A few weeks ago I went to Istanbul for the first time in my life. The sunset image above was taken from my hotel room as my day in Istanbul drew to a close. I think its really interesting sometimes when things happen and we don't always know why. I became friends with a coworker and we decided to spend the afternoon together. We took the bus to go see the Mosque and the surrounding area and really just got into conversation that afternoon. We weren't as interested in seeing the sites as we were about our conversation. I don't know how the conversation got onto Christianity - but it did. I began to explain to her my current situation of being very far removed from the Christian culture in America. Since I identify with the gay community more than the Christian community - it makes things like the church and religious fanaticism a distant memory I hope to forget. We talked about why I feel this way about church and religion and I began to explain to her my time at Teen Mania Ministries. Within minutes of starting this phase of our conversation the founders of Teen Mania - Ron & Katie Luce - walked by. I was in shock.
I didn't approach them to say anything because I didn't know what to say. I could have done small talk and such, but I didn't really want to say anything. I wonder what the conversation would have been like - but frankly it doesn't matter. Maybe I could have asked them the question I bring up today. Why do Ron & Katie Luce bring home a combined income of $174,586? Not including any contributions to benefit plans or retirement. This information is public and was taken from the 2006 Tax Return filed by the organization.
Teen Mania is a non-profit parachurch organization that dabbles in youth ministry in many different areas. The interesting thing here is that the organization is practically run by free labor for Teen Mania. There is an internship program where 600+ young people come and work for Teen Mania and then pay them a monthly fee - for the majority is $600 a month - to live and work there. Teen Mania then has them work a full time work schedule throughout the year in various departments to then help the big ministry machine function. So by having these 600 worker bees hard at work in the hive - for a $0 cost to the organization, tons of money is saved for the 'share holders'. If each worker was compensated $12,000 a year (a little above minimum wage) - that would be an annual cost of $7,200,000.
My first two years while I was there I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I made so many friends, and I was doing such great work for the Lord (as I was reminded constantly). To my dismay - once in a while a friend would be called into the office to explain why their internship fees were drying up. They would then be forced to come up with the money or leave. But wait. Wasn't their presence of working free for a year saving them money from paying someone to do the labor? My third year there I began to see how it was really more a business than a ministry. I experienced this first hand as I attempted to have the organization live up to their half of a financial agreement that was made for my services rendered that year. Things did not end up like they usually do on a 30 minute sitcom. I left in March of 2003.
Many years after I left I saw the ministry featured on CNN and how they were coming under fire in the public sphere for their ultra expensive Battle Cry event in San Francisco. What the CNN report failed to report was how the ministry was hard at work soliciting all of their alumni for money since they were quickly running out. I was not on hand to dole out any cash, nor will I ever again.
Now should a man work hard for 20 years to build a ministry and not bear any fruit from that work? I think he should be fairly compensated - but I take serious issue when his labor force is manipulated and when his so called - staff labor force works for peanuts and he and several other members on the elite staff are rolling in high dough for an East Texas economy. What's up with the Acting CFO getting $35,000 and the CFO getting $63,000? Was the CFO paid for a year vacation while the Acting CFO came in to do all the work? The one thing Teen Mania made sure we heard over and over and over and over again was avoid the appearance of evil. There were so many rules and standards and brainwashed behaviors for many over this concept. I think they need to go back and read their own manual.
God is a product to sell. Just today I saw someone post how they had $40 tickets to go see Hillsong United in concert. Wait a minute? I love Hillsongs music - but their main 'product' is worship - so now they are charging $40 a head to come to a worship service? Not to mention the price they charge on their CD's? Well - let's call it a concert and make sure no one is worshipping and it will be okay. I wish we could look up their tax return. I won't pay to go to a worship service (now a conference may be a different story).
And to think all of this came out of small talk conversation on a layover in Istanbul, Turkey. Who will I see on my next layover?
6 comments:
whoa. i didn't know they were featured on cnn. and the combined income of $174,586 is money that the ministry directly pays them. that doesn't include their own personal tax filings which would include money from book sales, personal speaking engagements, etc. and we paid THEM so we could work THERE.
your photos of istanbul and ireland are really good. i'm very impressed.
Hi there, I know you have no idea who I am, but i saw one of my friends was following your blog so i clicked to check it out. My name is Chelsea Criss. I'm a friend of Tessas. You seem to be quite an interesting person. My dream is to travel all over the world and I'm a beginning photographer with a lot of creativity and passion, just to say a little about myself.
--anywho, I read this blog and it interested me to talk to you. May I ask you this---If Hillsong and all those other bands,artists,churches,organizations never charged money for anything, then how would they have an income? i know there are many groups who abuse their "Christian label" and take advantage of naive people but a lot are genuine, and what I believe to be honest, as well. I am not disagreeing with you but rather wondering if maybe there's another view of this. :)
Hey Chelsea,
Thanks so much for your comment and reading my what is now a short blog that I'm hoping to add to. I think I guess my biggest problem with the "Christian business" is that they operate as non-profits when ultimately they are making a profit. Now of course what they do with their so called-profits can be debated - yet when Hillsongs sells a CD for 18 each when it probably only costs $5 - that's a huge margin. Now of course some independent Christian artists have to make a living by selling their products and that's all understandable. I think my biggest issue with the Hillsongs thing was that their main "product" is worship, and to charge that much money to attend was a huge turn off for me. Would I voluntarily offer up that same amount in an offering? Oh yeah - definitely. I understand they have costs for what they incur - and ultimately I would hope that they too would practice what they preach and believe in God to provide for them and offer a free concert and then probably get way more money in offerings - and then of course the sale of their goods - which last time I went to a Hillsongs event were quite high.
I hope your dream of traveling is realized. Look for jobs in the airline industry - especially Flight Attendants. You will definitely get to travel and practice your photography.
hitchcockhill
Hey Eric - great entry about TMM. It has only been over the past several months that I've really been realizing all this stuff about them... Gah.
Anyhoo... in regards to Chelsea's comment: I once went to this really inspiring discussion with a man named Ben Pasley, who now co-runs Enter the Worship Circle (www.entertheworshipcircle.com). At the time, though, he and his wife were a band called 100 Portraits (and I was a big fan).
The discussion was on How to Fund Your Full-Time Arts Ministry. It was great. Ben quietly went through the Old Testament - especially Leviticus - and pointed out that the musicians and artists in the temple were actually Levite priests, and thus lived off of the tithes of the people (just like the other priests). (He also pointed out, on a side note, that that's what the tithes were always meant for - to support those doing God's work, NOT buildings or building maintenance, which came from freewill offerings of the people...)
Then he shared that he and his wife, since they viewed their music as their ministry, actually had several people who supported them by tithing to them. (Then they turned around and tithed from THAT to the circle of people who ministered to and mentored them.)
That way, they were taken care of financially and weren't living off the sales of their CDs and merch - and could even give those things away, if they wanted to. (In fact, they still have a policy that any group is allowed to use their music for free - they just have it licensed so that it won't get misused, but you just have to email them to let them know you're using it.)
This seems far more biblical to me than the more popular way of doing things...
hey eric.
i just want to congratulate you on your decision to identify with the gay community after going through something like the honor academy. i was only there one year and thank god for that, but i also have come to identify with a community that would probably be shunned by tm --i am a musician, so naturally my friends are of the creative sort, which means an open ness to the world around them that is not generally approved of by TM.
On a forward note, I am very interested in scoring films and would love to try and collaborate with you on a short film project if you are interested. i live in virginia but travel frequently to nyc, you can contact me at moriah.harris@gmail.com
thanks,
moriah
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