They Call It the 80/20 CURSE for a Reason
(originally ranted in 2000)

If you're a church-goer, you're familiar with the 80/20 curse. For those of you who aren't, let me help. The premise is this: In a church, 20% of the congregation contributes 80% of the tithe. Why is this a curse anyway? Because if you're going to church, you should be a tither. Period. It's in the rule book.

I go to a pretty huge church by the name of Trinity Church in Lubbock, TX. There are about five people I have ever come in contact with that I believe to be God's right-hand men. Two of them (Gary Kirksey and David Eppler) are at Trinity. I am blessed to have the opportunity to go there.

We have regular congregation of about 5000, with about 3000 more Easter/Christmas churchies. As a result, we have slew of pastors. You know, those are paid positions. If you don't tithe, they don't get paid.

For one reason or another, anytime the tithe is mentioned, every one gets really interested in reading the church bulletin. Not much giving goes on. Our tithes weren't meeting our budget. We had to let some pastors go.

Even though the church is so big, we're like a family. I bet every single member of the congregation knew personally at least one of the pastors that were let go. So the first reaction is to take it personally. "How dare they!"" "Why didn't they cut ___________ instead?" I'll admit, my first reaction was the same. But you know what? I don't have any idea how much prayer went into making those decisions. Who am I to say what our church should have done?

The average movie's budget is 20 million, and most are much more. Why? Because producers know how much people will fork over to see their movies. We gripe about the exorbitant prices of popcorn, but we unquestioningly toss down our $7.00 for a flick. Two hours of mindless, unfulfilling drama.

At church, we receive CHRIST. We learn the word of God. We are healed of our ailments. Our families and friends are lifted up. We are comforted in our need. Our lives are changed. And we have the audacity to think we're Mother Theresa when we grudgingly give $20.

Seven pastors would be working today if we had returned our meager 10% of God's money back to Him. He gave us whatever gifts we have that allow us to have our jobs and make money. It's HIS money. And the "curse" doesn't even fall on our own head. It falls on others. What a price to pay for greed and disobedience.