Mega Church Madness

Several years ago I was a proud member of World Changers International Church. Pastor Creflo Dollar was a charismatic, disciplined individual who opened up the bible and taught from it. He didn't spend a lot of time hoopin and hollarin. He just broke the word of God down, sometimes by the syllable, and illustrated how we could use the knowledge in our every day lives. He was a stickler for excellence and I appreciated that about him. If you wished to sing on the choir you had to audition. It was a ministry and expected to deliver excellent sound and inspirational lyrics to prepare the congregation for the presence of the Holy Spirit.

If you had need to use the bath room you were asked to quietly raise your hand and wait for an usher to escort you out. Chewing gum was prohibited in the sanctuary and you would be asked to remove it if you offended the rule. Children were provided separate quarters for child care and instruction to keep the sanctuary quiet, and conducive to receive the message. The sound techs and building maintenance and every individual associated with a ministry within the church was expected to perform with excellence. Your best for the Lord.

I auditioned for the choir and was selected to sing soprano. It was an awesome experience and one which I will never forget. I sang notes during my tenure on that choir that I had never uttered before. The power and energy from being in the 200 plus group of good and great singers was exhilarating. I felt very blessed to be serving in this way.

I left after 7 years as a member when things took a turn in another direction. The congregation was taking on a different spirit. It seemed that the new members coming in were drawn to the teachings of wealth and prosperity more than worship. Like God is here to serve us instead of the other way around.

I noticed as I got to know some of these people that many of them had similar back grounds of poor or underprivileged child hoods. They never imagined themselves in a better socio-economic situation. Suddenly there was a man they could relate to. He looked like them and came from the same kind of neighborhood. He had experienced want and now he was successful & wealthy and was neither an athlete nor entertainer. Creflo became their celebrity.

His teachings about prosperity and the blessings of being a follower of Jesus Christ were over shadowed by his congregations natural desire for material possessions. And somewhere a long the way kingdom ways meant you had to have the best of everything. Even for Creflo.

I had conflicts with some of Pastor Dollars teachings and ironically the very things he taught me in the beginning of my membership, were the same things that ultimately made me decide to move on. But I will never regret my time there and I will always hold Pastor Dollar dear in my heart. It was under his tutelage that I found the love for the scripture and a knowledge of the same that is now engraved in my heart.

Still, I understand why Senator Chuck Grassley and his cronies have issues with the lifestyles of these celebrated preachers. In these preachers' effort to show their congregations that you don't have to be a seeker of sin to experience the riches of wealth, they have taken on worldly ways. Some of their living is lavish, even extreme. But how do you reach the masses in this information society with glamor and fame shoved in our faces 24 hours a day? How do you reach the young woman aspiring to be like Paris and the young men holding rappers as their icons? Are they going to follow a Christ who says the best of things are only for the wicked? I don't think so...in fact I know they won't.

So somewhere their has to be a balance. An example of fine living that does not include extreme indulgence. Fine living not haughty living. Wealth but not fulfillment of all those things we covet. What do we covet? What we see. So maybe our preachers need to spend less time competing with the bad guys and more time saving them.

Yet,I am not comfortable with the notion that any group of folk can decide they want to do an inquest in to our churches and try to dictate how our church leaders should invest their resources, or what they should or should not own.

All men and women are subject to temptation and seduced by riches. Hence the scripture in Matt 19:23
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

I believe Christ said this because He knew a rich man could become distracted away from the things of God. Not only by fulfilling desires, but also with having to manage his/her wealth and maintain it, which almost always requires compromise. Compromise of your integrity, or your time and energy. It is extremely difficult to maintain holiness and money at the same time.

These preachers are people just like you and I. They have flaws and weaknesses, baggage from life's experiences, personal goals and desires. Imperfect. So let's not bash them. Rather let us pray, if they have strayed, Lord bring them back. Where they are lacking in teaching and wisdom, supply it to them. If they have taught falsely by omission or lack of understanding , enlighten. And finally if they are a wolf in sheep's clothing punish, and Lord protect the innocent who are following in blind faith.

How can a man hate his own flesh? The division in the body of Christ, (the church) is madness. Stop the madness people. In the words of that good ole time religion, "We will understand it better by and by".

That's melavision. What's yours?