Steven Furtick's Brother Goes into Attack Mode: Calls WCNC Reporter Stuart Watson a "Two-Bit Hack", "Coward", and "Half the Man" Furtick Is

Sad to watch this unfold, but Steven Furtick's brother Matt Furtick has gone on the offensive to defend his brother, using his Twitter account to make terrible accusations against WCNC reporter Stuart Watson.

Here is a sampling of the many bullying Tweet's Matt Furtick has posted since Stuart Watson's expose on the finances of Steven Furtick and Elevation Church began on October 22nd. By the way, WCNC aired the fourth part of Watson's pieces, exposing some of the contents of a confidential Elevation Church financial report.

 

Yes, attacking the manhood of Stuart Watson. How Christ-like of Brother Matt.

Just a tad bit aggressive, almost threatening. Matt, Stuart is an Emmy-award winning reporter, and I don't think your biased view of him carries much weight.

 

 

Oh yes, the old "coward" accusation. I heard that so often back in 2007 and 2008 - along with "man up". 

 

Steven Furtick's wife Holly sent a "Reply" Tweet to Matt's Oct 23 11:40 pm Tweet:

Again, that is Holly's October 24th reply to Matt's October 23rd Tweet calling Stuart Watson's report a "joke", a biased piece with "no factual information". After Holly seemed to publicly endorse Matt's characterizations, he then became more aggressive on successive days in attacking Stuart Watson on Twitter.

Matt Furtick describes himself as not being "affiliated" with Elevation, but says that he does attend when he is in town. Perhaps he helped Steven write the "Hey Haters" script?

I certainly understand Matt wanting to defend his brother, but this is just over the top to accuse a reputable reporter like Stuart Watson of being a "hack" and a "coward" - even questioning his manhood. 

But this is standard fare when a person dares to ask questions about the finances of a mega church and the pastor.

As you would expect from Stuart Watson - who by the way has won three Emmy's for his investigative reporting along with three Peabody awards - he is taking the high road. In Stuart's Twitter feed I see only one direct response to the bullying of Matt Furtick:

Stuart, thanks for showing the grace and kindness that Jesus would show to those who are attacking him. You are the Christ-like example. Not the pastor and his brother, sad to say.

And Steven and Holly - you might want to reign in bro. Matt. He's really going off the deep end on some of his Tweets.

Message from the Pew to the Pulpit: The Expressions of Disgust from Church Member When Lied to About Tithing

In the comment section of the Robert Morris shakedown article a few weeks ago,, a Watchdog commenter posted a very insightful comment. I have copied and pasted it below in its entirety.

Pastors, please read it. I don't endorse everything said, but this comment I think expresses the frustration that many of your church members have when you lie to them and try to convince them that they are some how obligated by God to give 10% minimum of their income to your church as a "first fruits" offering - before even paying for their bills or giving to the poor. They see your efforts as having nothing whatsoever to do with God, but instead as a means of raising funds.

Church members like this one are fed up with it, they see through your tactics, and they see the unbiblical and illogical nature of your argument.

And worst of all, you're driving people away from the faith that you claim God called you to preach about. You've turned the "Good News" into "Terrible News" in your quest to raise revenue for your organization.

So go ahead again this year, pastor, and try to shake down your church members, attempting to convince them that there is an obligation to give 10%, and that blessings await them at the 10% giving level, and that the devourer will eat it if they don't give it, so best to go ahead and just fork it over.

Or try something else this year, pastor. Admit to your congregation that tithing 10% is NOT required. Tell them that the "devourer" is not going to eat their resources. Tell them God is NOT waiting to poke holes in their purses unless they fork over 10%. And tell them to be generous, and to give to the church what they purpose in their heart to give. I think there is a verse that says something close to that.

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"Anything I have that could be construed as a blessing from God, is not from any local 501(c)(3)church that I attended. My ability to earn wealth came from the degrees I earned from the University of Florida. They also are a non-profit that raises millions of funds. Yet they never threaten me with words like "curses", or saying I am not a Christian, or telling me "you would not have that job if it were not for us" or "this is where you went to school, you owe us support." No, they simply inform me of all the good they are doing and the needs they have, and I respond out of gratitude and understanding and logic and reason. They raise billions doing it this honest and upfront way!

Who do I owe my ability to earn income from more: my local church I went to once a week for an hour or two, or my university where I invested thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to earn a degree that gave me job skills to find employment?

And health? My family doctor, or local hospital, don't send me solicitations telling me I owe my health to them, even though logically they could, right? Why would the latest pastor down at the corner church claim I should give to his organization because my health is good. Might my primary care doctor, who actually examines me and prescribes medication and diagnosis based on his earned doctorate, have a greater claim? Of course.

And my children's "blessings" and future? Again, my investment and support in giving them the best education I could, and their years of hard work and academic achievement, isn't that what gives them hope and a future for financial "blessings" in the future? Or is it the pompous ass preacher giving a history lesson once a week that is deserving of monetary donation as a thank-you for my children's success?

Think about it! Who do you call when you are sick? Your doctor? Who do call when your power gets turned off? JEA [power company]. Where do you go when you need money for food, clothing and shelter? Your job.

The church offers history lessons, fables, and TAKES your time and money from your family. It never GIVES YOU any. But it sure does give your pastor, and his wife, and his son, and daughter-in-law lots and lots of money, health care, car, clothing, etc. So yeah, they do owe it all to the church. So they make tithing a priority and tell you to give to their family and business before you give any to your own, or to the poor and needy.

And finally, what about your parents. Was it not THEM, that loved you, sacrificed for you, and provided you with food, clothing, shelter, love, care, teachings on life, etc. Yet they did it not expecting you to give them even one half of one percent of your income for the rest of your life! Honor them with your first fruits if you feel compelled to say thank you to someone or to God. Not the local 501(c)(3) on the corner you just love to attend once a week. I mean, what parent would put that kind of guilt or logic on their children? But we are supposed to believe that is what God wants us to do? Really? Or is it just what the CEO running your church wants so he can have a bigger campus, more staff, or more money?

No wonder Christians are viewed as non-thinking, illogical, gullible human beings."

Problem With Furtick Not That He is Wealthy, But Accumulation of Wealth Occurred BECAUSE He is a Pastor

Over at Pajama Pages, an anonymous commenter "Josh" posted a lengthy comment that was worthy of featuring here. Below is the comment in its entirety, with some highlights by me.

But first a few comments of why I really like Josh's post.

Josh's comments below touch on some of the issues of why this blog began in 2007. I had my own eyes opened up to the same sort of thing: pastors made wealthy simply BECAUSE they are pastors. Pastors who view the church as a business - THEIR business - THEIR FAMILY business. They hire marketing consultants, they use the church resources to build their own brand, to sell their own goods. They view Christians as customers, as impersonal "giving units" who generate revenue for their godly pursuits.

And good people allow it. They defend it. They encourage it. As Josh says, the mentality is that if something is good for the CEO/pastor, it is good for the church. And people who give the money are not allowed to see the details of how it is spent, especially on CEO/pastor compensation. If you scan the early days of this blog, what Josh writes about are concerns I had in my own church, and I couldn't believe that good people in a good church would allow this sort of thing to go on. I figured if more people knew, they would do something. Thus the blog.

I was wrong. And that is why Steven and Perry and Ed will keep on trucking. The consumers are brand loyal. This will be a very minor speed bump for Steven. The only question is: is this business ("church") model sustainable in the long run? As James Duncan wrote yesterday, perhaps not.

Lastly, in a strange way I might give MORE leeway to Steven Furtick and Perry Noble than I would most other celebrity mega church pastors in this: at least Steven built his OWN business ("church") from the ground up, with ZERO members. He just didn't come in behind other pastors and assume the throne and the perks, be anointed the king and get a sweet land deal and immediately build a huge house and put his family on staff and turn the church into his own family business.

Steven has built quite a successful business, and feels he is justified in making lots of money. In his response to the congregation, he emphasized how he started the church with just 4 families.

It is Steven's business, he started it, he is the CEO.

Here is Josh's post:

The problem with Furtick isn’t that he’s rich, or even that he’s a rich pastor. The problem is that he’s rich because he’s a pastor. If professing Christian Steven Furtick started a successfully bakery, retail store or construction company in 2006 that was incredibly successful, so much so that he could buy a 3 million dollar home, few would criticize him for enjoying his earnings. In fact, the world and people in the church generally look favorably on successful Christian businessmen. No one questions how Truett Cathy spends his Chick-fil-a money, for example.

The problem is that Furtick and others got their money by turning the church into a business. Pastors like Furtick are obsessed with business leadership because they fashion themselves as the CEO and identify more with celebrity CEOs like Steve Jobs than with non-celebrity pastors. Decisions are made by the CEO to build the brand, to create a larger customer base, to increase the giving margin, and to expand into new opportunities. Church personnel decisions are made in the same way. Is the youth pastor growing the youth brand? Is the worship pastor stylish enough? While such decisions are constrained at some point by biblical considerations…they aren’t going to hire a guy who publicly rejects the bible…the biblical standards of Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3 aren’t really considerations. 

This creates two problems, though. One, churches aren’t businesses and aren’t supposed to be run as such. There is nothing wrong with Macy’s developing a non-fraudulent pricing and promotional strategy designed to extricate consumers with as many spending dollars as possible. Macy’s should offer products and services designed to produce high margin income. But churches aren’t businesses. The pastor shouldn’t spend time developing (or more likely purchasing from consultants) “offering talks,” or message series, or coaching services, or conferences with a goal of increasing the church’s income. The church shouldn’t be selling books and tshirts and lattes and bibles or anything else. God’s house is not a house of merchandise!

So when the Furticks of the Christian world stand up and talk about money (and they talk about money a lot!) it sounds a lot like Macy’s running television commercials for their two-day after Thanksgiving sale. When they preach on tithing (a subject on which bible believing Christians can easily disagree), it sounds self-serving because it is self-serving. Is it Furtick the preacher of God’s word talking, or Furtick the CEO of Elevation Church, Inc. talking? Nothing has changed in two thousand years. A pastor cannot serve two masters.

The second problem is the conflict of interest between the company (the church) and the CEO (the pastor.) Former GM CEO Charles Wilson reputedly once claimed that “What’s good for GM is good for the country.” (A misquote, but that’s not the point here.) Celebrity CEO Pastors seem to believe that what’s good for the Lead Pastor is good for the church. That’s why they freely write and promote books on “church time” and bring in other celebrity CEO pastors to “teach” (with undisclosed and sizable speaking fees). Does Furtick invite Craig Groeshel to teach for $____ because Groeshel brought in Furtick to teach at Lifechurhc for $_____? No one knows because it’s all a big, big secret. Is the five week sermon series on “Sun Stand Still Prayers” for the edification of the church, or to promote the CEO’s new book, which is conveniently for sale in the church bookstore. Building the CEO’s profile will help him sell books, increase his demand as a guest speaker, and feed his ego. But does it benefit the church? None of your business.

The clear conflict of interest is exacerbated by an utter lack of accountability. Sure, if Furtick gets caught sleeping with his cute personal assistant (which has happened in at least two smaller CEO-style churches I’m aware of), he couldn’t salvage his position. But no one from inside his inner circle is going to question his business dealings, his use of church time to work on and promote his books, his purchase of his own and friends books by the church, his speaking fee at churches with mutual relationships, or his promotional choice of message series. Anyone from the inside who did ask such impertinent questions would suddenly find themselves on the outs, and in a personality driven organization, loss of access to the leader is a dire sanction. Outsiders in the media or blog may ask questions, but they won’t get answers. And the rank and file members will stay on and keep giving.

Josh is so right: outsiders in the media or blog may ask questions, but they won't get answers.

Never.

Steven Furtick Has a "Walter White" Problem: What Do I Do With this Boatload of Cash?

Readers, if you want to read the most important article written so far analyzing the Steven Furtick mansion issue, please read the analysis of Dr. James Duncan at his Pajama Pages blog.

Duncan explains what Steven's root problem is regarding his money: he has a "Walter White" problem. Walter White is the main character of the hit TV series "Breaking Bad" who had gained so much money from his side business, but yet he really couldn't spend it for fear of the source and magnitude of his fortune would become known. Get the picture? Read this article, it is masterful.

You might say who is James Duncan? Well, James is a blogger who dared to write some articles that were mildly critical of Perry Noble and NewSpring church about 4 or 5 years ago. His family then suffered much at the hands of Noble's minions who sought to harass and harm Duncan, including the disruption of an adoption an attempts to get Duncan fired from his position at Anderson University - and it led to a lawsuit settled earlier this year.

Duncan probably more than any other person has experienced the ugliness of the cult-like mentality that exists in churches like Furtick's and Noble's, where followers view critics as the enemy. They view themselves as God's agents to protect "God's man", and Noble's preaching during this period against bloggers fueled his followers actions against Dr. Duncan. Like me, he has gone through the grueling process of suing a mega church, and the legal discovery process that ensues. Like me, Duncan has sat down face to face with these men and their minions, and watched them answer questions posed by their lawyer. What you see on the platform ain't what you see of these people in real life - both Duncan and myself can attest to that.

And Duncan did prevail, choosing to settle out of court for an undisclosed amount of money for the very real damage done to he and his family.

Duncan is an excellent writer - he is a professor of Communications at Anderson University, and he knows what he is talking about in these matters. And he has more to add to the Furtick saga, so stay tuned to his blog.

Read his Furtick analysis - and his conclusions at the end are some that I really hadn't considered before: the likely outcome of all this money being dumped in the laps of these seeker-friendly celebrity pastors.

Caner - Before and After 9/11 Shots

Below are two pictures of Ergun Caner, courtesy of the Twitterer @caner_repent.

At left is "Butch Caner", or "E. Michael Caner", before the tragedy of 9/11.

At right is the transformed Caner, who now goes by "Ergun Mehmet Giovanni Caner".

Before 9/11 I never saw the George Costanza look-alike on the mega church circuit. He was not famous. He was just a guy who grew up in Ohio from three years of age and became a preacher.

Just a few weeks after 9/11, my former pastor Jerry Vines brought the new version - not Costanza, but the new "former terrorist" version - into my church, and told us he was trained in Islamic Jihad, and he said:  "until I came to America, until I found Jesus Christ, I was trained to do that which was done on 11 September".

And the trained terrorist said it with an accent and rolled r's. And he told us he couldn't speak good English in high school.

We were tricked. Bamboozled. We were preyed on, out of our fear from the events of 9/11, we wanted proof that our faith was real, that our faith COULD protect us, that it could change even one of those evil terrorists. And our pastor obliged, and presented what we so much wanted.

But it wasn't real at all. It was fake and contrived, right there on the platform of our church.

And thus was born "Ergun Mehmet Giovanni Caner".

The more time passes, the more sickening and surreal it all seems.