Monday, July 26, 2010

Travel Money


Where DO they get the money to travel so much? Orlando in May, Colorado in June and now they are in Hawaii. Cant wait to see what August thru December brings. It must be nice to jet set all around the world and have a travel calendar filled to overflowing.

Here are a few of the pastor girls tweets:
[Went to church outside in my swimsuit.. What?! Maui is where I be.. Embracing the aloha spirit. via Twitter for iPhone ]

[sitting under a huge palm tree looking over the ocean in Maui! http://tweetphoto.com/35265141 via UberTwitter ]

[Just got back from a spa, and am now officially relaxed! via UberTwitter ]

[Last day in Maui.. We've done a whole lot of nothing and I've loved every second. Pool, eat, read, beach, spa, eat, repeat.. via Twitter for iPhone ]

Again, not that pastors shouldn't take vacations but, really, when the rest of us are trying to make house and car payments, and travel has to take a back seat, are we supposed to believe God loves and favors them more because they charged 210 per person at their youth camp and the offerings were so dang good their reward is a week of in Maui?

Again, do the families that lost their houses over there at vortex church ever ask these kinds of questions? (They lost their homes because of bad advice given by the senior pastor who elevated a scammer guy into leadership who scammed these families out of money taken from the equity in their homes. He is now a wanted man in 3 different states!) (BTW, why didn't the pastors all lose their houses too??)
So, do they merely believe God blesses his anointed with abundance while the rest of the congregation suffers? Don't they wonder just a little bit where the travel money comes from? Aren't they curious to know whether their tithes and offerings (which was essentially their money before they gave to "God") are funding all the foo foo fluff that so easily hides under the big broad category tabbed "ministry".

Fine. If God wants them to get away with it scott free in this life, so be it. Is it too much to ask for justice in this life? Not so much that we can see them 'get their just desserts' but so God will validate that he is watching and isn't happy with this sort of thing. If nothing else, they will have to give an accurate account for it someday even if it's only in the hereafter at the Day of Judgement. Wouldn't want to be in their shoes then.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like the latest post on citybusinesschurch.org perhaps it's a birthday gift from their following. It really PAYS these days to be a pastor - you can literally live the high life.

Anonymous said...

This month they are in Seattle after being in Hawaii at the end of last month. they are the most traveling bunch. . .

Nolongeraroadtobewalkedon said...

I remember my brother coming home from his church telling how the pastor stood at the pulpit telling them all how they needed to learn how to have more fun. That he loved to play racket ball,go to theme parks, travel and the like. The next Sunday the congregation sent out secret letters wanting everyone to contribute to a Birthday fund so they could send the Pastor and his wife on a vacation! My brother had just gotten through back surgery(during his stay at home recovering no one from the church even contacted him) and was back at his job trying to make ends meet!There is justice for this. God has given many of us the answer already. He wants all of his people to figure it out and stop supporting churches and Pastors that are involved in celebrity driven worship fests!

NoJoke said...

So true NoLongeraroad. . .
What IS it in people that want so badly to give give give to leaders when so many around us barely survive? Are we born dysfunctional? Is it a need for approval? What? Just because the pastor mentions we should have more fun, why does that mean his followers have to set up a fund in his honor?

It's so perplexing.

NoJoke said...

I love what you said about this and agree wholeheartedly: "God has given many of us the answer already. He wants all of his people to figure it out and stop supporting churches and Pastors that are involved in celebrity driven worship fests!"

Anonymous said...

This month with most of the family in tow, September was exciting with numerous trips to DC and NYC at least 2 football games in DC and some face time with the Nate Show.

The question still stands - where the heck are they getting all that travel money?

We've asked the Lord to help finance our trips too, but without fleecing the congregational flock. We'd like to travel with a clear conscience, thank you.

NoJoke said...

This month - California so far.

One of the daughters took a pic of her mail that piled up while she was gone. Guess she's finally going through it. Some of it looked like business reply mail which could just be donations to the NPC DC but it makes you wonder...

Anonymous said...

Also in October: Virginia Beach, Los Vegas and DC