Teh One Who Knocks
10-29-2013, 10:56 AM
By Alex Greig - The Daily Mail
The pastor of a North Carolina megachurch has built a $1.7 million mansion for himself and his family which he told his congregation at Sunday's sermon is a 'gift from God.'
Elevation Church Pastor Steven Furtick, 33, is unapologetic about his ostentatious new seven-and-a-half bathroom, 16,000-square-foot home built on 19 acres in Weddington.
He spent the first part of his sermon talking about the controversy surrounding its construction and apologizing to his parishioners for any 'uncomfortable conversations,' they may have been forced to have about it.
http://i.imgur.com/jw4HdHZ.png
'My wife and I made a decision, and we built a house,' he said while sitting at the edge of the stage at the church’s Blakeney location.
'It’s a big house, and it’s a beautiful house, and we thank God for it... We understand everything we have comes from God.'
Stephen Furtick began Elevation Church in 2006 with attendance at his first service of 121 people.
Since then, the start-up has become a going concern, attracting more than 12,000 people each week.
Furtick himself is part of the new breed of celebrity preacher, with his own brand - books, television and highly paid personal appearances.
His wife Holly has a blog called 'The Preacher's Wife,' in which she writes about Elevation Church, dispenses marriage and fashion advice and gives readers insights into her husband's life.
http://i.imgur.com/c87bsNZ.png
Transcending the church he started, Furtick has 183,191 Twitter followers, while Elevation Church has 45,469.
Furtick and his right-hand man, Elevation CFO and 'executive pastor' James 'Chunks' Corbett will not disclose how much money Furtick is paid by the tax-exempt Elevation Church, his tax-free housing allowance, or how much he has made from books and speaking engagements.
His salary and benefits are not set by his congregation or a congregation-elected panel of elders but rather by an 'appointed' board that consists entirely of other megachurch pastors.
Warren Smith Cole, an author who has written about Elevation Church told NBC Charlotte the financial well-being of the group of pastors is 'intimately intertwined'.
'They attend each other’s conferences and are compensated for that regularly,' he said.
http://i.imgur.com/ZO5piEA.jpg
When Furtick held his 12-day preach-fest Code Orange Revival last year, three of the headliners, pastors Stovall Weems of Jacksonville, Florida, Perry Noble of Anderson, South Carolina, and Kevin Gerald of Seattle, were all board members at Elevation. They are three of the five board members who set Furtick's salary.
'Chunks' Corbett told NBC Charlotte that pastors get paid for appearances at Elevation Church, but said the pay is 'small in scope,' and refused to disclose the amounts.
Furtick's name does not appear on the deed to the house. Instead, it's under the name of Jumper Driver Revocable Trust 1, and the trustee is 'Chunks' Corbett.
Corbett says the reason for this is for 'the privacy and security of the family.'
Furtick addressed the media interest in his new home in last week's sermon, too.
'It started to mess with me a little bit because I thought this ain't right. I didn't even build that house with money from the church. I built it with money from my books and I gave money to the church from the books and you start getting real defensive and being like this ain't right. This ain't right,' Furtick said.
The claim that the house and land were paid for with proceeds from his books may be true, but NBC North Carolina reports that Furtick's books are inextricably linked with Elevation Church, which paid for full-page ads promoting them and to air sermons featuring the books on TV.
Furtick sold vast copious copies of the book at his author's discount to his congregation and ran a 'promotion' - for every sale of his book Greater, he gave a backpack to a poor child.
http://i.imgur.com/LWkhVMu.jpg
Elevation Church says that it undergoes a yearly voluntary audit by accounting firm C. Dewitt Foard and Col, PA, but the results of that audit are not released and NBC Charlotte reports that employees and volunteers at the church must sign a confidentiality agreement which threatens to sue if they disclose information about the church's finances.
For all this though, Furtick's devoted congregation, called 'elevators,' seemed unperturbed.
When he apologized for any 'difficult conversations,' a woman close to the front said, 'No sorries needed.' And when he told the congregation he intended to continue his ministry in Charlotte for the 'next 50 years,' he was greeted by whoops and cheers.
Church member Cora Morgan told the Charlotte Observer that she doesn’t think his congregation has any right to tell him what kind of house to build. 'It’s his money; he can do what he wants with it,' she said.
Warren Smith Cole told NBC Charlotte: 'If Steven Furtick's followers in the congregation at Elevation want to pay him these outlandish salaries and want to allow him to live in multi-million dollar homes, that's up to them.They're the ones contributing the money. But they should know that.'
The pastor of a North Carolina megachurch has built a $1.7 million mansion for himself and his family which he told his congregation at Sunday's sermon is a 'gift from God.'
Elevation Church Pastor Steven Furtick, 33, is unapologetic about his ostentatious new seven-and-a-half bathroom, 16,000-square-foot home built on 19 acres in Weddington.
He spent the first part of his sermon talking about the controversy surrounding its construction and apologizing to his parishioners for any 'uncomfortable conversations,' they may have been forced to have about it.
http://i.imgur.com/jw4HdHZ.png
'My wife and I made a decision, and we built a house,' he said while sitting at the edge of the stage at the church’s Blakeney location.
'It’s a big house, and it’s a beautiful house, and we thank God for it... We understand everything we have comes from God.'
Stephen Furtick began Elevation Church in 2006 with attendance at his first service of 121 people.
Since then, the start-up has become a going concern, attracting more than 12,000 people each week.
Furtick himself is part of the new breed of celebrity preacher, with his own brand - books, television and highly paid personal appearances.
His wife Holly has a blog called 'The Preacher's Wife,' in which she writes about Elevation Church, dispenses marriage and fashion advice and gives readers insights into her husband's life.
http://i.imgur.com/c87bsNZ.png
Transcending the church he started, Furtick has 183,191 Twitter followers, while Elevation Church has 45,469.
Furtick and his right-hand man, Elevation CFO and 'executive pastor' James 'Chunks' Corbett will not disclose how much money Furtick is paid by the tax-exempt Elevation Church, his tax-free housing allowance, or how much he has made from books and speaking engagements.
His salary and benefits are not set by his congregation or a congregation-elected panel of elders but rather by an 'appointed' board that consists entirely of other megachurch pastors.
Warren Smith Cole, an author who has written about Elevation Church told NBC Charlotte the financial well-being of the group of pastors is 'intimately intertwined'.
'They attend each other’s conferences and are compensated for that regularly,' he said.
http://i.imgur.com/ZO5piEA.jpg
When Furtick held his 12-day preach-fest Code Orange Revival last year, three of the headliners, pastors Stovall Weems of Jacksonville, Florida, Perry Noble of Anderson, South Carolina, and Kevin Gerald of Seattle, were all board members at Elevation. They are three of the five board members who set Furtick's salary.
'Chunks' Corbett told NBC Charlotte that pastors get paid for appearances at Elevation Church, but said the pay is 'small in scope,' and refused to disclose the amounts.
Furtick's name does not appear on the deed to the house. Instead, it's under the name of Jumper Driver Revocable Trust 1, and the trustee is 'Chunks' Corbett.
Corbett says the reason for this is for 'the privacy and security of the family.'
Furtick addressed the media interest in his new home in last week's sermon, too.
'It started to mess with me a little bit because I thought this ain't right. I didn't even build that house with money from the church. I built it with money from my books and I gave money to the church from the books and you start getting real defensive and being like this ain't right. This ain't right,' Furtick said.
The claim that the house and land were paid for with proceeds from his books may be true, but NBC North Carolina reports that Furtick's books are inextricably linked with Elevation Church, which paid for full-page ads promoting them and to air sermons featuring the books on TV.
Furtick sold vast copious copies of the book at his author's discount to his congregation and ran a 'promotion' - for every sale of his book Greater, he gave a backpack to a poor child.
http://i.imgur.com/LWkhVMu.jpg
Elevation Church says that it undergoes a yearly voluntary audit by accounting firm C. Dewitt Foard and Col, PA, but the results of that audit are not released and NBC Charlotte reports that employees and volunteers at the church must sign a confidentiality agreement which threatens to sue if they disclose information about the church's finances.
For all this though, Furtick's devoted congregation, called 'elevators,' seemed unperturbed.
When he apologized for any 'difficult conversations,' a woman close to the front said, 'No sorries needed.' And when he told the congregation he intended to continue his ministry in Charlotte for the 'next 50 years,' he was greeted by whoops and cheers.
Church member Cora Morgan told the Charlotte Observer that she doesn’t think his congregation has any right to tell him what kind of house to build. 'It’s his money; he can do what he wants with it,' she said.
Warren Smith Cole told NBC Charlotte: 'If Steven Furtick's followers in the congregation at Elevation want to pay him these outlandish salaries and want to allow him to live in multi-million dollar homes, that's up to them.They're the ones contributing the money. But they should know that.'