Posted on 12/30/2009 8:46:19 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
Pastor Rick Warren urgently asks faithful for $900,000 December 30th, 2009
It’s been a heck of a year for mega-pastor/bestselling author/power broker Rick Warren of the enormous Saddleback Church. It started out with Warren’s invocation at the historic inauguration of one President Barack Obama - and it concludes with Warren asking his flock to cough up nearly $1 million in just two days to keep the church out of the red.
“Dear Saddleback Family,” begins today’s missive from Warren. “THIS IS AN URGENT LETTER unlike any I’ve written in 30 years. Please read all of it and get back to me in the next 48 hours.
“I have thrilling news to share with you below but first some seriously bad news: With 10% of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated. Still, with wise management, we’ve stayed close to our budget all year. Then… this last weekend the bottom dropped out.
“On the last weekend of 2009, our total offerings were less than half of what we normally receive - leaving us $900,000 in the red for the year, unless you help make up the difference today and tomorrow.”
The church does not make its financial information public, so it’s impossible to tell just how big of a hole in the boat this $900,000 represents. A spokeswoman for Warren said the church does not release detail on its finances, so it’s hard to put the shortfall in context. (Suffice to say it may not represent a terribly significant portion of Saddleback’s annual budget, and that his personal appeal may well close the hole, and then some.)
In his letter, Warren goes on to detail the church’s accomplishments for the year, and then says:
It’s obvious that your giving through your church family is providing more “bang for the buck” than anything else you could support. It is no wonder that our ministry was named the top religious newsmaker of 2009 as reported by Associated Press.
YOU CAN HELP SAVE THE DAY 3 WAYS BEFORE JAN 1.
1. Click HERE right now to and give as large an end-of-the-year gift as you can to help avert this crisis. If we all do what God leads us to do, we’ll all be a part of a miracle. 2. Mail in your gift today. Gifts must be postmarked in 2009 to be posted as 2009 gifts for tax purposes. Mail to: 1 Saddleback Parkway, Lake Forest, CA 92630. 3. Drop your gift in the box at the front door of the Ministry Center at 1 Saddleback Parkway so you know for certain we get it TODAY or Thursday….
I love you so much. It is a deep privilege to be your pastor….
And, perhaps, a pain to be his accountant.
Pastor? I thought he was a motivational speaker like Tim Robbins or Joe Isuzu?
An educated guess, which goes roughly as follows. Paul (then Saul) would have enormous clout in matters of religious practice. That’s the “ruler” part. Yet as Paul testifies he had no answer to the pesky question of everlasting life, only a bunch of conflicting Jewish lore in which no comfort could be found. So when Jesus comes around and everybody starts listening to him, Saul put the question to Jesus. It had not yet dawned on Saul that Jesus was the Savior of mankind, and so a move that would mark Saul as an absolute loser in the eyes of man would have no such meaning in the kingdom of God.
To Rick Warren:
The God I believe in isn’t short of cash, mister.
I know it’s wishful thinking, but I wish, hope & pray that NO ONE would contribute any money to pro-0bozo, pro-Islamic Rick Warren. Let him get it the way any other liberal, socialist commie pig organization gets it..... ask 0bozo for it who will then take it from the taxpayers anyway. After all, 0bozo still has hundreds of billions of Porkulus funds available to him.
Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else find his characterization of offerings as "income" wrong? To me, it shows that he is looking at his church as a business enterprise. Instead of income, why wouldn't he refer to money as offerings or gifts????
Yes, I’m compelled to wonder how many millions Pastor Rick has made from his books. He may not have kept everything, and surely the IRS has taken its share and then some. Still, he must be a rich man and well able to engage in a lot of personal charity and help fill the coffers of his church. What else, certainly, should a pastor do with his very considerable earnings? He certainly didn’t go into the ministry to get rich, did he?
Why would anyone want to go to the Nobel ceremonies? It’s not exactly entertainment.
Warren is dsgusting.
Warren is a fraud.
Go ask your abortion buddy, Obama for a “bailout”.
Warren is dsgusting.
Warren is a fraud.
Go ask your abortion buddy, Obama for a “bailout”.
you mean Jim Jones?
IN times of trouble, people turn to more serious faith. Feel-good churches are for when the good times are rolling and people don’t want guilt or calls to obedience and labor.
Where did this idea come from that Warren is pro-Obama. I remember his debate and it seemed to me Warren totally exposed him for the fraud that he is. If any one who cares about social or cultural issues voted for him after Warren finished with him, they knew what they were getting.
Just cause Warren said some nice words about him doesn’t mean he’s on his payroll. Warren’s debate was a disaster for Obama and he was lucky it was over the summer when no one paid any attention. If that had been the 1st debate instead of the one in late September McCain would be President today.
I guarantee you there’s no Saddleback Forum part II in 2012. Obama will stay as far away as possible.
Don't forget Matt Foley - best motivational speaker of them all!
“
Pastor Rick Warren urgently asks faithful for $900,000 (Ask Your Boy Obama For It)
“
Or The Lord will take him home?
(sorry, couldn’t pass up the reference with the passing of the
Late Great Oral Roberts...)
I hope he goes broke.FH
The church does not make its financial information public, so it’s impossible to tell just how big of a hole in the boat this $900,000 represents. A spokeswoman for Warren said the church does not release detail on its finances, so it’s hard to put the shortfall in context. (Suffice to say it may not represent a terribly significant portion of Saddleback’s annual budget, and that his personal appeal may well close the hole, and then some.)
He must bring in millions, maybe even in the 10’s of millions a year. Where did it go? On top of it, he fasted for the entire month of Ramadan!
He claims he’s given away 90% of the earnings from his mega-selling books. (Since nobody really deserves to be rich.) Sure would come in handy now, wouldn’t it?
I just checked the unemployment numbers for the counties that Saddleback churches are located in.
http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/
The Corona “campus” is in Riverside County which has an unemployment rate of 14.6% and all of the others appear to be in Orange County which has an unemployment rate of 9.4% so it doesn’t seem impossible.
Even before things crashed a lot of irresponsible people lived paycheck to paycheck. Now a lot of people who lived responsibly are joining their ranks.
I agree that there’s something screwy going on and I think it’s Liberalism.
Odd that Warren is asking for money to cover a US $900,000 shortfall.
Is there some significance for "900"? Simply a big number?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.