1. Frank had to wear the same suit 2 Sunday's in a row.
2. God promised to save 1000 souls IF we upgrade to High Definition Jumbotrons.
3. Now that we're in NY and DC, we're opening a campus in Zurich.
4. The franchise fee for Starbuck's has doubled in the last year.
5. The boob church needs a roofectomy.
6. With the expansion to other countries we need our own satellite.
7. And a rocket to launch it.
8. It takes a lot of clams to buy so many yes-men.
9. Gini needs to see a podiatrist.
10. We want to send Judah to finishing school.

Pastor Rick Snow of Atlanta City Church spoke last week at CBC. The title of his sermon was The Generosity Factor, which struck me as odd, because I instantly recalled listening to a sermon from CBC last year by Rick Snow also called The Generosity Factor…in fact I even blogged about it.

*Quick side note, did anyone else at CBC catch this? I beginning to feel like Kathy Griffin in the Seinfeld episode The Cartoon. I've really got to get a life*

So, for the second time, here is "The Generosity Factor":

:36 - "Generosity was laid on his heart". Tells a story of a pastor who took a job at a Christian School that was completely broke and this pastor listened to Rick's series on Giving and then someone gave them 2 million dollars.

7:12 - "Tell Me what you think about money and I'll tell you what you think about God"

9:15 - "Have a need, Sow a seed" - or as Frank would have you believe "Have a greed, Sow a seed"

10:01 - Mentions that for the first time in many years this tax season he is "Getting a substantial amount back from the IRS" and do you want to know why…because he "sowed almost $27,000 into his church". Then Rick mentions that he "is in the top 5% of givers in his church." - Ok Rick, I hate to tell you this, but getting tax money back does not qualify as a "blessing from God"…your tithe is tax deductible…that's a gift from the IRS, not God…and there are formula's for calculating how it all works…not really a miracle is it?

Also, why do you know that you are in the top 5% of givers in your church and why does that matter?

12:22 - His goal is to "give a reverse tithe" (I'm not making this up). Giving 90% of his income and living on 10%, Rick Warren already does this.

15:07 - Tells us that his church "sowed $100,000 to a "Black" Church in Portland, OR & God gave back not in the form of dollars but instead the reaped in square footage" (they now own a 100,000sf building).  - Whoops, don't let Pastor Frank hear that…Frank doesn't believe that is possible:

                "The special law of sowing and reaping is that the product of the harvest will be the same in kind as the seed sown. Tares will never produce wheat, nor wheat tares. But each seed reproduces its own kind."

Sorry, Rick maybe you sowed a house somewhere and that is how you received the bigger building.

16:35 - "God is in the business…" I didn't catch the rest of this statement, but I don't think God is in any business…he's God.

16:50 - Tells a story about a guy who was in debt with over $100,000 on 2 credit cards that came to him for help. With Rick's advise, the guy pays it off in 2 years. The guy didn't receive any raises at work or anything. So how did he pay it off? Rick says it's because "once God saw that this man was serious…it's amazing how quickly the blessings come". - OR…once this guy got on a budget (with Rick's help) its amazing how much money he actually had.

 Let's be honest, average Joe doesn't have the ability to run up $120,000 on 2 credit cards, clearly this guy makes plenty of money; he just needed someone like Rick to slap some sense into him. And there is your blessing…God didn't pay off the credit in 2 years, this guy did.

19:00 - Tells everyone that if they don't listen to his sermon (which is led by the Spirit) over and over then none of this will work.

20:02 - Quotes Scripture "My God will supply all your needs..." but then says "Every promise has a premise" (Marc, are you getting all these quips. They're gems). "Every promise has a premise" so that scripture "doesn't apply to everyone". Anyone want to guess what that premise is?

33:30 - Rick says something to the effect of "I'm not watching where you give your money…that's not my job…God forbid I would have to do that". Sure, but you know that you are in the top 5% of givers in your church. Stop lying to us Rick.

33:50 - Quote of the night. "I tithe for protection from the curse that is in the earth out there". Let's read that again

"I TITHE FOR PROTECTION FROM THE CURSE THAT IS IN THE EARTH OUT THERE".

My friend Jenny wants to know which scripture that comes from…no seriously, which scripture?

33:59 - "I tithe for Protection but give offerings for Progression". Frank, write that down.

Ok, you see where this is going. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Pastor Rick had a lot of GREAT things to say about getting your finances under control and I'm sure he makes a great financial advisor (just talk to the guy who paid of $120,000 in debt in 2 years). The problem for me is when you tie Financial Trouble with Giving Money to the Church. It sounds good, but just isn't Biblical.

People, stop and think about all this for a minute. Do the math. Listen to everything you've heard from CBC on giving and receiving, run it through the Bible, and see if it adds up. It doesn't. If you have financial troubles today, giving money to the church isn't going to solve them. Getting on a budget, however, will. Tithing isn't a miracle cure for debt, in fact, ask around and you'll find people who tithed regularly and only dug themselves deeper into debt. I'm one of those people.

When my wife and I first got married 7 years ago, we gave 10% of our income every week to CBC. By the end of the month we were living on credit cards. Why? Because we didn't know how to handle our money. Here we are years later, we don't give a full 10% to the church anymore (although I wish we could) and now we have no credit card debt. Imagine that.

I'd like to offer this challenge: I bet that if you took 2 people (or 100 for that matter) and had half of them give 10% of their income to their church, but after that not look at their money at all, and take the other half and have them not give a dime to the church but follow a strict budget you'd see the truth to how much blessing*is involved in tithe. The blessing is in the budget, everyone. The blessing is in the budget.

*by blessing I mean in a CBC sort of way…financially that is. I believe that there is a great "general blessing" for those who are generous, I just won't put a dollar figure on it.

 I decided to check out the top 25 Most Innovative Churches list that Justin posted yesterday. The #1 church listed (lifechurch.tv) is offering a rather interesting "challenge".

It's called the 3 Month Tithing Challenge and here is what they have to say:

The word "tithe" is derived from the Hebrew word ma'aser and it literally means a tenth. Ten percent of everything belongs to the Lord. In Malachi 3:10-11, God says, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house." The ‘storehouse' is the Old Testament picture of the New Testament church. So as New Testament believers, we worship the Lord with the tithe; or the ten percent.

Giving away 10% of your income can be a big - and often frightening - commitment! That's why we created the Three-Month Tithing Challenge: a money-back guarantee of sorts. Essentially, it's a contract based on the promises of God in Malachi 3:10-11. We commit to you that if you tithe for three months and God doesn't prove himself faithful, we will refund 100% of your tithe. No questions asked.

God doesn't need our money. He owns everything. We give first because it takes faith to give first and God wants us to trust Him. He tells us in Proverbs 3:9-10 to "honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops and then your barns will be filled with overflowing." We give first and the blessings of God follow.

It's crazy and daring and in a way I respect it… of course it's also just a good way to manipulate people out of their money and shows no regard for scriptures such as Galatians 5:4, but at least they are "putting their money where their mouth is", actually no… they are "putting YOUR money where their mouth is" but whatever… it's an interesting idea.

If you wish to sign up you can do so here. These are the rules that follow:

• 1. I understand that this form must be completed and received by the LifeChurch.tv Finance Team prior to the beginning of the Three-Month Tithe Challenge Period.
• 2. I understand that my household qualifies for participation because we have not been tithing for the last six months.
• 3. I understand that if paid at a physical LifeChurch.tv Campus, my tithe must be paid by check, or by completed offering envelope, so that my tithe can be properly credited.
• 4. I understand that I cannot seek a refund prior to the end of the Three-Month Tithing Challenge Period, and that I cannot seek a refund for any contributions made prior to the beginning of the Three-Month Tithing Challenge Period.
• 5. I understand that any request for refund must be received by the Finance Team within 30 days of the end of the Three-Month Tithing Challenge Period.
• 6. I understand that I must log in prior to paying my tithe online, so that my tithe can be properly credited.
• 7. I would like to test God's faithfulness by accepting the Three-Month Tithe Challenge. I agree that for the three-month period I state below, my household will contribute to God, through LifeChurch.tv, a tithe equal to 10% of our income. At the end of the three-month period, if I am not convinced of God's faithfulness as a result of my obedience to His Word, then I will be entitled to request a refund of the full amount of contributions made during that 90-day period.

I think this idea works the same way CBC can claim "our books are open"; they know no one will follow through. I doubt anyone would ever dare say "God didn't prove himself faithfull". I'm sure it is thinking like this that makes them the "Most Innovative Church". While I don't agree with it, I do like the fact that they are trying something new. 

In fact I would like to offer a similar challenge:

Stop tithing for 3 months and if God goes Malachi 3:9 on your ass I'll start tithing to whatever church you like.  

You have got to check out these pictures of a Drive-In Church in Florida.

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/drive_in_church/

It's amazing.

WWJD, Survivor, Chocolate Thunder, et al:
 

It seems like we go through this every few months, but since you’re all new to the blogging ways of the Morton family I’ll be happy to indulge…
 

I would rather get the families together to discuss this, it takes a lot less time that way, but regardless, here we go.
 

My first response will be to address the scriptures listed by WWJD under CBC Talking Points. I will hopefully be able to move on to a more humorous post in the near future, but for now we begin with:
 

GEN 14:18-20
18 Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest to God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said:
Abram is blessed by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth, 20 and give praise to God Most High
who has handed over your enemies to you.And Abram gave him a tenth of everything
 

Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. This was not commanded by God or anyone. If you research this scripture in any study Bible you will likely find that what Abram did was a custom not a command.