Today I received three different contributions
from three different readers. I guess the readers are trying to keep our blog funny and upbeat. And I for one appreciate their help.
Today’s first entry is from, you guessed it, Graphic Arts Anonymous. This individual contributed the Honorable Mentions for yesterday’s logo contest. Yet, he felt he had still failed to capture the essence of the logo with his first entries. So today, he has submitted the picture to your left.
I am not exactly sure what it stands for. I suppose if you go to CBC it is symbolic of a non-tither. However, I prefer to think of it as City Bible’s wallet after they pay Davis Wright Tremaine to sue the owner of this blog. (Yes, the rumor going around is that DWT is suing the blog. We’ll keep you posted if anything develops.)
TITHING FACTS
Second, I also was sent an interesting set of tithing facts from a young mother in Oregon. These facts were collaborated by the US Department of Commerce.
Last year churches received $49 billion in revenues, of which $40 billion came from contributions, $1.4 billion from wills and estates, and $2.5 billion from fees for services.
Of special interest are the statistics on who is supporting these churches. Persons 65-74 years of age donated the largest percentage of their income (3.1 percent) and those 18-24 the least (0.6 percent).
Increasingly, those with lower incomes gave a higher proportion of their income to charity than higher income individuals. Persons with household incomes of under $10,000 gave 2.8 percent of their total incomes, while those with incomes over $100,000 gave only 2.1 percent.
DAILY EMAIL
And lastly, a reader forwarded me daily a Christian email he and his wife receive.
These large birds who fly great distances across continent have three remarkable qualities. First, they rotate leadership. No one bird stays out in front all the time. Second, they choose leaders who can handle the turbulence. And then, during the time one bird is leading, the rest are honking their affirmation. That’s not a bad model for a church. Certainly we need leaders who can handle turbulence and who are aware that leadership ought to be shared. But most of all, we need a church where we are all honking encouragement.
by Bruce Larson
Someone let me know when they rotate pastors at CBC and Joel Fandrich gets to be Elder for a day. I’ll go back for that.
Thanks to the readers who contributed. I appreciate your help.
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March 2nd, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Cat said-
After much prayer and thought,
I have decided to withdraw my application for City Bible’s logo from the US Patent and Trademark Office.
So what was it prayer or the thought of getting sued?
March 2nd, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Try the combo anon 1:45. Its called CYA.
conspiring to conspire.
March 2nd, 2006 at 2:03 pm
Good Question. Uh, no. I was more worried about the federal government than I was about CBC. I mean, it’s not my logo, and you do have to sign some pretty lengthy forms when filling out the application.
I just realized that even if I got the logo, I couldn’t keep it. And so all the fun was in the applying for it, but after that, my life would get really complicated.
March 2nd, 2006 at 3:14 pm
I have decided that it’s not just financial BLess that i hate on this blog your all morons even the ones fighting for the church. not a single one of you understands christianity.
justin the logo is a moth flying out of the wallet. its trying to capture emptyness and what your wallet would look like if you went to city bible
March 2nd, 2006 at 10:28 pm
well I can sleep easy tonight knowing that you understand Christianity…boy I was worried now that I think about it…thank you, anon 3:14. (ya retard)
March 3rd, 2006 at 7:57 am
Unfreaking believable!!!
“Pastor” Frank was on the Georgine Rice talk show yesterday, talking about the Northwest Breakthrough conference.He sounded very tired and down, Georgine had to inform him of some times for the meetings that he couldn’t remember( must have been a bad tithing week). Anyways, the climax for me was when Frank was talking about how the sessions would all start with prayer and how they would pray for the city, the metro area, and the business leaders. The business leaders? Not the lost, not the homeless, not the poor or hungry in the city but the business leaders. I should have been expecting that but it still shocked me to hear the priorities of Frank. There are probably a number of excusses that supporters of his might throw out but I say “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
Oh yeah what makes that even more comical or sad, is that Georgine enterviewed a different pastor before Frank who was talking about a prayer meeting for Washington state, with christians from many churches and denominations gathering to repent for not being salt and light to the culture. He was saying that to many people see the church reacting to cultural problems with politics and condemnation, and that christians should repent of thier sins, humble themselves, and then seek the presence of God for thier Churches. What a contrast to Frank’s garentees of conference attendees being taken into the presence of God, and his prayer for the business leaders of the portland metro area.