Are Black preacher plundering their own for benefits of riches?

     The rise of so many independant black churches has to make one wonder what is behind so many new churches being founded. Simple answer, money. African American men who are in the elite inner circle of church founders have found a circuit to riches. Even young Black men now have followed suit and are opening their own churches and garnering followers, and paychecks. Modern day black preachers are enjoying the wealth that most modern day CEo's of large corporations only wish to achieve. The preachers will tell you of course that it is a god given blessing, but is it? or is it on the struggling backs of the parishoners?

     The black church is unique in their services and their structure. Many of the church services have several very unique segments that you won't find in modern mainstream Christian denominations. First their is the presence of several key figures usually behinds the preacher. Sometimes 2,3,5 people, all part of the "ministry team". These members are key in the following aspect,enhancing what the preacher says and giving the members in the audience a "buy in" feeling. noone wants to be alone in a belief, especially when surrounded by many others who are beleiveing, the actions of the supporting preachers lends everyone to "believe" and act out on their belief. The following events take place usually in this order:
1. the preacher begins his delivery of the word, slowly at the start then begins to speed up
2. halfway during his speeding up of the word music is introduced to enforce and underline key points
3. when hitting key points music and the supporting staff show support using various hand gestures,waving of hands or shouting in some instances.
4.by the time the preacher is halfway through his sermon, the crowd/audience is whippped into almost a frenzy due to all the interaction and other pieces that are going on onstage. If some are not fully influenced by everything yet, the last part comes into play, the not to be alone part. Audience members see persosn next to them waving hands, shouting,singing, raising their hands and they do not want to seem to be out of place, so they join in also.
     Black preachers have a willing audience by this point. and why shouldn't they? The average African American is still struggling to find success in America. While many have done well and some are doing better, they still face an uphill climb to share full equality in all aspects of life, whether it be job opportunities or job positions. Of course the black preachers know these things and use these parts to instill hope and prosperity into their audience. Almost every African American church service preaches about hope,prosperity,and the belief that things will get better for each individual in their audience. The members buy it and literally, when the offering plate comes around they almost feel like they are buying it by donating cash they usually don't have. Almost every African American church preaches about tithing, giving your full 10%. Let us look at 10% if joe gets a 3% raise and the cost of real goods are rising at 10% then he is already -7% for the year. If joe contributes 10% tot he chruch then he is now down 17% on his household income. Most preachers will tell their members there blessing will come, one has to wonder how long they have to wait.

     Let us look at some figures many of the newer founded black churches are small. Averaging maybe around 100 members. 100 members times $10 a serice is $1000 that one day and $4000 for the month. Of course these chruches and ministers are not raking in riches, yet. It is once the church becomes bigger and garners a larger following is when the money rolls in, take a church with 500 members times $10, now we see $5,000 a Sunday and $20,000 for the month.not too bad i'd say. Of course these numbers only involve tithes and not any other services,prayer sessions,suppers,etc.

     The selling of hope is an easy sell, and by the amount of new Black Chruches opening daily we can see a lot of business minded African American men know this. I hope for the sake of the struggling parishoners that the hope they are selling is real, and not an empty promise by a skilled businessman to rob more African Americans.