I have said many times on here if you are shopping for a church before getting all sucked into great teaching, programs for your kids, etc etc ......... make sure you look at not only the heart of the church, but the STEWARDSHIP of GOD'S $$$$$$$$$$$.
The heart of the Church is attached to the stewardship of GOD'S $$$$$$$$$$$!!!
To think across our country mega churches are paying their Pastors anything over 6 figures tells me I want nothing to do with them.
Are you in the pulpit to teach or to have a CAREER?
To think Elders get what they were getting at Mars Hill is BEYOND DISGUSTING!!!
Since when should Elders be paid?
I gave many nights away from my family, business, etc etc but the last thing I ever thought of is I should be paid to SERVE GOD'S people!!!
BTW ............ 4K for his cell phone?
You can get unlimited data, phone, text for $45.00 a month how many cell phones does he need?
Money given to the church is GOD'S money to be spent on GOD'S AGENDA, not MEN'S AGENDA!
What Mark Driscoll made at Mars Hill Church
Posted on November 20, 2014 | By Joel Connelly
Founding Pastor Mark Driscoll was receiving a $500,000 annual salary package in 2013 from Mars Hill Church, when his executive pastor recommended that Driscoll receive a raise to $650,000 a year, according to church documents.
The filing was obtained by Warren Throckmorton, writing in Patheos and later by seattlepi.com.
The implosion of Mars Hill, which will formally dissolve at year’s end, has provided a look into compensation levels at mega-churches, in particular a Seattle-based operation that in its high-water mark welcomed more than 12,000 worshipers a week to 15 “campuses” and had annual revenues of $30 million.
“In 2013, Pastor Mark is scheduled to preach at Mars Hill Church 45-47 weekends,” wrote executive pastor Sutton Turner, describing Driscoll’s schedule as “unheard-of for a mega-church pastor.”
“We have a very rare gift at Mars Hill Church: Our lead pastor wants to teach at Mars Hill Church nearly every weekend of the year,” Turner wrote.
In turn, Driscoll was handsomely compensated even without the pay increase recommended by Turner, according to a filing with Capin Crouse, a national accounting and advisory firm retained by Mars Hill.
As of Oct. 1, 2011, Driscoll received a salary of $564,615, including a $200,000 a year housing allowance. The pastor’s previous compensation package had been $267,500.
The church also contributed $33,000 a year to Driscoll’s retirement, paid a $13,314 annual medical premium, put up $4,000 for the pastor’s cell phone and provided an “additional wellness stipend” of $6,000. Driscoll was also provided a team of assistants, including a research assistant.
Driscoll did have time for moonlighting. He was paid an average $17,000 for speeches to “leadership conferences at other mega-churches,” Mars Hill reported. The leadership conferences were also an opportunity to sell books. Throckmorton estimates that Driscoll received $400,000 book advances from Thomas Nelson, publisher of his book “Real Marriage.”
Mars Hill announced its breakup of its church on its website Friday.
Mars Hill announced its breakup of its church on its website on Oct. 31, two weeks after Mark Driscoll resigned.
“Real Marriage” was source of one of the scandals that brought down Driscoll.
It was revealed that Driscoll – or rather, Mars Hill — hired a firm called ResultsSource for $200,000 to conduct a bestseller campaign “intended to put Real Marriage on The New York Times bestseller list . . .” Mars Hill ended up paying for 11,000 books.
Driscoll resigned on Oct. 15, after an internal church investigation confirmed charges of domineering and “sinful” behavior. He had been embroiled in controversy for months, over charges ranging from plagiarism to a dated blog post in which he referred to America as a “pussified nation.”
The church announced, at the end of October, that it is dissolving at year’s end. Individual “campuses” are being allowed to reconstitute themselves as new churches, fold themselves into existing churches, or permanently shut their doors.
Driscoll is believed to be receiving one year’s pay as a severance package.
Mars Hill has argued that Driscoll’s pay was in line with other mega-church pastors across America. But Throckmorton has cited a 2011 study of seven mega-churches, with compensation of lead pastors ranging from $143,000 to $1.1 million. There is, he said, “little correlation between church size and compensation.”
Driscoll was slated to be keynote speaker at the annual Gateway Conference, held at the Gateway Church in Dallas-Fort Worth. He was scratched from the program in mid-summer. Driscoll did make a cameo appearance at the conference after his Oct. 15 resignation from Mars Hill.
Mark Driscoll
Mark Driscoll is pictured giving a sermon at Mars Hill Church in Ballard. At high tide, church welcomes 12,000 worshipers a week. (Photo: Scott Cohen/AP).
Gateway, with substantially higher attendance and a larger budget than Mars Hill, paid its pastor $330,000 a year.
Such pay is higher than mainline churches. A major controversy erupted in 2007-08, when St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle upped the compensation package of its dean, the Rev. Robert Taylor, to nearly $220,000 a year.
The cathedral was experiencing financial problems even as the dean was paid more dollars.
Taylor laid off two women priests as well as a program director from the St. Mark’s staff. After a lengthy backlash, the dean resigned just before Easter in 2008 and received a severance package of $313,000.
By contrast, Driscoll’s speaking fees — even when boosting book sales — seem modest compared to certain celebrity lecturers.
Hillary Clinton received an estimated $200,000 last year for a Vancouver Board of Trade appearance. Celebrity gay author Dan Savage, recent recipient of a “Humanist of the Year” award, received $25,000 to keynote Pride Week at the University of Utah.
While the filing with Capin Crouse lists Driscoll’s salary package at $564,615, the internal memo from Sutton Turner gives a slightly lower figure — $503,000. The executive pastor says also that Driscoll took a pay cut to 480,769 during an early 2012 budget crunch.
Two other “executive elders,” who shared governance of Mars Hill with Driscoll, were also handsomely compensated.
Turner was paid $225,000 a year, a $153,000 salary and a $72,000 housing allowance. Executive elder Dave Bruskas was also paid $225,000, with a $120,000 salaryand a $105,000 housing allowance.
AI
