over 3 times what I make. Crazy!

Give your money so we can bless ourselves!

Few things make me as nervous as huge church building projects and churches going 'in a new direction'. Too often I think, our voices of greed and selfishness are heard louder than the voice of God.

Our church is getting ready to embark upon a new building program. The church building has been in existence for 20+ years and in all honesty, we are busting at the seems. Which is a good thing. So, don't think that this post has anything to do with our building project because...well...I was on that committee and gave my $0.02 on what our needs are. Does it make me uncomfortable? Yes. But I honestly believe that if this is something that God does NOT want us to do, it won't happen. At least, thats what I keep asking God to do.

But back to my point. Being in such a culture where bigger and better means success, churches so often fall to this mindset that in order to be a successful church and fulling the mission of God, we have to build bigger and better things. If church attendance is going up, and people are joining the Church of God, that equals success! Not!

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27

I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. - Mark 9:41

My prayer is that we don't give our money because of our selfish ambitions or vain conceits (Philippians) only so we can receive bigger and better things plus donuts. So, when are we going to give to the glory of God so that others may be well fed and taken care of?

The video is from TheChurchYouKnow.com and the site and videos are definitely worth checking out.