Winning Souls In Jesus' Name Blog

And God Gave Some…

A few days back, I heard about one of our preachers who is being treated in a somewhat interesting way. After having faithfully served his church for several years, the following was taking place:

1. The folks he served only paid him forty-two weeks of each year. Actually Christmas week was one of the ten weeks when the church decided not to pay him.

2. The payroll system is unusual. One week the preacher has 50 in church with a paycheck of $1,200, and the next week 600 attend and the compensation is $300. Unusual to say the least!

3. The fellow who manages the church payroll actually seemed to be insulted when the preacher asked what he might expect to be compensated.

4. The minister told of driving 300 miles one way to serve his constituency. He received a $300 honorarium. Fuel for the trip was $125, the motel was $80, and four fast food meals for he and his wife were $60, leaving $35 after expenses.

5. Vacation is another thing the preacher can do about any time he wishes, but the church told him “Since you aren’t here to preach, don’t expect a check for that week.”

6. Life insurance and a retirement plan? Somebody asked, “Is that a joke?” If he dies his wife can get a job. Social Security will take care of old age.

7. Routine realities of life like bad weather, sickness, and vehicle breakdowns adversely affect the guy’s paycheck.

8. One critic even said the preacher lacked commitment and intimated he lacked faith because the preacher’s wife supplemented their income by making and selling a few handcrafts.

You may ask who would pastor a bunch of people who would treat him so erratically. Actually, the preacher is not a pastor but an evangelist; and not “an” evangelist but almost all evangelists. Brethren, evangelists are no modern invention. The office and ministry is a “God deal.” A “God deal” to be valued, validated, and appropriately supported. The late Charley Mahaney put it this way, “In Ephesians 4:11-12, Paul’s pen placed the ministry of the evangelist in the center, with apostles and

prophets on one side, and teachers and pastors on the other. God’s placing of these ministries tells us all that we are inter-dependent, building on what others have done. We are ‘Laborers Together.’

Are not the verses readily applied to a pastor also relevant to an evangelist?

 The laborer is worthy of his hire. (Luke 10:7)

 He that ministers of Holy things, should live of the temple. (I Corinthians 9:13-14)

Evangelists did not ask me to write this communiqué but there are some things we need to think about.

“It all comes from the ‘Pot’”

A pastor’s livelihood is derived from the local church, and in some cases a secular job, while a full-time evangelist’s livelihood comes solely from those for whom he preaches.

Most pastors, regardless of church size, (with the possible exception of church plants) enjoy some benefits. Such benefits may include:

 An IRS-approved housing allowance

 Health insurance (paid or provided at discount)

 Certain vehicle and fuel expenses

 Retirement

 Cell phone/long distance

 A church credit card for approved expenses

 An allowance for conference expenses like travel, meals, hotels, and offerings during the Home or Foreign Missions service. Evangelists generally do not enjoy the same “perks.”

The expenses remain but an evangelist pays them all out of his income. It all comes from the pot. Imagine being the last evangelist to preach at your

church and having to pay all of these expenses (the trailer note, the escrow funds for cancellations, etc.) out of what you compensated for the last revival or weekend of services? Could you make ends meet? Many evangelists support Foreign Missions, Christmas for Christ, and Metro Missionaries. Amazing sacrificial offerings to Home Missions have come from the likes of Evangelist Eli and Kathy Hernandez or Jason and Kimberly Sciscoe. When an evangelist gives, it doesn’t come out of a church’s

mission’s fund. It comes out of his living. Every time he commits to giving, he will feel it personally. When you total the evangelists’ giving together, you would be amazed at the thousands of dollars these good folks give. Our evangelists are committed to the United Pentecostal Church.

So with all of these considerations, let’s talk about real world expenses for the “average evangelist.” Imagine a church pays an evangelist $1,000.00 for a week of revival.

Tithes $100.00

Average fuel cost to the next revival 250.00

Meals for a family of four traveling two days 240.00

Two nights at a budget motel 150.00

Van payment and Insurance per week 100.00

Laundromat 30.00

Total $870.00

That would leave a net of $130.00 not including routine life expenses.

Some interesting statistics for an evangelist:

 Less than half our evangelists have medical coverage.

 Weeks cancelled each year – 2.5 weeks

 Weeks that cannot be scheduled each year – 7.4 weeks

 Total weeks with no income – 10 weeks

This is reality for the hundreds of evangelists in our ranks. They face these facts each week. Seems

like the Master talked about “Doing unto others as you’d have them do unto you.” Would you want to pastor in a setting where they treated you in exactly the way evangelists are being treated?

How can we do this better?

Some of the suggestions I’m offering are more radical than others. Regardless of whether you do any of this or not – at least think about whether you treat evangelists with appropriate value. Pastor and evangelist alike are to live a life of faith. Now I may be the exception to the rule, but when I went to pastor in Springfield, my last question to the trustees was about the amount of support we could expect. It is wise and scriptural to count the costs. While the will of God is not always based on monies to be received, it does seem prudent to know the costs involved. Following are suggestions on

how we can help our evangelists. If you have never evangelized, you may want to ask someone who has, so you can know better how to bless these good men and women.

Suggestions:

 Most pastors have a base figure in mind to pay an evangelist. Inform the evangelist ahead of time of these plans and have an adequate amount set aside before he arrives. If God provides more, pass it on to the evangelist.

 Should the norm be to pay the evangelist what it takes for the pastor to live – whether all of that income comes from the church or from secular employment? Might pay be equal to the value of the pastor’s overall benefit and expense package rather than just equal to a pastor’s weekly salary?

 There’s problem when it costs more to travel than the evangelist receives in the offering.  William Sechrist was one of the first Home Missions evangelists, and without apology he hitchhiked to many revivals. We live in a different day. It’d be unacceptable for an evangelist to tell a pastor he didn’t have the money to drive to the meeting. “So who’s financially responsible for the evangelist getting there? God or the church?” How about this: God through the church.  Pay the IRS-approved travel costs incurred to bring the evangelist to your church. This would be over and above the honorarium; a separate check sent in advance or provided on arrival. The evangelist can provide the mileage in advance to allow you time to prepare.

 Provide a cancellation offering to evangelists for each week cancelled if it is within 3 months of the scheduled time. Also, offer to call other pastors to help schedule the time.

 A pastor must also consider that if he schedules an evangelist’s Sunday, he most likely has taken the evangelist’s entire week and should pay accordingly. Most evangelists cannot schedule revival services during the mid-week without a Sunday. So if you schedule the evangelist for a Sunday, choosing to have no additional services, what you pay him will be all he receives for that entire week.

 Since evangelists are unpaid 20% of the year, increase your minimum compensation by 20%.

 Initiate an evangelist’s support fund to help with emergencies. Perhaps a group of 100 pastors (maybe fellows who evangelized in earlier days) would contribute $1,000 annually to cover qualified emergencies. Is there a pastor who’d like to help me (and more important, help our evangelists) by taking the lead in developing this project?

Do unto an evangelist . . . as you would have done unto you if you were an evangelist!

The evangelist leads a unique life, and the ministry is one of great value to the Kingdom. Let us work together to appropriately provide for these worthy ministers.