"Would a Man Rob Ed?" - Ed Young Issues the God Challenge - Signed Tithing Committment Cards With a Money-Back Satisfaction Guarantee

A new tithing gimmick has been introduced into the Southern Baptist Convention, by Ed Young, Jr. at the SBC's Fellowship Church.

Last year Ed Young pulled a stunt to try and collect checking account and bank routing numbers from his people to allow Fellowship Church to auto-withdraw their tithe.

This year the salesman Ed Young is trying a new tithing gimmick: a money-back tithing pledge. Ed distributed tithing commitment cards to be signed by all members last Sunday for them to commit to tithe 10% of all their income for seven-weeks, and if they are not satisfied with the blessings Ed has promised they will receive, Ed says he will give "God's money" back!

Ed says in the video above:

"Here's the deal: this is the 'God challenge'. This is a money-back guarantee, is what I'm sayin'. In other words, we have 7 weekends from now until the end of the year. And I'm going to ask you to sign up. If God does not bless your life and show up in huge ways, we'll give you God's money back. [scant applause]. I'll say it again. I know it's hard to believe, a church doing this. You do this for seven weeks, make sure you participate in a way that we can track it in our financial office, we'll give you God's money, ha ha, did you get that, God's money, back!"

Let's analyze this:

- first of all, it is absolutely amazing that Ed says while laughing heartily, that "we will give you God's money back" (watch the video, I looped this laugh several times, it is incredibly revealing). I think he laughed accidentally at the ridiculousness that it is "God's money". Ed knows it is not. The entire premise of his sermon was that your first 10% of your income is not yours, it is "God's portion", and it belongs to God. According to Ed you can't even "give" it, you can only "bring" it, since it is not yours. But if the money is God's then on what authority does Ed claim the right to give it BACK to you? This gimmick actually shows that Ed doesn't believe his own nonsense - if that money you give - sorry, I mean bring - to Fellowship Church is holy and God's property, Ed certainly would understand he has no right to give it back to you. But it is Ed's money once you give it, and he can give it back.

- does Ed not fear the God he preaches about? The bible says he is a jealous God, and would not share his power or glory with anyone. Yet here is beautiful, blonde Ed Young in his skinny jeans, telling people that giving 10% to his church will unlock all sorts of blessings. God is a genie, and he is released from his magic lamp when he sees you put in 10% of your income to the collection bags at Fellowship Church. But now Ed removes even the requirement to trust God because God has apparently anointed Ed Young to manage God's storehouse. Ed will take your money, but he has the power to give it back to you.

- I know of no one who donates their hard earned money to their church, or to the United Way, or to a rescue mission, that expects ANYTHING in return. What does this guarantee offer say about how Ed views Christians? He thinks people are stupid enough to believe that 10% of their income is the magic key to blessings, that 8% or 9% means God's cursings and 10% means blessings. Then he thinks people are stupid enough to be motivated to give to their church by their pastor promising something in return. Hey Ed, people donate to your church or to any 501(c)3 non-profit because they believe in the ministry or cause and they don't expect anything in return.

- God can't be confined to the limits of a 7-week test defined by Ed Young, Jr. God may or may not bless someone between now and the end of the year, whether they do or do not tithe. How about a test to see if someone gets blessed WITHOUT tithing? Ed's ploy is pure poppycock and gimmickry, and I feel sorry for any person at Fellowship Church foolish enough to play into Ed's scheme by signing that card.

- do we need any further evidence to demonstrate that Ed and the other first-fruit tithing teachers are peddlers of the gospel for profit? Only companies selling things for a profit offer money-back guarantees. When will the IRS begin taxing these mega temples? They are salesmen at heart. As I wrote back in 2008 and then in 2010, Ed himself acknowledges the intense pressure he has as the church's "franchise player", responsible for raising money, when he said:

"We're responsible [pastors] every year, we're the main one, that raises money. I call pastors the 'franchise player' because we're the ones who are responsible before God for raising money...every year I've stared a lot of money in the face, and I know at the end of the day it's up to me to raise that money...and now it's many, many millions of dollars, and that's a taxing thing."

There you have it: Ed has to "raise" the millions. I thought it was God who did it all, that he was sovereign over matters in his church. But no, apparently God needs Ed and other franchise-player-pastors to raise the money, thus we see these cheesy gimmicks like this money-back guarantee to extract more money from trusting Christians.

- interesting how the money back clause is worded: "If at the end of 7 weeks you believe that God did not honor his word and pour out blessings in your life, then Fellowship will give God's money back to you promptly." So you have to call God a liar to get your money back, saying he didn't honor his word. Actually, it should read: "If you discover at the end of 7 weeks that Ed Young's claim of blessings for tithing is nothing more than a gimmick to get his hands on your money, then we will give you your money back." Can you imagine being put on the list of people at Fellowship that called God a liar and asked for "God's money" back? Might be a sure way to not be asked to serve in any capacity at the church, right?

- will Fellowship Church require you to show that you gave 10% of your income in order to get your money back? After all, if all you did was give 9% of your income, and come and claim God didn't honor his word and bless you, you didn't keep your end of the bargain. Of course God won't bless you at 9%, right? So get ready to hand your tax forms over to the finance department of the church so they can confirm that you indeed were tithing on the gross for 7 consecutive weeks.

This is a just a repackaged form of the false prosperity gospel that is peddled by televangelists that has now made its way into the Southern Baptist Convention. You give to get blessed, and you call God's hand by tithing, he HAS to bless you.

I'm still trying to figure out which is worse: this tithing gimmickry by Ed Young, or James Merritt peddling FHTMC, a suspected pyramid scheme, in his church.

Either way, the Southern Baptist mega church pastors, the "franchise players", need your money, and they will go to any lengths to separate you from your money, even under false pretenses, even during the holiday season.

Tebow Shows How a Christian Leader Should Handle Criticism - Pastors, Watch and Learn

"You know, I'm not sure, but I know one thing is I am extremely blessed. God has blessed me with so many people that support me, a great family that supports me, great teammates and a coaching staff and that's what I'm focused on." Tim Tebow's answer to interview question about why he "provokes" so much criticism.

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I've written quite a bit about whining pastors the last year. Thom Rainer whined about the tragedy of pastors being criticized and how critics need to be shut down. One of the more popular Watchdog posts this past year was Steven Furtick's embarrassing rap video he made blasting his critics. Perry Noble calls his critics "jack asses" - from the pulpit!

Mac Brunson is so fed up with criticism that he swung for the fences last week and wagged his finger in the face of his church members to tell them he is God's man, he doesn't answer to them and they can't fire him, and no one it as rough as he has it. Despite living an incredibly blessed and privileged life as the pastor of FBC Jax, he portrays himself as the "Job of Jacksonville", a modern-day martyr. He even thought it helpful to admit to his church members he didn't really want to come to our city and be pastor of FBC Jax in the first place but God made him come - actually said God "drove him" to Jax (in a pickup truck I'm sure).

These whiny pastors need to learn from Tim Tebow. Mac Brunson needs to learn from Tim Tebow.

There aren't many Christians who have had to endure public criticism like Tim Tebow has. Sure, he has many supporters who love him, but within his chosen profession he has many detractors. Sports writers have criticized him for being so public about his faith, unfairly criticizing him because he prays while he plays, and always mentions Jesus Christ when he gives his post-game conferences.

The criticism has been unrelenting. Criticizing anything and everything. Writers and fans have criticized him personally, his motives in being open about his faith, his stance on abortion, even criticizing he and his mother for a pro-life commercial aired during the Super Bowl. They even criticize how he does his job, his throwing motion, people doubting he even has the basic skills required to be an NFL quarterback. One has even criticized him for being a member of FBC Jax. You name it - about his profession, his abilities, his family, and his faith - he has been criticized non-stop.

How does he handle it? Does he complain about his complainers? Does he criticize his criticizers? Does he try to shame the reporters who ask asinine questions?

Does Tim Tebow tell people about how great he is, or how important his "calling" is and how people should respect him? Does he call on other people to stop the criticizers? Is he worried one bit about the criticism?

No way. Never, not one time has Tebow retaliated or complained or criticized his criticizers. He just does his job and he lives out his faith. He has always done it his whole life, and he continues to do it now on a national stage and it just amazes reporters because they've never seen anything like it. A Christian acting like...well, a Christian.

Perfect example of this was last night after he led his team from behind to beat the New York Jets on a last-second 20-yard touchdown run on national TV. He came out to speak to the NFL Network sportscasters after the game. One of the talking heads, Deion Sanders, asked Tebow this question (click here):

"Of course these fans in Denver, they love you. But nationally, I've never seen a guy that provokes so much talk, good or bad. What do you feel attributes to that?"

Tebow probably should have asked him "attributes to that"? What does that mean? Instead, Tebow answered:

"You know, I'm not sure, but I know one thing is I am extremely blessed. God has blessed me with so many people that support me, a great family that supports me, great teammates and a coaching staff and that's what I'm focused on."

Then Sanders follows up with this doozy, still saying that Tim "provokes" the criticism:

"Do you feel like it is your throwing motion, is it your faith, what is it that provokes anger or hatred or disdain from some journalists and publicists?"

Tebow simply smiled and answered:

"You know, I'm not sure, something I learned early in college was to not worry about what I can't control, and that is something I can't control. But what I can control is my attitude, my effort, my focus, every single day, and that is what I'm trying to worry about."

Wow. Words of wisdom from a young man that seminary-trained pastors need to learn from. Tebow could have used that question to blast critics, or claim he is attacked for his faith. He could have told Deion Sanders what an absolutely stupid question that is, that he doesn't "provoke" anyone. He could talk about how hurtful it is to his family to have to see him be criticized, and talk about how it makes his job no fun at all.

Tim just fields the questions with a smile, is a nice, polite person, and respectfully answers all questions, even the very stupid ones. Like maybe a Christian would do.

This is what true leaders are made of. Leaders who inspire others to greatness don't pay attention to the critics, they don't portray themselves as victims or martyrs. They just stay focused on the task at hand, they praise their fellow workers, and are grateful for being granted the opportunity to lead. They don't behave as though they have a God-given right to be the leader. They respect everyone, even the critic, and they focus on the positive.

Tim's leadership has caused his team to rally around him. He was named the starter when his team lost 4 of their first 5 games with Kyle Orton as quarterback, and now the team has rallied around their new leader by keeping the games close and allowing Tebow to win them in the end.

Tebow is 4-1 as a starter. Kyle Orton was 1-4 as a starter.

Kyle Orton was the one who was supposed to lead the Broncos this year. He was the one with the training, experience, and credentials. He was the chosen one.

But the real leader has emerged, the one who can inspire his teammates. Now Tebow is the leader of the Broncos and he is grateful for the opportunity, and doesn't take it for granted, and you can bet it won't get to his head. He does nothing but publicly praise his teammates and coaching staff for their hard work.

So pastors, learn from young Tim Tebow. He's a leader. Some of you are crybaby tyrants, demanding respect and love from those you want to lead, and complaining about those who don't succumb to your leadership. You may be in charge, but you won't be a leader who inspires.

Thanks, Tim, for being such a great example.

The World According to a Suffering Mega Church Pastor: Mac Says He Never Wanted to Come, and "Only Jesus Can Take Me Outta Here"

"I don't do this because it's fun. You think it's fun to get beat up and made fun of all the time, and accused of this, that, and the other? You think that's fun? You think it's fun to watch your wife and children watch this stuff? You think it's fun, you think it's enjoyable? I'm here because of Jesus Christ, and He's the only one that can take me outta here. I'm here to preach His word, not your word. "
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"It ain't easy being green", Kermit the Frog used to sing. Apparently, it ain't easy being a mega church pastor, either. The sacrifices and suffering are almost too much to bear, according to Mac Brunson in his sermon a few weeks ago. Perhaps after preaching out of the book of Job for several months, Mac let the cat out of the bag, that HE is Job, having to endure the hardship of the life of a maligned mega church pastor.

In the video clip above you'll hear Brunson declare to the FBC Jax members:

- their pastor never really wanted to come to pastor FBC Jax, but God "drove him" to be the pastor at FBC Jax;

- the people of FBC Jax didn't "call" him, God called him, and thus only Jesus has the ability to remove him from his position;

- there are plenty of other things he could be doing besides pastoring - and presumably they are darned lucky he has decided to stick to the terrible job of being their "pastor";

- he has suffered tremendously as pastor and his "personhood" has been under constant attack for the past 4 years and thus it has been no fun at all to be their pastor.

Since he came here to FBC Jax Mac has played the role of martyr, starting when Paige Patterson had to ask his students to pray for Mac declaring that Mac never received a honeymoon at FBC Jax. In other instances Mac has seen fit to tell his congregation how terrible his life is as their pastor, telling his peeps "I have to endure more criticism in 30 minutes than you can handle in 6 months". Mac, speak to Jim Smyrl who has held a real job now for 5 months in the business world, about what criticism people deal with everyday.

The fact is the people and leadership of FBC Jax have treated the Brunsons extremely well. Must I recount how well? With jobs for three of the Brunsons, the new office suite, the $307k land gift, and many other perks...and Mac has the freedom to be away from the church to go to many speaking gigs. He really does have it nice here at FBC Jax.

But not everyone is going to love a mega church pastor. Vines and Lindsay knew that. Lindsay was often joked ridiculed in this town, and Vines was raked over the coals for his Mohammad remarks back in 2002.

Perhaps Mac's rant was the result of a Folio Weekly article that ran the week before this sermon that called Mac one of the scariest five people in Jacksonville, and blamed him alone for his church using the sheriff's office in identifying the Watchdog blogger and resulting lawsuit. The article included a cartoon caricature of Mac (at right), angry and foaming at the mouth, a ready-made cut-out Halloween mask. But the article was merely reflecting the disgust that this community has with a church that went to a member, deacon, and discipline committee member - who had investigative subpoena power - to investigate a blogger critical of their pastor. The criticism is understandable, and most people agree it is deserved.

But why tell his congregation that he didn't want to come here? Obviously there was something about FBC Jax that drew him here. He made a career change. People do it all the time. A person doesn't like the job they have, or they are ready for new challenges, or they see a move as beneficial to their family...or maybe there is more money and more perks to the new job. To tell his congregation that he was here only because "God drove me to this place" is not believable, but it helps him put himself on par with other biblical characters whom God spoke to directly.

And why the declaration that the people of FBC Jax "didn't call me here to preach"? That is not true. The people of FBC Jax did vote to have him come. And actually Jesus wouldn't be the one to take him out of FBC Jax. Jesus isn't here in bodily form, and thus he wouldn't be the one. It would be the trustees of the church who would do that. But it makes for great theatrics, and it shows his arrogance in making such a statement to the people who did indeed call him to be their pastor.

And boy, do the people of FBC Jax love it. They hooted and hollered as he wagged his finger in their faces. Why is it that smart people cheer such arrogance when it is on full display on a stage by a grown man?

And as a lay person I'm so sick and tired of hearing pastors pontificate about how their "calling" is so special and above everyone else's calling in life, using the word "surrendered" in terms of their calling. The fact is Mac and other ministers have chosen themselves to be professional, vocational ministers. They are called just like a Christian may be "called" to be a teacher or lawyer or doctor. But these men are trained in seminary to believe they are God's agents, appointed to save all of us from our ignorance, as Al Mohler preached at FBC Jax earlier this year.

Too bad that Mac views himself as a victim and martyr as the pastor of FBC Jax. He leads a blessed life. His wife and son work with him at church, he has a beautiful home in Jax, and beach home in St. Augustine. He probably will have the freedom to bring his son-in-law to FBC Jax in the near future on staff. He has a congregation that really has endured a lot in the past 4 years with the negative publicity that has come their way under Brunson's leadership - yet they still love and adore their pastor, they still give generously, and they responded to his call for acts of service in the Arms Around Jacksonville.

And they still applaud and hoot and holler when he preaches.

What more could a pastor want?

First Baptist Jacksonville "Arms Around Jacksonville" - Ministry for the Camera

"It's going to be great to see God's people in action. We've got camera crews set up at all the different locations." Damien, FBC Jax
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"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your father who is in heaven." Jesus Christ, Matthew 6:1
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Today, First Baptist Jacksonville is implementing their "Arms Around Jacksonville" ministry effort. Each Sunday School class has been encouraged to select and plan a local missions project to help the citizens of Jacksonville - and then implement it on Saturday November 12th. Promotional videos have been recorded by Trey Brunson and John Herrett to rally the troops.

This is great - as a church they recognize their calling to actually serve the citizens of Jacksonville. Yes, Christians should be putting feet to their faith, and should serve and help others. Not just through ministry at church, but everyday at work and school and in their city.

But I think what is interesting is the way that FBC Jax, and other mega churches around the country, are using local ministry through the church performed by their church members, as a marketing tool. To do an act of kindness in your city through your church is now doing "missions". Instead of just quietly going about and serving Jacksonville, FBC Jax leadership wants to TELL everyone how great they are for serving. As Damien says in one of their AAJ promotional videos, FBC Jax media personnel will have camera crews all over Jax to film the ministry that they are doing on that one day. He explains they will produce a special video for everyone to see on Sunday morning and another special video for Sunday night - and you can bet they will see air time on their local TV broadcasts, and it will be featured on their web site.

Why not just go out and serve? Why film it all? Is that how ministry is to be done, with ministry brand names and t-shirts and film crews sent out to make videos of people serving? Isn't serving people and ministering to people what a church is SUPPOSED to be doing? Then why all the hoopla and cheerleading over what they SHOULD be doing anyways?

Truth is, long before the Brunson's came up with Arms Around Jacksonville, the people of FBC Jax HAVE been ministering in Jacksonville. Sure, no one gets any credit for it, but different Sunday School departments had and still have different projects all throughout the year. The difference now? Cameras to record it all, a brand name and logo, and t-shirts for everyone to wear and media professionals to produce slick videos.

Steve Gaines and Bellevue Baptist Church started a campaign several years ago called "Bellevue Loves Memphis" - same thing. They all got T-shirts, promotional items, they even purchased billboards to tell everyone just how much their church loves Memphis.

One other benefit to getting the peeps out for a day of "Arms Around Jax": FBC Jax wants to help their tarnished image over the past 4 years and combat the negative publicity of late. Said FBC Jax preacher Danny Crosby last month:

"If you took a survey and went door to door throughout the city of Jacksonville you won't always get a favorable response when you ask the question 'what do you think or know about the First Baptist Jax downtown?' They're not so excited as you are about this church. Why? 'Cause they read stuff that's not true [this blog?] They hear stuff that's not true. And they might have an occasional encounter with someone who says they represent our church. But you and I have the awesome opportunity to let others know what the real truth is: that we want to wrap our arms around this city for the glory of God. We want to be the arms of God to a lost and dying city. It's a dark place."

More whining from the pulpit of how everyone misunderstands FBC Jax. Poor FBC Jax, they and their pastor have gotten a bum rap all these years as Mac complained about last week. Not sure what "stuff" Danny is referring to - but people these days have a pretty good idea what most mega churches like FBC Jax are into: raising money for buildings and renovations to their auditorium, salaries and benefits for professional ministers that make very comfortable livings, and guilting people to give 10% of their money to the church to fund and maintain the system. That is what keeps many people away these days.

And now ministry is used as another marketing tool to aid the leadership to keep the big ship afloat.

So if you are ministered to in Jesus' name this weekend by FBC Jax, be sure to smile for the camera - you might be in their next video!

And please, whatever you do, don't criticize the pastor or the church, don't ask about any salaries, and do not tell them that you read the Watchdog. They don't take kindly to such folks.

Paterno Out: A Legendary Football Coach is Held Accountable for Turning Blind Eye Toward a Pervert

The state college trustees were right to fire Joe Paterno and the college president. They have acted to protect the integrity of their institution, and more importantly send a powerful message about how they expect their university leaders to always act to protect children and not the image of their institution.

The grand jury testimony was clear: Paterno turned a blind eye toward a pedophile coach that used the Penn State showers for multiple sexual assualts against minors. When he was told of a specific episode by a distraught graduate assistant, Joe didn't call the cops. His graduate assistant didn't. Joe didn't have the sense to use his influence on the graduate assistant to encourage him to call the police as an eye witness to a sexual assault.

And according to the grand jury report, more boys were needlessly assaulted after this.

We know the lesson of Sandusky: there are perverts everywhere posing as coaches, teachers, preachers, Sunday School teachers, mentors, and seemingly all-around good guys that want to prey on your children. This makes it incredibly difficult for us parents to know who really wants to help our kids. We didn't need Sandusky to teach us this, we already knew it.

But Paterno's firing teaches us three lessons:

- it tells us that in the secular realm, we hold our legends and heroes to much higher standards than we do our ordained "men of God" in Christianity. Look at the Catholic priest scandals all over the world, evidence that molesting priests were shuffled from parish to parish. Look at Baptist preachers who knew of sexual molestation in their church by preachers and ministers that didn't report the abuse to authorities - and in some cases even allowed the pedophile to simply move away to be someone else's problem.

- it tells us that even the most respected and revered coach in the history of college football is not so powerful as to be not accountable for a moral failure to protect children. Citizens in Pennsylvania - and Paterno himself - never envisioned a day that a group of trustees would deem him unfit to be the coach of the state university football team. It was not his God-given right to be the coach of Penn State...many pastors think they are appointed by God himself to their position as pastor, leading many to think they are above being held accountable for a moral failure to protect children from perverts in their church.

- there was an institutional arrogance within the Penn State university that led employees from the janitor all the way to the president of the university to not do all they could to protect children from a sexual predator posing as a powerful assistant coach. Thankfully, this arrogance may have come to an abrupt end by the actions of the state trustees yesterday and in the days to come. Question is: when will "trustees" of the Southern Baptist Convention realize they can do much, much more to protect children from predator ministers?

Thankfully, Paterno will not be on the sideline this weekend coaching Penn State for turning a blind eye toward a pedophile coach.

Sadly, there are many pastors and priests who this weekend will be in pulpits preaching who should have been fired for turning a blind eye toward molesters in their church.