Rick needs nine hundred grand!

Apparently by tomorrow!

Megachurch Pastor Rick Warren Asks for Urgent Donations

Evangelical pastor Rick Warren appealed to parishioners at his California megachurch Wednesday to help fill a $900,000 deficit by the first of the year.

Warren made the appeal in a letter posted on the Saddleback Church Web site. It begins "Dear Saddleback Family, THIS IS AN URGENT LETTER."

"With 10 percent of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated," the letter reads.

Still, Warren said the church managed to stay within its budget, but "the bottom dropped out" when Christmas donations dropped. "On the last weekend of 2009, our total offerings were less than half of what we normally receive — leaving us $900,000 in the red for the year," the letter reads.

I noticed that Saddleback is not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, so I have no idea what they spend on staff, overhead, buildings, etc. I am guessing that they could cut back on some of their overhead spending on one of their "campuses".

This is not just a shot at Rick Warren and his appeal for $900,000. In the last few days I have gotten tons of fundraising letters from all manner of ministries. All looking for more money. I get that it takes money to have webpages and bandwidth and staff and such. Maybe we could just minister to people without the need for a bunch of money for a "ministry"?