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Date Posted: 07:54:05 10/08/03 Wed
Author: Tolu2Books
Subject: You do not want to be an ignorant churchgoer or member

EXCERPT FROM 'OOPS THEN YOU'RE DEAD' by Tolu2
www.Tolu2Books.com
The church does not belong to any pastor, okay? That’s not the pastor’s church. That’s not the bishop’s church. They may be heading it, and again, as I said, depending on your particular church’s set-up, they may even have founded that church. But they are not the ones who are providing the financial basis and grounds for the stability and the maintenance of that church. You and the other members are. You do not want to be an ignorant churchgoer or member. Do not allow yourself to be made a fool out of, okay? Go in up front, demanding that you have this information, that you’re given this information, that the information is certified by the church’s CPA. Do not accept this information verbally—you want it in writing, with the signature of whoever heads the organizational structure of your church. Whether that’s the pastor, the treasurer, or whoever. You need two signatures on it. Every member of that church must demand that they receive written financial records for the church. Not someone coming and standing up at the beginning of the church and saying “We took in this, and this is our budget.” That’s good, but listen, it means nothing. Let’s have it in writing, okay?

You must have a 90-day written statement of what is going on in your church. Your church should have books that they keep on every dollar they take in and every dollar they put out. How the funds are spent, and the basis for the expenses. If you’re not requiring that of the church, and you’re going to that church and putting your money in there, then you’re not an informed, enlightened, educated, non-cave-dweller church member. You are a damned fool! You’re the kind of person that churches and many other organizations are looking for, because you don’t make intelligent financial demands or ask questions about the finances and the budget of the church.

You also want to ask this question: How and what will take place if the pastor dies or becomes ill? Who and how would someone replace that pastor? What is the procedure for that? How long will the replacement take? What’s the mechanism for that coming into play? How will that event affect the assets that the church owns? Be real specific here. What I am talking about is the assets. I’m talking about anything that the church owns: Bank accounts, leases, savings accounts, money-market accounts, CDs, stocks, bonds, buildings, buses, land, shares, even Bibles. You want to know who is doing the disposing and how that is going to be disposed of or passed on to the next person or group if something happens to the people who are running the church now.

These are questions that you want to write down. Keep your own notes. You want it put in writing. Don’t go talking to the pastor, asking him, at the end of the sermon, these questions, and expect him to be able to answer these questions, because this is not the appropriate place and time for such questions.

If you’re already a member of the church, put your questions in writing. Send them to several people: the pastor, the treasurer, and the head of the board of deacons, or the head of your board of trustees, depending on how the church is set up. If you’ve not joined the church, you want to ask these questions before you commit, again in writing sent to the same people, and you don’t want to join the church or make any kind of financial contribution, not even when they pass the plate around, until you have the answers to those questions

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