Money, Money, Money

Sometimes you read things that make you rethink your position on issues. Generally religious things don't concern me much. They don't seem all that important unless those folks are trying to use their religion to abridge some of my freedoms. I recently posted about the Hobby Lobby decision by the Supreme Court. I think they got that wrong and will learn over the course of the next 20+ years the true impact of their decision. This blog isn't about that issue.

I was reading the other day and came across an article from March talking about a theft from Lakewood Church. Not being a religious person the name of the church meant nothing to me. The amount of the theft is what drew my attention. Personnel from the church reported on Monday, March 10, 2014 that donations from services on March 8th and 9th had been stolen from the church's safe. The amount of the theft was estimated to be $600,000. They could not be exact since the donations had not been counted yet. Televangelist Joel Osteen is the leader of the Lakewood Church and about 40,000 people attend services each week. If that was an average week and you did the math the annual income for the church would be $31,200,000. Seems like a lot of money. It does not accurately represent the actual income of the church. They released the following statement following the theft. "It is important to note this was not an electronic date breach, but was instead limited to donations made in the services on March 8 and 9, 2014. You were not affected if you put your offering in a drop box, you gave online or through other electronic means, or you made a bookstore purchase."

The statement made by the church would seem to indicate the church also has income from "other electronic means" and from individuals who donated "online". It also did not include funds put in "drop box". The funds stolen were about $200,000 in cash and $400,000 in checks or credit or debit card donations. Do I fault the church for taking in huge amounts of money? No, but it does concern me what they do with the money. They indicate that about $30,000,000 each year is spent on its television ministry. There is also, I am sure, huge expenses related to maintenance of their 16,800 seat church located in the former Compaq Center which was once the home of the Houston Rockets basketball team.

In case you were wondering this is Joel Osteen's house. It is valued at $10,500,000.