A reader sends in this link to a church budget. 

The Evergreen Community, a church in Portland, Oregon, posted their entire 2008 budget on the website.

As the readers says, "utterly refreshing".

But I would also add, "extremely effective". The pastor breaks it down to show that every adult pays $16 a month to support the church. If I was a member, I suspect I might chip in $20 next month, just to help them out a little more. 

In my opinion, trust is a more effective form of fundraising than guilt or fear.

Update: I guess the $16 isn't what the church makes per congregation member, but is instead what the pastor is looking for in an increase. Still, knowing that the church is being completely open with their financing somehow makes me much more comfortable giving them my money.

In my ongoing attempt to be a little more positive,  here's a nice story:

An elderly grandmother who was robbed at gunpoint ends up sharing Christ with the robber.

Jacobi had just finished putting her groceries inside her car at a Dyersburg Wal-Mart when a man jumped into the car through the passenger's side door. He told Jacobi he had a gun and that he would shoot her if she didn't give him money.

"I'm not going to give you my money," Jacobi said.

In fact. She told him "no" three times.

Then she started to talk to him.
 
"As quick as you kill me I'll go to heaven and you'll go to hell," Jacobi said she told the man. "'Jesus is in this car and he goes with me everywhere I go."

"He just looked around and the tears just began coming down his eyes."

She told him to ask God for forgiveness and ministered to him for 10 minutes inside her car.

"He says, 'I think I'll go home and pray tonight,'" Jacobi said. "I says, 'You don't have to wait until tonight. You can pray anytime you want to.'"
 
As tears were rolling down the man's face, Jacobi voluntarily gave him $10. All the money she had.

Somedays, I feel like I'm that grandmother and Pastor Frank is the gunman…

….they post crazy ads like this on Craigslist:

Need 2 Dates for Dec. 7 Church Event 

Seeking two normal, single, available, 30-something Christian guys who are respectful, interesting, and not into playing fantasy internet games because they can't handle interacting with the real world kind of people. Only single men who have a real personal relationship with Jesus Christ and seek to know Him every day should inquire. My house-mate and I are looking for two nice guys that would accompany us to a classy musical church event on Friday, December 7th. It would be a cheap date too, 10 bucks each! We would probably want to meet up before the event just to make sure you are reasonably presentable, not creepy or wierd, and can carry on an appropriate conversation. It would be nice if you would send a photo of yourself in your reply. Bonus points for anyone over 5'6, steadily employed, musical, active, and outdoorsy.

Hat Tip Chris, who I have no doubt has already responded to this ad and will be in the front row of this musical singing along excitedly with his two dates and the rest of the congregation.

Pasted below is a letter that I believe should be sent to NW Senator's Gordon Smith, Ron Wyden and Maria Cantwell. 

Dear Senator:

I recently noticed in the news that the Senate Finance Committee, of which you are a member, is holding an investigation into the financial practices of mega-churches throughout the country. As an Evangelical Christian and former member of a mega-church, I applaud this investigation and commend the committee for taking this initiative.

As a concerned citizen, I would also like to call attention to a mega-church in Portland, Oregon that I believe may also be violating non-profit tax codes. The church is City Bible Church (9200 NE Fremont Portland, OR 97220) and is pastored by Frank Damazio. This church preaches the Prosperity Doctrine and promises their members great wealth if they only continue to give the church money. In addition, there is a significant lack of transparency with the finances of this church, as it is very difficult to determine how the pastoral staff spends their "tax exempt" income.

I strongly encourage the Finance Committee to include City Bible Church in any future investigations.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Instructions on sending this letter:

Click on the Senate links below and fill out the Email Form. 

Choose the subject "Taxes" and then cut and paste the letter into the message field.

Washington residents can substitute "The City Church" in place of "City Bible Church" in the letter.

Here are the links:

Oregon Senator Gordon Smith:

http://gsmith.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden

http://wyden.senate.gov/contact/

Washington Senator Maria Cantwell:

http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/

There was an excellent article in the Portland Tribune last week about Sarah Modrall, a wonderful woman who has spent the past eight years working to help people on the streets. We talk a lot about the negative side of Christianity and constantly point out how it fails to meet any real needs in the world, so it's nice to get a chance to focus on someone who gets it right.

In my opinion, Sarah is a great example of how a Christian should live. She has sacrificed a ton, and she doesn't do it to "prosper financially", she doesn't do it for some level of fame, glory, or power…she does it because it is what Christ has called us to do. Here's a quote from the article:

Modrall's kindness, which was first distributed along with bags of homemade cookies, became a key ingredient in a charitable effort that now includes a well-staffed outreach center, partnerships with social service agencies and three Portland-area homes - including her own - that house street kids in transition.

What's surprising is just how unlikely a candidate she might seem for the role she's chosen. A pretty, Texas-born minister's daughter whose own children are grown, she wouldn't be out of place at the country club or relaxing at a vacation home somewhere.

But she found herself called to the rough, seemingly asocial youths who are an indelible part of the downtown landscape, the ones who inspire reactions ranging from pity to annoyance to outright fear.

Sarah is an inspiration to me.

The Slog has a list of youth pastors who were recently caught abusing kids. It's the type of list I suspect you'll find anytime you type the words "youth pastor" into Google News. Which is to say, it's sad, but probably par for the course.

The comments underneath the blog were both for and against youth pastors, and they were quite enlightening. (I should ad that they also drop the F-bomb more than a few times. ) 

Here are a few of the better comments:

It's not that all youth pastors are necessarily pedophiles, any more than all priests or all Boy Scout troop leaders are…it's more that those who have leanings in the pedophiliac direction will be drawn to vocations or avocations where they have access to children.

The real trick is to teach your kids to tell you when anyone, no matter how "trusted" a position they may be in, starts getting a little too touchy-feely or making the kid uncomfortable. If you, as a parent, tell little Madison to hush and not say such nasty things about Pastor Dan when she tries to tell you he makes her feel weird, then you just taught the kid to shut up and do what Pastor Dan wants.

Here's one from a former youth pastor:

I don't mean to be rude, but I was a youth pastor who didn't screw anybody or touch anyone. I met some cool kids who grew into cool adults who now eat the crappy food that my wife cooks for us when they're over for dinner.

To say all youth pastors are child molesters is the same as saying all gays get AIDS.

If you don't like church, fine. Don't go. I don't like Purr or Our Place. But I'm not going to bitch about it.

And here's one that should be a segment on This American Life.

I had sort of the opposite experience with a youth pastor, but he was still a total douchebag.

I was raised Unitarian, so my church was all about abortion rights and gay weddings and winter solstice services. This pastor (gay, in his early 30s) very clearly hated children/teens, but because most churches have the stupid idea that gays + kids = ARMAGEDDON, this guy was going to be the youth pastor to PROVE EVERYONE WRONG. He wanted parents to be angry and us junior high kids to be shocked when he fake-casually mentioned his boyfriend. Since it was a gay-friendly church in the first place, he didn't get the attention he was looking for.

At least it taught me that gay people can be bitter assholes just like anyone else.

My own experience with youth pastors is that most of them are well-intentioned. They're just not that bright.

Last weekend I decided to check in on Bob MacGregor and City Harvest Church. We haven't blogged about City Harvest much, mostly because City Bible and The City Church have given us plenty of material, plus Bob was an excellent youth pastor to me all through High School. Bob actually cared about me and my future and when most everyone at CBC had written me off, Bob agreed to meet with me once a week…and then he showed up…every single week…for quite a few months. Pastor Bob is good and caring man.

So…I decided to check in…and was not sure what I would find. Cruising through the City Harvest Church website I stumbled upon a sermon Pastor Bob had given back in February titled "Calvinism and the Sovereignty of God". I was very intrigued. The church I attend is rather Calvinistic in its teaching and I've heard certain members of CBC bashing my church because of this, also Bob is a member of MFI. (I don't get the feeling that many MFI sponsored churches would openly accept Calvin should he wished to attend.) I braced myself for the worst.

What I expected to hear was about the heresy of John Calvin and the ridiculousness of his 5 points (T.U.L.I.P.) - quick note to all CBC readers: Don't bother asking your pastors what they think about the 5 points; they don't have the first clue what they are. Skip ahead and go straight to Lanny Hubbard, it's what your pastors would tell you to do anyway - ok, so I expected a good Calvin bashing…

…what I got was a real and honest look at the positive things Calvinism brings to Christians. As it turns out Bob was in the middle of a series on church history. He was actually wanting his congregation to be educated…he was actually TEACHING them (which is quite dangerous you know, it tends to lead to people actually thinking for themselves instead of just relying on their pastors). It was very refreshing. And I don't know if I'll have time, but I would really like to hear this whole series. Church history is quite fascinating.

So here he is, teaching his church about Calvinism which is a rather difficult subject. He is risking upsetting half his congregation and I didn't know how he was going to do it. Wisely, instead of focusing on the difficult parts, the controversial points, he focused his sermon on the "good things that Calvin brought to the church", and he did it in a balanced way.

He talked about the Sovereignty of God and how when he realized God chose him…regardless of whether that was based on God's foreknowledge or God's choosing his elect isn't the issue…when Bob realized that God chose him he began to feel secure in his salvation…for the first time. I thought this was great.

He went on to talk about the Gospel of Jesus. That's right, not the Gospel of Blessing as Mr. Wendell might have you believe, but the Gospel of Jesus…the Cross…Grace…the Sovereignty of God. He touched briefly and moderately on "Once saved always saved" and then ended his sermon. He started out teaching and ended up preaching…I loved it all.

Based on that one sermon, here are my thoughts of City Harvest Church: it's a good solid church to be a part of. I'm sure there are lots of things that I would disagree with CHC about: Tithing?, MFI membership?, Spiritual Covering?, but in the end all these things are secondary. As long as the true Gospel is being preached I don't care about all the rest of that stuff. Good job Bob, good job City Harvest.

If you are looking for a quick but balanced overview of John Calvin's teachings I recommend you listen to this sermon.

On a side note, I don't personally buy into all 5 points of Calvinism, but I found that my study of them led me closer to God and helped me get rid of a lot of my "religious" attitudes. I highly recommend that everyone take an open look them…regardless of how ridiculous they may sound when you first read them.

Well this is inappropriate:

Details Magazine offers this quiz to see if you can tell the difference between an Evangelist and a porn star.

Whipping a devout congregation into a frenzy can raise a person’s blood pressure. When the Joel Osteens of the world reach the climax of a sermon, their cheeks are pink and their heads are thrown back in rapture. In fact, in tight shots, their faces resemble those of porn stars committing a cardinal sin. Take a look at these close-ups and see if you can tell who’s giving glory to the Father and who’s bringing it home to Daddy.

http://men.style.com/details/features/landing?id=content_5479 

I'll spare the Judah Smith jokes for a moment and just ask a simple question:

Are quizes like this the work of the devil persecuting God's church for their righteousness or the result of America's Christian Church making a mockery of God?

I'm a huge American Idol fan, and have been voting non-stop for my boy Sanjaya. (The pony-tail mo-hawk killed me.)

But in other AI news, I ran across this interesting tidbit about contestant Chris Sligh. Evidently, he is a worship leader at his church and was recently kicked out of Bob Jones University.

Sligh also talked to the News about being kicked out of the Christian fundamentalist college, Bob Jones University, for attending a contemporary Christian concert featuring the group 4Him.

He enrolled at another Christian school, North Greenville University, and is three credits shy of a music degree.

Leaving Bob Jones "was actually good, because I had been trying to figure out how to leave," he said.

What!?! Sligh was kicked out of BJU for going to a 4Him concert! I didn't know there were people who admitted to being 4Him fans, let alone go to their concerts.  But wow! And I thought Temple Christian High School was lame.

My friend Pete sends in this study showing a correlation between sex and delinquency.

A national study of more than 7,000 youth found that adolescents who had sex early showed a 20 percent increase in delinquent acts one year later compared to those whose first sexual experience occurred at the average age for their school.

In contrast, those teens who waited longer than average to have sex had delinquency rates 50 percent lower a year later compared to average teens. And those trends continued up to six years.

The study defines delinquency:

To determine rates of delinquency, students in the survey were asked how often in the past year they participated in a variety of delinquent acts, including painting graffiti, deliberately damaging property, stealing, or selling drugs.

So, sex leads to grafitti. Who knew?