Other "Thinking Drafts" and writing by Keith Drury -- http://www.indwes.edu/tuesday .

Rich Preachers

Have you ever wished you'd get rich preaching? Some have. Is that OK?

It starts pretty simply, usually by selling cassettes. Buy them for a dollar and sell at five. Nice markup. Is this wrong? Videos have an even greater cash bonanza: $2 to$19. Writing and selling books has been making cash for preachers since the 19th century camp meeting days. Is this wrong? In fact, today's live audience purchases about $5-$10 per person. The larger the crowd, the larger the purse. Is there anything wrong with this? If you are a preacher?

Some have done well by broadening their audience. There is an enormous market for motivational speakers, especially if you are funny and entertaining. Once you're famous the thing feeds on itself. People will want your books, tapes, videos, notebooks, programs, maybe even your picture. Soon they'll book you to come speak for them (or, better yet, sing) and they'll make a tidy profit off your ministry. They'll collect $8,000 in offerings or ticket sales, and give you $2,000. Fame is profitable. Seeing this local profit-taking you might be tempted to set up a fixed fee for your services so they don't take all the profit. Soon your agent will be charging $5000 a pop for speaking. That sort of fee adds up. Is there anything wrong with this, or is it OK?

Other preachers have made bundles in the past. Consider John Wesley. He was one of the richest preachers of all times. In today's economy he earned the equivalent of 1.4 million in his best year. Yep, you read that right: $1.4 Million in a single year. And that was before CDs, cassettes, one-day-seminars and videos. He did quite well from donations, speaking, books, and what he called his PennyTracts the day's equivalent of today's cheap paperback. And all the while Wesley was raking in this dough he was leading England to a major spiritual revival. Apparently hefty incomes and revival are not mutually exclusive.

However, where Wesley differed from most of us was not in how much he made, but how he spent this bonanza. So, how'd he spend his money? He didn't. Not on himself, at least. He gave it away. I'm not kidding. He simply gave it away. In the year he earned $1.4 million, he lived on 2% of his income and gave 98% away. Wesley pulled down today's equivalent of $30 million during his lifetime, but when he died, left behind only a few miscellaneous coins here and there and a couple of silver spoons. The rest he gave away.

His best known sermon on money begins with point #1. Earn all you can and winds up with, #'3. Give all you can. He "practiced what he preached" on both points.

Most of us would rather practice Wesley's first point more than his third. Perhaps this is why we have far more entrepreneurialism than revival in our country.

But my question is not about John Wesley, but you and me. What about making money off ministry. In a sense we all do -- even if our "profit" is a meager salary or the use of a run down parsonage. Is it wrong to make money off ministry? How much money can a minister appropriately make off ministry? Is there a limit? Or is the sky the limit? So, what do you think?

So what do you think?

To contribute to the thinking on this issue e-mail your response to Tuesday@indwes.edu