This whole thing reminds me of a story I heard concerning a friend's brother who was a preacher at an evangelical church. In Portugal, these were (and still are) quite a niche market,
But still, this guy's brother was told by whoever was running the church that he was to bring in, at least, 2000€ (IIRC) every Sunday. Failure to do so, would see him replaced by someone who could get the job done.
As you may imagine, this provides an awesome incentive to convince the people to give away anything.
2000€ per week is about 8k€ per month that everyone in that church was supposed to give away willingly... this in a country where the people who go to these things are likely to make minimum wage, or some 500€/month.
A tall order... and still, in spite of it being attended by few people and most of them poor, they still made the 8k€.
Since then, I've come to regard evangelical preaching as a business.
A tax free business. A business which only requires that you speak.
So... in a way, the best business in the world?
But still, this guy's brother was told by whoever was running the church that he was to bring in, at least, 2000€ (IIRC) every Sunday. Failure to do so, would see him replaced by someone who could get the job done.
As you may imagine, this provides an awesome incentive to convince the people to give away anything.
2000€ per week is about 8k€ per month that everyone in that church was supposed to give away willingly... this in a country where the people who go to these things are likely to make minimum wage, or some 500€/month.
A tall order... and still, in spite of it being attended by few people and most of them poor, they still made the 8k€.
Since then, I've come to regard evangelical preaching as a business.
A tax free business. A business which only requires that you speak.
So... in a way, the best business in the world?
