Scandal Brews at Oral Roberts University

[hr.jr.]

Have any of the rest of you noticed how things like this usually go, if somebody likes the person/idea they all jump on the "Judge not" quote, if they don't well they usually talk about how we are supposed to confront sin..............and it varies, just depends on if you like/dislike the thread OP. We should have the same attitude about what ever it is, and not shift back and front according to our personal likes or dislikes.

I defend ministers of all denominations. I do not agree with a lot of what happens in the SBC at denominational level, but I will defend its individual ministers and ministries.

[hr.jr.]

If a ministry isn't transparent about its finances, its a red flag.

Amen. Under U.S. tax laws no ministry is legally obligated to makes its finances public because it is a religious organization. But to me, if they refuse to make their financial records public, or refuse to become members of the ECFA, they're hiding something...

...right Benny Hinn?

I would think that you would be amzed to find that 90% of churches will not give detailed financial reports even to their own members. I do not agree with the practice, but it is quite common place. Try to find out what any pastor of a church with over 500 members makes a year. It is like pulling teeth to obtain that information.

[EricH]

If a ministry isn't transparent about its finances, its a red flag.

Amen. Under U.S. tax laws no ministry is legally obligated to makes its finances public because it is a religious organization. But to me, if they refuse to make their financial records public, or refuse to become members of the ECFA, they're hiding something...

...right Benny Hinn?

I would think that you would be amzed to find that 90% of churches will not give detailed financial reports even to their own members. I do not agree with the practice, but it is quite common place. Try to find out what any pastor of a church with over 500 members makes a year. It is like pulling teeth to obtain that information.

Thats true. Usually all of the compensation is lumped together. But in any church I have been in anyone could ask for a detailed break out at any time

[hr.jr.]

If a ministry isn't transparent about its finances, its a red flag.

Amen. Under U.S. tax laws no ministry is legally obligated to makes its finances public because it is a religious organization. But to me, if they refuse to make their financial records public, or refuse to become members of the ECFA, they're hiding something...

...right Benny Hinn?

I would think that you would be amzed to find that 90% of churches will not give detailed financial reports even to their own members. I do not agree with the practice, but it is quite common place. Try to find out what any pastor of a church with over 500 members makes a year. It is like pulling teeth to obtain that information.

Thats true. Usually all of the compensation is lumped together. But in any church I have been in anyone could ask for a detailed break out at any time

It used to be just as you say. However, I have discovered that the recent trend is to not release individual salaries. I found this out when I requested to know the salary of the pastor of the Church I was attending at the time. In the response, embedded among the other excuses was listed "it is no longer common practice or even advisable practice to release the salary of any individual employee." They further went on to state that this is now "common practice" among Churches. I polled many pastors I know, and they all said that the trend had shifted to keeping pastors salaries confidential. What we discovered is that app. 90% of churches with average attendance of over 500 will not make known the salary of their pastor. Why? I think the real reason may be that people will be reluctant to give when they find that the pastor is making $100,000 to $250,000 per year. What the pastor makes does not affect my giving in the least. However, some will tighten their purse strings if they feel the pastor is over paid.

I do not agree with the practice, but it is common place.