Financial Rumors

I have been in the middle of the public eye for almost 30 years now and have been the topic of coffee shop and beauty shop gossip many times. Gossip, rumor, and innuendo are some of strongest supports to the Biblical notion that we are all born with a wicked and deceitful heart. Passing on rumor and innuendo without checking out validity of facts deeply grieves God. So much so that he lists it in one Biblical passage right next to murder in a list of practices that bar us from heaven. Gossip within the Body of Christ is most often the greatest enemy to the Gospel. People who are living far from God can’t stand the way “Christians” talk about each other.
Ordinarily, when lies and rumors that have no credence have hit the streets, I have always had a standard policy. LET IT DIE; do not respond. I have not addressed these things because it usually only adds fuel to the fire, and lies, rumors, and slanderous gossip usually go away because there is no fire, only artificial smoke.

Well, I am about to break that policy. There is a damaging rumor about The Bridge that has hung around for over three years now and is rampant right now that is not true and must be refuted. Listen closely people --
WE DO NOT ASK PEOPLE FOR ANY PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION (I.E. W-2's, CHECK STUBS, TAX RETURNS) FOR THEM TO JOIN THE CHURCH. We never have and we never will. There is not one person in leadership that has any idea how much money any member of The Bridge has or makes. This is a malicious rumor that was started by some people who would like to damage our credibility AND IT MUST STOP. If anyone reading this is a Christian and you have talked about this piece of misinformation without checking it out, you are in deep sin and are maligning the Bride of Christ, His body, the church. That will not go well for you when you see Him face to face. If you are not a Christian, I would ask you also to do the right thing and check this out before talking about it with anyone. There are 130 active members of The Bridge that you can ask, and they will all tell you just how ridiculous this falsehood is.
We do teach about finances at The Bridge. We do this a lot because Jesus did. He taught more about money than he did heaven and hell, so He must have thought it was important. Therefore, we teach about it, and we ask people to be obedient to the Bible on the subject.

Here is the covenant that every member of The Bridge signs:
Covenant #6 – To fulfill the New Testament command (1 Corinthians 16:2) for Biblical giving to the local church and to learn that I am not to store up earthly treasures, but heavenly treasures, I am committing to CONTRIBUTE a set and organized financial amount.
______ % of my gross income will be cheerfully given to The Bridge each week.
$__________ is going to be pledged to Gideon 300 per month.
Name___________________________ Date______________

This covenant asks that the member prayerfully commit to a percentage of their income (that we have no idea how much it is). If this is 1% or 50%, the person is allowed to join the church (see below for some more facts about the Biblical teachings). Also, we ask each member to make a pledge to help us pay our building off in three years. That is what the pledge to Gideon 300 is about. Every church asks its members for commitments to time, talents, and treasures in some fashion. We just get a little more specific with those areas, but we have no idea about our members’ personal financial business.

Here are some of the discipleship teachings that we convey about finances:
1. We teach the correct Biblical concepts that we should be open-handed with God's money. The New Testament teaches that when we become Christians that we no longer possess anything; all of creation is God's. A realization comes to us of a fact that has been there all along -- God owns everything. He is simply gracious enough to allow us to steward HIS money and creation. We are to be wise and not greedy with material things. Open-handed means that we put ourselves in a position where when it is time to help those in need, we can and do respond. The Bridge has done so locally by turning on gas and electricity for people and provided food for the hungry of St. Francois County. The local open-handed giving has been nothing short of astonishing. We have also assisted in building a fresh water well in Chacocente, Nicaragua, sent medical teams to three continents (including one of the first to arrive in Haiti along with a fresh water purifier so that people could stop dying from bad water), and are currently assisting in building 25 homes for the 1 million homeless in Haiti. We are sending money for the materials, and our next team of selfless builders will arrive there on July 5 to build streets, dig latrines, and a community building so that the residents will have a place to go to school and church.
2. On giving to the local church, we teach that we should be organized and open-handed there at the same time. 2 Corinthians teaches us to be organized in our giving to the local church and set aside a percentage for worshipful giving to our body of believers. That percentage should test our faith; it should be sacrificial and hurt a little. We teach that the Old Testament concept of the tithe (a tenth part) is a good starting point for that testing of faith and worship, but it is not commanded. We agree with Dave Ramsey, Crown Financial, Randy Alcorn (The Treasure Principle), Rick Warren, John Piper, Mark Driscoll and many other great Bible teachers that the tithe is too limiting to our open hands. We should learn to be extravagant and cheerful givers to our local body and trust that the church will glorify God in its stewarding of what God's people entrust to it. As God blesses our finances by increasing our standard of living, we should increase our standard of giving as Randy Alcorn states. Giving to the church and to other Kingdom work should be sacrificial, worshipful, and an absolute joy. We are still immature or have not repented and believed if we are controlling and political with our giving. Not giving or not giving with the proper spirit is just plain sin.
3. The Bridge is very open with its membership about the church's finances. The members receive constant reports as to where every penny is spent and an independent CPA examines every receipt in a yearly audit to ensure complete accountability. There are no fewer than eight checks and balances to ensure financial integrity. Five of those are completely independent of the church itself (CPA, two banks, an investment firm, and ECFA).
4. The Bridge is very lean in its spending and always will be. We hate debt. I think God hates debt for His people. We have some debt, but we are STRIVING to eliminate it quickly, and we will not borrow again. Instead of constructing a building a that is glitzy and glamorous, we saved over $2 million dollars by building a Sprung building giving us 24,500 square feet of ministry space without destroying our ability to do ministry. Our staff salaries are lean, and we budget 10% of our general budget to missions.
5. Most importantly, how we treat our finances should point us to the Gospel. Jesus was the greatest giver of all. He set aside his spot on the throne, came down and took on a stinky body like ours, and GAVE 100% to us for our restoration from sin and death. If the Gospel is transforming us to look like HIM, we should mirror this extravagant giving. How can we be stingy and selfish with a God who gave enough to endure the cross? Love should beget love.

We do ask our members for strong commitment. If I am reading the New Testament correctly, that is what Jesus did. We are not weird; we do not do strange things like this destructive rumor. If people will just come and find out instead of sneaking around the shadows and just talking about what they have heard, the truth will be known. If you spreading this gossip, please stop.