Leon,

No doubt that the extravagance of some ministries has made this a very difficult subject for a number of people.

I personally encountered a couple divergent extremes that really shook me up, at the time.

One was at a conference, many years back, held at a large auditorium, where a group of popular preachers took turns speaking, over a number of days.

The local area church, that organized the event, was planning on starting a college, so between speakers, an appeal for contributions was made.

They started with asking if any there were any in attendance that could contribute, I think, like $5,000, to please stand up.

Some large churches were represented there, and there were some that stood up, introduced themselves, and offered the requested amount.

They were roundly appreciated by the audience, and were also told to remain standing.

Then the offer for $1,000 was similarly made, and the number of offers was even more, and they remained standing.

Then $500 was next, and by that time, there were quite a few people standing.

However, these large offers, if I remember correctly, were made by heads of ministries, not by individuals of their own personal giving.

But, as the amount came down to $100, many of the people still sitting, were beginning to feel very pressured.

There were quite a number of $100 offers then made.

When it came down to $50, I was one of the ones still sitting.

I was not a pastor, nor a leader of some ministry, I knew "for God loveth a cheerful giver", but I stood up, not cheerfully, and did what I felt was my part.

I think it continued down in amounts, but I was too "not cheerful" by then, to remember that part as well.

Hopefully they didn't go down to $10 or even, $5, but I don't remember that part.

The other extreme was when I had started going to a church, also many years ago.

The cross-section of the congregation could have been middle to upper middle class, at that time.

Yet, they believed that the pastor should live minimally.

I went to visit the pastor, even though I was not a member.

I was shocked at the place where the church had him, his wife, and two young daughters living.

I realized that there were people also living in the same area who couldn't afford better housing, as they had no choice.

The pastor didn't have a choice, either, as he was expected to live where the church put him, and the church paid that rent.

There was also an old clunker that was supplied to him and his family for transportation.

He and his family didn't complain, but humbly went along with whatever the church decided along these matters.

I was angry about this, at that time, because, as far as I knew, no one in that church was living as minimally as they were requiring the pastor to.

A number of the men in the church had a change of mind, and the church from that time on took much better care of the pastor and his family.

Later, I ended up joining that church, and saw other changes.

Politically, I would say that the vast majority of the members were very conservative, maybe even to the right of that.

Also, as a "political" view, most, there, opposed illegal immigration, and that was during the 90's.

However, since most members felt strong about evangelism, there was much door-to-door witnessing, and a bus ministry was started.

As things went, so many of the children coming on the buses, were from illegal alien families.

Then, their parents and grandparents were reached with the gospel by the bus workers, and they began to accompany their children to church on the buses.

Quickly, there was need for a Spanish speaking ministry in the church.

These families were welcomed to the church, and loved by the members.

Even though that the majority of members still agreed with Michael Savage, and "Borders, Language, Culture", what were we to do regarding these new Christians?

Were we to lead them to Jesus, and then turn them over to INS (ICE hadn't been formed yet)?

We still believed that it was a crime to enter the US illegally, but these were our new Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

It was a dilemma, as was also the subject of giving to the church, to be presented to them.

One, they were definitely living below the poverty line, but two, if they were here illegally, then what they were paid, was it money made illegally?

No one was able to easily explain all this like a doctor, i.e. "Take these two scriptures, and call me in the morning."

It was a very difficult situation, and, also, none of the teaching and preaching "targeted" the subject of illegal immigration.

So, when a family would decide, on their own, from the scriptures and the leading of the Holy Ghost, to return back to their home country, it was amazing.

One family returned to Mexico, and hoped to return soon, legally, however, the LORD blessed them greatly back in Mexico.

They ended up better off remaining there, than they would have by returning to the US.

It turned out that the person heading up the Spanish speaking ministry, was born one month prior to being brought into the US.

All but one sibling were US born, but he had not been.

He had also married a non-hispanic US citizen, while in college, and they had children together.

But then the reality of his situation struck him, and he wanted to do the right thing, so he crossed the border back, while explaining it all to INS.

There was much prayer lifted up for him, and there was also a large letter writing campaign to government leaders, on his behalf.

The government welcomed him back to the US, to rejoin his family and the ministry.

The ministry was reorganized as a Spanish speaking church, and he was chosen to be the pastor.

If I remember correctly, he also, an others, were not afraid of the subject of church giving.

However, "as God hath prospered", "and not according to that he hath not", and not beyond their means, not necessarily a fixed %, but definitely cheerfully.

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