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Why do those preachers
always ask for money? Many people both in the church and outside the church ask
this question concerning TV preachers. People get offended at hearing a minister
ask for money every time they watch. I was discussing this with a couple people
the other day; each of them had a different point of view. One thought it was
disgusting and offensive; the other thought there was nothing wrong with it. The
person that was not offended asked the other person a very good question If it
upsets you so much why do you watch?
It has been 15 years since
the PTL scandal hit but still many people are skeptical. A lot of negative
things happened during the 80s with Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggert, Oral Roberts,
Robert Tilton at the end of the decade. But yet the TV evangelist has not really
been affected much by what many thought would crumble the television ministries.
Television ministries
continue to average less time asking for money than commercial networks spend
time airing advertisements. This is one thing that has to be considered when
looking at this issue. Commercial Networks pay for their airtime with sponsors.
Ministries must pay for their airtime with contributions from viewers. This is
one thing that is overlooked by those that complain about Television Ministries
fundraising efforts. Many people assume that the minister is putting the money
in their pockets, but the fact is that the cost of having a television show is
very expensive.
Stephen Winzenburg a
Communication's Professor at Grand View College in Des Moines has researched
this very issue for the last 20 years. His findings are very interesting. He
monitored almost 150 broadcasts of 22 different television ministries in the
fall of 2000. He used content analysis to gather his data by timing segments of
the program and categorizing the main theme of each segment into one of four
groups: Fund Raising (which involves specific requests for money), Promotion
(which would market free ministry-related items such as salvation booklets or
telephone help lines), Political (which would involve commentary on current
political events such as the presidential election or the peace process in the
Middle East) and Spiritual (which could include music, prayer, preaching or
celebrity testimony).
Here is some of the data
that he gathered from this study:
F=Fund Raising P=Promotion
POL=Political M=Ministry
Kenneth Copeland ( F 8%; P 3%; POL 0%; M 89%
)
Day of Discovery ( F 0%; P 5%; POL 0%; M 95%
)
Creflo Dollar ( F 7%; P 8%; POL 0%; M 85% )
Jerry Falwell ( F 22%; P 27%; POL 7%; M 44% )
Billy Graham ( F 3%; P 13%; POL 0%; M 84% )
Marilyn Hickey ( F 13%; P 6%; POL 1%; M 80% )
Benny Hinn ( F 8%; P 7%; POL 1%; M 84% )
James Kennedy ( F 6%; P 3%; POL 13%; M 78% )
Joyce Meyer ( F 11%; P 4%; POL 0%; M 85% )
Praise the Lord ( F 1%; P 2%; POL 1%; M 96% )
Frederick Price ( F 10%; P 4%; POL 0%; M 86% )
Richard Roberts ( F 27%; P 5%; POL 0%; M 68%)
James Robison ( F 23%; P 10%; POL 9%; M 58%)
Charles Stanley ( F 2%; P 1%; POL 0%; M 97%)
Jimmy Swaggart ( F 10%; P 1%; POL 0%; M 89% )
Jack Van Impe ( F 13%; P 1%; POL 10%; M 76% )
I
left Robert Tilton off this list because at the time I wrote this article he no
longer had a TV program. That has changed since this article was written. He
spends more than half of his time pleading for money. I really do not consider
his so called ministry, legitimate.
As
you can see by the data some did better than others. The three that spent the
most time pleading for money (Richard Roberts, James Robison, and Jerry Falwell)
were still asking for money less than secular networks do with their
commercials. Jerry Falwells program is a non-stop infomercial combined with a
religious broadcast and James Robison uses too much air time offering trinkets
for donations. The trinkets for donations approach is what Praise the Lord (TBN)
uses as well. Some sell tape series and books to help raise money.
Stephen Winzenburg brought up a subject in his article that I will address next.
He asked all of the above ministries for an accounting of all the money raised
in their ministry. My question is " Do we have the right to know how much money
they take in, and how they use that money"? Winzenburg stated that most of the
ministries did not provide this information, insinuating that they had something
to hide. So do we have the right to know how much they bring in? Let me ask you
a question. Do you have the right to know how much money McDonalds makes and how
they spent their money? Should it be any different for a ministry, especially
when they are audited every year by outside auditing firms? What is the
difference other than the product they provide? Not that the Gospel is for sale,
but it is the principle! I like Coca Cola, but I do not feel that just because I
purchase coke products that I have the right to know all their business. I
especially do not have the right to know if I am not a customer (or support the
ministry)! So this is where I disagree with Mr. Winzenburg. He believes we have
a right to know, and I do not.
Conclusions:
I think that the fact that TV ministries are doing much better with the amount
of time they are fundraising than their secular counterparts is a good thing. I
know that it is very expensive to be on television, but I am glad that many of
them are. I enjoy watching and learning from some of these men and women. I do
not have a problem with these ministries asking their viewers to support their
TV ministries. I do have a problem with some of the techniques though,
especially the trinkets for donations method. This sounds like the snake oil
salesman technique, and is probably the root of much of the disdain that some
have for TV Evangelist's. My feeling is, if you love them and are feed by them,
support them. And if they disgust you and make you mad, TURN THE CHANNEL!!!
That is what they made the remote for.
Jim Kingsnorth
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