A Survival Guide for the Ministry Worker

34 years of ministry experiences provide a wide spectrum of humor, insight, and heart break.  There needs to be some document, pamphlet, or book that gives the church member the ability to press the "reset button" on the political manipulators of the body. The honest reader of the scriptures will find that Jesus was brutal in His conversation to the religious leaders of his day. And furthermore, the true student of Theology will verify that society receives the trickle-down judgement God places on those (religious leaders) who hold the truth in unrighteousness. (Romans 1)

History repeats itself and we never formulate a plan to correct ourselves because we are conditioned to expect leaders to come up with solutions. When those in authority have personal conflicts of interest, the followers or servants will never have their needs a top priority by those in leadership.  (Eze 22:25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof,) Just as the Lord judged His people for their King's and religious leader's sin in the Old Testament, our modern church movement has led us to the same damaging circumstances. "The government is simply the reflection of the church." Unless some citizen or church member stands up and addresses the corruption and abuse of power, our children will be enslaved. Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. God is not calling for another preacher...He is simply trying to get someone within the system "among them" to blow the whistle on the corruption. 

Just as the writers of the New Testament recorded events, places, accomplishments, failures, and names of those involved, this written documentation has also recorded factual events, circumstances, and individuals involved in the work of the ministry. This unpublished book is not intended to be a divisive attack on anyone but it is compliant to the Biblical format of warning others to avoid those who would do them harm. Do you know who Alexander the Coppersmith was in the scripture? He is someone who the Apostle Paul named in his second letter to Timothy. Remember, this was a letter written by Paul's own hand.  (Now called the second book of Timothy). When Paul clearly states in 2 Tim 3:16 that, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."  So, is there any reason that we should exclude the second letter to Timothy from the scripture because Paul REPROOFED AND CORRECTED, and gave instruction to Timothy through the exposure of the naming of Alexander? 2 Ti 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works: 2 Ti 4:15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words. Just as the Apostle Paul’s leading of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21 and 2 Timothy 3:16) in placing the documented event with Alexander on paper once and for all, this allowed him to have a reference document to point those who had questions thus allowing him to move on with his life and not have to rehash the detailed events to each inquiring individual.

Upon the shelves of our leader's book collections are volumes of writers who took a stand for righteousness, placed themselves in danger over simple matters of principle, and for the cause of Christ ultimately lost their lives and the lives of their families. We use their stories of great sacrifice to inspire our church members to achieve great works for Christ while at the same time, we (the modern day ministry leaders) will fight harder to keep our weekly golf game, 401k, health insurance, car allowance, personal family time, and housing allowance never suspecting that the intelligent  church member sees through our facade of... Double Standards. The modern church movement is destroyed by those who will not protect the innocent, warn others of potential harm and do so under the false pretense of keeping “unity” among the brethren. Unity is never meant to be a defense mechanism for protection of the church but instead unity is a locked arm force of offense in moving the church forward.  

If you have read the material on this website up to this point, I am confident that you understand my devotion to evangelism, its accomplishments, and addressing the constraints propagated by those who fear the persecution that it will encounter. The following list of subtitles and chapter titles should capture the real Bible student’s attention. With an abundance of satire obtained from my personal financial investment and experience as a ministry staff member for over 30 years, I have purposefully placed into an entertaining and insightful configuration of words and subjects the deception, manipulation, and self-promoting tactics of the suspected psychopaths that I believe have infiltrated the church of the living God through the "business" application of the postmodern church. This exposé is intended to only the true seeker of truth. As in John 8:32, Jesus is specifically talking to the Jews (who were in the treasury-staunch traditionalist yet believed on Him) spoke of their freedom of bondage to the religious order when he said, Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

If you are interested in reading the material, send me an email and I will start a dialogue with you.

Do the math! (A local association of 44 churches reported reaching 144 people in 2019) If each of these pastor’s work 2000 hours each year (the same as their tithing members do in their secular employment), their accumulated time would be 88,000 hours (2000 hours x 44 pastor =88,000). If that is how much time (financial investment) it takes to reach 144 people in a year…then we have (in a grotesque amount) broken Ex 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. If the gospel is being preached, there MUST be the tangible evidence of its effect. Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. No wonder the secular world mocks the Lord, has no respect for His people and chooses to view Christians as the most ignorant of religious sects.

Do the math! If you averaged these men’s salaries (full-time and part-time) you would find something close to the amount of $30,000 dollars. Multiply 44 men’s salaries x $30,000 = $1,320,000 invested time to reach 144 people. Yet, what if there are other staff member being paid and what about all the property and budgets of these churches. With using a very conservative estimation, let us suppose that each church operated on a $100,000 dollar budget and that each church had a property value of $500,000…this means that 44 churches x $500,000 + (44 x $100,000) + (44 x $30,000) = $27,720,000 dollars being used to reach 144 people.

Do the Math! There are 43,000 people in Franklin County and 56,000 in Coffee County totaling up to 99,000 people. At the rate of 144 a year, it will take the association of churches 688 years and $19,071,360,000 dollars to reach the two county’s population.

Do the math! How is it possible for professional business men and women (deacons, trustees, Sunday school teachers, committee members who have a work ethic which demands productivity in their secular jobs) to be conditioned to overlook the total absence of increase (productivity) in the results of paid/salaried ministry work week? Church members have to be psychologically conditioned to think that a 40 hour work week can be filled with writing a sermon and visiting the sick or elderly. After all, why would an elder Christian with a relationship with the Lord need the church paying a man’s salary just so he can come by and hold their hand? I think it would be more productive and financially beneficial to the church and society to send the pastor to the home of the elderly member’s children to rebuke their child for not obeying the commandment Ex 20:12  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Do the math! This logic is too hard for those deceived into the nanny-state mentality and once again…our government follows the lead of the church in its robbing from the needy (the lost without Christ) and to give it to the pastoral fellowship dinners, conferences, and various/multiple non productive so called evangelistic attempts. Is it not counter intuitive to hire a man with a BS, Master’s Degree, or a PhD in Theology and expect them to take 40 hours to develop a sermon? This is especially an ignorant thinking process when the sermon that is finally constructed out of all this ministry work time is extremely anemic, powerless, and strikingly similar to one found on the Internet or in a book in the pastor’s office.

Do the math! Why is it that intelligent members cannot understand the personal pronouns in the scriptures? Joh 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. Those that keep telling their congregation that “it is the Lord who saves people”…have a real hard time with such verses that imply that their work (if they actually work) will produce fruit. Jude 22 and of some have compassion, making a difference: Jude 23 and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now, when you hear a man in the pulpit say that, “ if the church does not take care of him financially that he will take his family and leave”...you will find a man who lies about compassion, does not make a difference, and never pulls people out of the fire. He will not take the implied personal responsibility for his WORK being productive in snatching the lost in his community from the fire and presenting the rescued soul in front of the pulpit on Sunday morning.

Do the math! If the man of God thinks it is his job to administrate the people and that it is the people’s responsibility to lead people to Christ, this is quickly debunked by the simple statement of, “Lead by example”! So, if there are 50 people in the church and the pastor will just lead someone (Just 1) to Christ…if the membership follows his example then the 50 will become 100. If he will go get 2, them maybe the 100 will become 200. Yet, it never becomes 100 because the membership is following the pastor’s example…of ZERO converts. This is because the pastor refuses to get off his computer, off of face book, away from his conflicts of interest, stop playing with his kids and go out (especially during his paid ministry time) and GET HIS ONE from the community to which he is called to preach the gospel (door to door).

Do the math! Why is it more important to the pastor to have people transfer their membership from another church instead of him increasing the attendance by and through evangelism? Have church members become totally deceived by the presence of a crowd that they are oblivious to the end product of ministry (the lost being reached) never being seen in the services? Are they really judging the church by the singer, the décor, the sermon joke, the encouraging poem, the sports illustration, or that the people were friendly? Do the math!