Earlier today, the federal government threw journalists, activists and propagandists a little bone and released the names of every entity that received an SBA Paycheck Protection Program "loan" in excess of $150,000.
Like any hardworking person looking for social media likes and attention, I quickly scrolled through the list to see what interesting / outrageous / funny things I could find. This is one made me literally LOL:
Yep! Life Church was able to secure between $5-million and $10-million in what will likely be a forgivable government loan to pay 451(!) employees, and a few other expenses, for a few months. Following that math, it would lead me to believe that LifeChurch.TV brings-in (at least) anywhere from $30-million to $60-million dollars in tax-free revenue each year. Nod your head with me if you now think you're working in the wrong industry.
Although pointing out the hypocrisy of #WWJD megachurches – and how they always seem to worship the almighty dollar more than the actually almighty Himself – has been a hobby of mine dating back to when I was a smart-ass student at PC West High School in the 1990s, thus explaining why I wasn't very popular in high school, I'm willing to cut LifeChurch.TV.INFO.NET a little bit of slack on this one.
This isn't just because TLO was the recipient of a much much much much much smaller PPP loan that we needed to make it through the pandemic, but...
1. Life Church operates more like a business than a true non-profit. Even though the church – like a lot of US corporations – doesn't pay any income taxes, it would be wrong to not allow them to rip off taxpayers during a global crisis like everyone else.
2. Pastor Craig's designer denim is expensive! Seriously, you don't expect Craig to walk out on stage wearing a pair of ill-fitting Lee's, do you? In fact, I believe it's in Luke where Jesus said "Blessed are those who wear the darkest and shiniest of all denims, for they truly knoweth my word's meanings."
3. They're not the only megachurch to gobble up funds:
Life Church's biggest rival – Crossings Church – got between $2-million to $5-million. In fact, a quick review of the database shows that at least 100 Oklahoma entities with "church" in their name show up on the list. I would tell you more about that list and those churches, but performing the search on my computer locked up Excel.
Anyway, I'm going to restart my computer and go through the list of 13,000+ business again. I tweeted about a few more that caught my eye, but we'll have a more thorough report later this week.
