(ThyBlackMan.com) With the Bishop Eddie Long story surfacing recently, a familiar undertone seems to be emerging during the many conversations on the topic. Nope, I’m not talking about the “DL” phenomenon in black churches. I’m talking about the issue of pastoral compensation. Namely, is it right for a pastor to drive around in a Bentley while his congregation struggles to hold on to their homes in the midst of this (supposedly long-since ended) recession? As part of the allegations against Bishop Eddie Long involve allegedly gifting the accusing young men with “cars, clothes, jewelry and electronics” (Christian Science Monitor), it is understandable that the question of how a pastor gets his wealth and what he does with it has come into play. But…
This issue always irks me, because it casts a wide net over the profession as a whole. Sure, there are megachurch preachers who are indeed rich. A study released just last week revealed the pastors of “megachurches” make about $147,000 a year, which is obviously no couch change. This includes “the combined total of cash salary plus any housing allowance” and “salary amounts funded by love offerings if applicable.” Yeah, that’s still a lot of money, but obviously every pastor doesn’t lead a “megachurch“, which is loosely defined as one having about 2,000 attendees for a typical weekend service. In fact, there are fewer than 1,500 (of the 300,000 total) churches that meet this criteria in the US. Painting all pastors with this same “greedy mofo who buys a Benz with tithes” brush is intellectually dishonest. A majority of pastors who lead your typical small congregation still have day jobs just like you and me.
That said, some (not all) of those who do lead large congregations in many cases do indeed lead lavish lifestyles, but who’s to say they cannot or should not?
While most megachurches don’t publicly disclose salaries and compensation for their lead pastors, a good example might be TD Jakes. Yes, Jakes lives in a palatial $2 million Dallas mansion, flies on charter jets, and can out bling your favorite rapper. But the money he’s using to fund this lifestyle isn’t coming from his congregants. Most of it’s coming from his own personal efforts, in the form of book sales, record royalties and 
speaking engagement fees when he visits other churches. Yes, he leads a church, but he’s also a very talented person who uses those God-given talents to spread the word of Jesus Christ. Those talents just so happen to also make money. That money doesn’t typically come from the collection plate, but rather by intentional purchases by those who want Jakes’ various works. Common sense would dictate that Jakes tithes/offers a fair amount of this back to his church. So, again, why is it wrong for Jakes (and the like) to profit off his own hard work?
Some will invariably argue that it’s wrong for a pastor to have all this stuff in the midst of a recession. Really? Where is it written that just because someone else is suffering, you need to? If any of you has sold a car or home to help out a fellow churchgoer in this recession, I’ll stand corrected. I doubt this has happened though. On that same note, most churches (mega or otherwise) do indeed offer up financial help to congregants who are in dire straits, in addition to their myriad other services from childcare, to Spanish lessons, to aid for the homeless and parenting courses, often at no charge. None of this stuff’s ever publicized, but let’s not assume churches are just ATM’s that suck in money and and never disperse any. Most do.
Finally, I’m sure someone’s gonna argue that Jesus didn’t need a nice car or house, so why does Creflo Dollar? If you want to take everything in the bible and apply it to the present day and time, then I’m sure many of us have no problem with getting pilloried with stones for our own personal indiscretions.
Let the chuuuch say amen!
{crickets}
Again, I’d be the last one to excuse the small minority of churches where the pastor does indeed take advantage of the congregation’s financial generosity. And the pictures of Bishop Eddie Long in his not one, but two marble-clad bathrooms might make him appear to be misusing his wealth. But we don’t know how he earned his fortune. And those cases are the exception, not the rule.
Written By Jay Anderson
