Would you believe that any self-respecting pastor could live in a $3.6 million mansion without expecting lightning bolts from heaven to rip through his helipad and indoor bowling alley? Apparently there is at least one such pastor out there… this week, I thought I’d share with you a March 17th Detroit News article that is worthy of reflection and discussion, and then share some of my thoughts on the article.
No taxes on $4M parsonage:
Northville Township loses $40,000 annually after church buys home.
Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News
NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP — A Redford Township church that believes wealth is God’s reward is raising eyebrows for buying its pastor a $3.65 million mansion and taking it off the tax rolls.
This month, township officials grudgingly conceded they had no choice but to remove the 11,000-square-foot home overlooking Maybury State Park from its assessment rolls, losing $40,000 annually in taxes.
They concluded the plush pad is a parsonage, but that hasn’t quelled debate among township officials and neighbors about whether Christian charity extends to the Detroit World Outreach Church’s purchase in September of the home for Pastor Ben Gibert and his wife and co-pastor, Charisse Gibert.
“I also have faith in God, but I don’t expect to live in such opulence,” said Evgenia Asimakis, a single mother of two who lives nearby and has trouble paying her property taxes.
Her neighbor, Gary Wall, is blunter: “You don’t need a multimillion-dollar place to see God. He’ll take a lot less.”
Detroit World Outreach Church isn’t apologizing. In fact, members say the mansion is proof God has blessed them.
The 4,000-member church is part of a growing movement that preaches prosperity. Also known as “health and wealth” theology, the ideology preaches that God wants followers to do well, be healthy and have rewards — such as the $50,000 Cadillac Escalade the church bought the Giberts, who have four children.
Ben Gibert said God surrounds the faithful with beautiful things.
One of the leaders of his church agrees. “God’s empowerment is to make you have an abundant life,” said Elder Marvin Wilder, a lawyer and general counsel for the church.
“In this country we value rock stars, movie stars and athletes. They can have a lavish lifestyle, and a pastor who restores lives that were broken shouldn’t? When our value system elevates a man who can put a ball in a hole and not a man who does God’s work, something is wrong.”
Born in the 1950s, prosperity theology has a strong following among some fundamentalist and nondenominational churches. It’s gained popularity among mega-church ministries of such well-known national pastors as Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes and Pat Robertson.
Even so, most Christian denominations disparage the belief as consumerism run amok, said David G. Myers, professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland who has written about the movement.
“Are people really any happier for that sort of self-indulgent spending? The answer is clearly no,” Myers said.
Wilder said the four-bedroom mansion “isn’t flamboyant” and is compensation for Ben Gibert leaving his job as a high-paying automotive executive with DaimlerChrysler’s minivan division after the sudden death in 2005 of church founder Bishop Jack Cameron Wallace.
Wallace dropped dead in Zimbabwe doing what Wilder said was the church’s work. Wallace, 47, was an accomplished weight lifter and co-founder of Prosperity Nutrition Inc., which sold performance enhancement supplements, such as creatine, online.
Wilder said Gibert saved the church whose membership, once at 10,000, had fallen by more than half. Its services still are carried on a host of television channels throughout the Midwest.
“We know that it will cost the township some tax revenue, but every church in the state gets property tax exemption,” Wilder said. “Having a parsonage is a historical precedent. Ours happens to be worth $3.6 million.”
The mansion sits on 12 acres and behind a quarter-mile-long driveway and a tall, electronically controlled gate. That’s necessary because the church has spoken out against homosexuality and Islamic violence, Wilder said. Wallace once had a live bullet delivered in the offering plate, Wilder said.
Gibert, who left a 7,000-square-foot home in Franklin for the mansion, agreed security is a concern.
“I am an African-American man who became pastor of a multi-ethnic church. Some people don’t agree with that,” he said. “I have not received death threats, but people have followed my children to school.”
Thelma Kubitskey, the township’s finance director, said officials weren’t thrilled, but had to remove the house from the tax rolls. Tax-free status can be granted to church-owned residences if clergy live there, even if they’re not in the same communities as the churches.
“If the church is willing to pay for the house, it’s fine with me,” said neighbor Janice Gutowski, whose $800,000 home is dominated by the Giberts’ house and lawns.
“Churches don’t pay taxes, so the rules should be the same for everyone.”
Township Clerk Sue Hillebrand complained that Northville schools can ill afford to lose more revenue. She said she’s amazed by the church’s generosity.
“They could buy a very, very nice home out here for half a million,” she said. “Can you imagine how many miracles you could perform, how many people you could help with the $3 million left over?”
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If you’ve read Joel Osteen’s book Your Best Life Now or listened to any number of televangelists, then you’ve likely been influenced by some who believe that God’s desire is to bless His followers financially and with good health, if those followers would only believe this and claim it for their lives. I’ve been spending the last few weeks talking about the importance and dangerous business of Biblical hermeneutics – knowing how to accurately apply Biblical passages to today’s world – and certainly this is an area where such an understanding is valuable. It is entirely possible to read passages such as Deuteronomy 8:18-19 - “But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.” and 2 Corinthians 8:8-9 - “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” and come away believing that God’s desire is for us to be wealthy. Of course, it’s just as easy to read passages such as Matthew 19:23-24 - “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” and Matthew 6:19-21 - “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” and believe that God’s will is not for us to seek worldly wealth.
Since I did not grow up exposed to any so-called “prosperity gospel” teachings, I don’t just disagree with that view on God, but I am sickened by it. I can’t believe that any Christian would believe that God’s will is for the pastor to own a $3.6 million home instead of using that money for countless other worthy causes. However, this article certainly raises the question in my mind of where the line should be drawn between God’s blessing and unhealthy greed, an especially pertinent question as my family attempts to find a home to live in in the expensive town of Glastonbury. If we are to find a home in Glastonbury comparable to what we currently own in Windsor, it will likely cost about $350,000. And while that amount sounds ridiculous (and unaffordable) to me as a Christian who hates to live for my mortgage, to settle for something smaller means potentially giving up other dreams and desires, and to live outside of Glastonbury means not really ministering in our community. Furthermore, since there are missionaries and pastors around the world sacrificing all earthly things for the sake of the gospel, who am I to ask God to bless us with a big enough house to provide space for as many children as he can bring our way? Aren’t there plenty of others in greater need? I hope you see my dilemma – where exactly is the line between the blessing of God and sinful greed?
One of the best quotes regarding worldly wealth comes from John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church: “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” Money is not evil in and of itself (it’s the love of money, according to 1 Timothy 6:10), and the more you can make and the more you can save, the more you can give away. But in order to save and give like that, it certainly helps not to be spending most of what you make on yourself, your mortgage, etc.
If you have any thoughts or insights on this issue, I would love to hear them. Post your comments so that others might learn from your experiences and insights. And if you hear of any affordable homes in Glastonbury, let us know. We don’t need a mansion…
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