The Pastors Bob need rich donors to build the huge and gleaming mega-churches their vanity demands. They all have marketing plans. Mega-church marketing seems to be “Focused on the family”. But, most families don’t have much money. Their real marketing plan focus is on attracting the wealthy.
One rich donor can drop a hundred times more into a schism’s budget than an entire family of more modest means. Two or more rich donors can be subtly encouraged to compete to see who gives the most.
Finding rich donors becomes more important as the number of schisms grows and the number of schism-supporters drop. Frankly, most rich people are much smarter than the many Pastor Bobs. The mega-church wannabes aren’t overly bright. They are the former Youth Pastors or Assistant Ministers who’ve learned to mask their colossal vanity by repeating platitudes “I have a deep desire to serve the Lord. And, His people, of course.”
Catholics compound the problem of attracting rich supporters. They’re just there, all the time. Plugging away. Smarter rich people know that many holy Catholic men and women take vows of poverty. They understand the importance of keeping operating costs at a minimum. “Vows of poverty? Worth looking into. Maybe the Pastors Bob should try that.”
The rich consider the operating expenses of a Catholic Church and are impressed. They know from travels that “Those Catholic churches have a high initial cost. Deep foundations. Stone pillars. Thick, steep, slate or metal roofs. But, their maintenance costs are incredibly low. They have services every day and several on Saturday and Sunday. Catholic unit costs per worshiper are very low. Every century that goes by only reduces those unit costs.”
The rich get richer by intelligently analyzing costs. One can’t be in one of the Pastors Bob Mega-Churches, focused on endless programs and projects of less than dubious value, and not be aware of waste. No rich person can see a medieval Cathedral, operating for a thousand years with only minor repairs, and not see where the wise stewards are.
Smarter rich people conclude: “Modern mega-churches don’t just waste money. They also waste time. They have no historical connection with anything more profound than the Pastors Bob desire to “grow and be meaningful.”
Along with the waste, of course, there is a great shallowness. Mega-Churches founded by the Pastors Bob do not embrace history. They avoid it. “We are more concerned with the present than the past.”, the many Pastors Bob glibly explain.
Smarter rich people are not impressed: “I pay a lot of attorneys to do legal work The most successful of them spend a lot of time looking for precedents to buttress our legal position. The Pastors Bob who are always urging me to donate don’t encourage going back to the oldest Church and follow their precedents. I wonder why?”
They do not wonder long.
