Is It Ok for a Pastor to Earn $600k a Year?

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

We've previously talked about how much a pastor should earn but here's a real-life situation to discuss. Check out this report:

Manhattan's Riverside Church - one of the country's most illustrious religious institutions - is paying its new senior pastor, the Rev. Brad Braxton, more than $600,000 in annual compensation.

Church sources say it includes:

• $250,000 in salary.
• $11,500 monthly housing allowance.
• Private school tuition for his child.
• A full-time maid.
• Entertainment, travel and "professional development" allowances.
• Pension and life insurance benefits.
• An equity allowance for Braxton to save up to buy a home.
• On top of that, Braxton immediately hired a new second in command at more than $300,000 a year. 

This piece says the church has 1,500 members.

The second article I found is about the same church and the numbers are a bit different -- the church claims the pastor's compensation tops out at $450,000. It also notes that the congregation is 2,700 people. There's a lawsuit (as you might imagine) and the new pastor seems like he's there to stay. Should be an interesting outcome.

Here are a few thoughts from me:

1. I don't think I could ever find it acceptable for a pastor to make $600k (or even $450k) in a year from the church. Even if it was a mega-church with 25,000 people, shouldn't the top salary be at least in the realm of reason? Maybe $200,000 or so? That's still a lot of money (all of which, btw, is from people's donations.)

2. That said, I'm completely fine with a pastor earning a huge amount if it's not a salary from the church. One example is from book royalties. Let's say a pastor made $50,000 from being a pastor but wrote a best-seller and earned $550,000 from the book for a total of $600k. I'm fine with that because most of the income is not from donations, he earned it by selling books.

3. For a church with 1,500 members, and especially on that focuses on social issues, this pay seems extremely large.

4. Then again, if he's increased attendance from 1,500 to 2,700 in one week, maybe he's worth it. ;-)

5. In the end, it's up to the leaders of the church. If they think the salary is fair, then it's fair. I just don't see how they could think that though.

6. If this was my church and I found out my pastor was earning $600k from the church, I'd probably move. Why? Because I'm not so sure I could trust the way my church was handling its funds.

Ok, so what do you think? Agree with me or am I off base?

Comments

[Robert Theisen]

baiter repeats... The first shall be last...the last shall be first. ...the birds of the air neither reap nor sow, yet...
It does not seem as though God's work is not first priority here. Many of us will think about this when the plate comes around. This does not help the situation at many other churches around the country. Manhattan Riverside may be due for a bailout at this rate.
God forgive.

[Paul]

I'd like to see how much of that church's budget goes toward missions and benevolence.

[TJ Williams (me)]

I am a member of The Riverside Church and it is not true that he makes 600,000 thousand a year. you guys need to check the facts. He does not have a full time maid....

[Eric]

Sounds ridiculous (and might I say hypocritical) to me if he gets that much from donations.

[Todd]

No. No. No. Maybe I am used to vows of poverty but no.

As for @TJ Williams...the source of the (NYDailynews) is dubious (at least on other topics). I would ask you for references to support your claim but your claim is a negative and proving a negative is almost impossible.

@FMF: how good is your source?

[Lamar]

religion is big business. for some people, it's all they have in life, and they're willing to pay top dollar for it.

[FMF]

Todd --

Is that a rhetorical question? My source is linked to.

BTW, this post isn't so much about this one pastor and what he makes as it is about whether or not pastors should earn what is an abnormally high salary by most standards (and what you all think of a pastor earning so much.)

[ch]

said it before and i'll say it again: tithing is for suckers. look at what you're subsidizing.

[stoihi]

Tithing is not for suckers. God wants us to give Him back 10% for very good reasons. If some people do not use the money the right way, then one day they will have to answer to God. Just make sure YOU don't have to answer to Him.

If my pastor was earnig that much, I would probably move too.

Ch, are you still paying taxes? Is the Goverment always using your money the right way?

[njoseph]

OK, just for some perspective from the other side here. I'm not a pastor but I know a lot about congregations from the inside. Before we judge how much is acceptable for a pastor to make, let's ask some question like:

- does the pastor ever have time to do anything around the house, or is he or she so busy meeting congregational demands that lots of basic services like cooking and cleaning need to be paid for? if so, how much do those services cost?

- what's the cost of living near the congregation? Most congregations don't want the pastor or rabbi living far away to save money

- how do we expect the pastor or rabbi to dress ? what kind of car do we expect him or her to drive? would the congregation be OK with the spiritual leader shopping at Marshall's and driving a beat up old car? It''s easy to say ,yes, we'd be OK with that, but you have no idea what congregational leaders get criticized for unless you're dealing with it from the inside. If the congregation wants a spiritual leader who can meet with other leaders of society- political, business, academic- they have to be able to live in that world, or at least visit it!

- what if the congregational leader couldn't afford to send their child to an appropriate private school, Christian, Jewish,etc? Would the congregation criticize the pastor's family if the kids went to public school? It happens all the time.

Now, in Indiana, these questions are going to have different answers- and different costs associated with them- than in Manhattan. You can't just look at a number and say, "that's too much" without looking at the expectations of the congregation.

[Zack]

I don't believe pastors or religious leaders need to live in poverty but when they are getting rich off of their congregation I don't agree with that. Think about how many more people they could have helped or brought to the Lord with that money. I especially disagree with these prosperity churches that advocate tithing to show your faith so God can give you a full supply. Going to church to get rich is the wrong reason to follow the Lord.

[Sarah]

Claims made when lawsuits are first filed (as these seem to be) are REALLY not the facts you want to build an argument on. The facts are usually only developed over a considerable period of time during the suit.

That said...some of these numbers are not utterly ridiculous for a man with a school-age child. I know $250K seems dazzling out of the urban context, but it's really just upper-middle-class in Manhattan. With AMT, taxes are going to eat somewhere between 35%-40% of it to start with. So we're really only looking at (at most) about $163K.

Now, the housing allowance seems high, but how is it calculated? Is it what would be the rent on an expensive Upper West Side house owned by the congregation? Is he paying his own rent somewhere, but expected to have a house or huge apartment in order to entertain for the congregation? As njoseph says, the "expectations of the congregation" figure in heavily here.

I'm not saying these numbers aren't too high (if accurate), just that they're not quite as crazy as they might sound to people living in Kansas where their pastor can buy a five-bedroom house on a $40K a year salary and the church has plenty of its own property for entertaining for the congregation.

[Al Howard]

I agree, a pastor requires a good living, but $600K ????
At my Catholic parish, we provide a cook and a cleaning service.
I agree that tuition for an "appropriate" school is probibly needed, but a good Christion school needn't be extravigant.

[Lynn]

Is this excessive for a pastor? Absolutely. Even in NYC. $11,500 for a housing allowance? Where is this guy living? In a gold-plated penthouse? 250K is not a lot of money to live off of in NYC actually -- but most people getting that kind of money are not getting a ridiculous housing allowance,private school tuition and a full-time maid. Does this guy think he is God? Seriously. My husband and I left our church in suburban NJ because the senior pastor was making 125K + benefits and then asking us all to sacrifice and pay 10% of our gross pay + extra because there was a budget deficit. Yeah, whatever. I never gave a penny after I found out how much he was making. (Total salaries of all 4 pastors + music director was over 650K). I always think about the rumored quote of L. Ron Hubbard stating that if you want to make money start a religion. People are so blinded they will give their 10% and most likely struggling while their pastors are living in luxury.

[Jake Stichler]

*sigh*

Yet another reason I stay far, far away from organized religion.

[Chris Meirose]

I'm a pastor, and for the record I don't even make 10% of this figure (and I have my Master's!). $600K is too much from the church, but as you point out things like book royalties and other things are OK in my book. I'm friends with a pastor of a church running roughly 15,000 people a week, and he took them from 350 people to this number and he takes less than 1/6th this amount after many years of great leadership. If I was a member at this church I wouldn't be angry with the pastor, he's taking what is offered (well...maybe a little bit), but rather I'd be very angry with the leaders who created this salary package. But at least this guy is pastoring, unlike the rip-off sheisters on TV (yes I am looking your direction Word of Faith "pastors").

Chris Meirose

[john]

He makes more than the President!

[aa]

Don't the members vote on the church's budget?

[MelMel]

This is a great topic. I was raised in a strict Christian home, but
since leaving home (too many years ago to admit), I have NOT been a
regular attendee of church. I now have 2 children and, shame on me, I
still do not regularly attend church. That's my own personal journey and
a whole other blog topic!! LOL!! But I say this so you can get my
opinion on this topic into perspective; in other words, I'm not a big
church supporter (but working on it). OK....here goes:

Most churches have a "board of directors". A good church's operations
are not "run" or decisioned by the pastor. Just like the president of
the USA, the pastor is the iconic representation of any church. The
pastor's job is to lead his/her flock, counsel, provide guidance, help
in the leading of the people and their projects. But overall, most
churches, no matter how small or large, are run by the people and the
board of directors who are voted onto that board by the members. If a
church has a large membership, good programs for the community, and per
the previous poster, if there's large amounts going to missions and
benevolence (everything is relative and in balance), I do not have a
problem with a pastor (who's worth his salt in leadership----a gift, not
a right), making a LOT of money, as long as it is relative. Is $650,000
or $450,000 relative? I do not know. There are a number of verses in the
bible that discuss balance including Proverbs 25:16. But where is the
"balance"? Everything is so out of balance anymore.....everywhere.

Here's the other side of the "balance" coin: We have Hollywood actors,
rock stars (don't get me wrong, I love Rock 'n Roll) and other
entertainment icons making MILLIONS and gazillions of dollars. Our
society has become a society of idol worshipers and it weighs on me when
I turn on the TV. So, what's worse? ....a pastor of a strong church
making a few hundred thousand dollars with a maid (because he/she
devotes their entire life to the community instead of vacuuming and
cleaning), or a Rock n' Roll star living the decadent lifestyle of sex,
drugs, and extreme living? I wonder what Paris Hilton or Britney Spears
make? Perhaps Paris and Britney donate large amounts to certain
benevolent organizations. I'm not trying to judge them; however, my
point is that society seems to support outrageous behaviors with no
judgment. Here's another example: earlier this year, the CEO of the
corporation for which I work made millions of dollars in stock options
despite losing billions of dollars last year. While my colleagues get
laid off around me, it makes me really go "Hmmmmm.......". If you really
love your trade, whether you are an artist, a pastor, or a corporate
leader, why on earth does ANYONE need to make millions more then they
really need to live comfortably and have all their needs met? Which can
lead to further discussion around the definition of "needs vs.
wants"....but I digress.

So here we are with a pastor who allegedly makes a few hundred thousand
dollars and everyone gets all bent out of shape. Why is it that people
of God must live in borderline poverty? I agree that if your heart is in
the right place and you give, you will receive and all your needs will
be met. We are not allowed to judge the person who gives $150 (or more)
for a ticket to a Brett Michaels (Guns 'n Roses) concert. Yet we judge
the salary of a pastor who leads a church that is helping its community
locally and worldwide.

The only caution I see is that whenever exorbitant amounts of money is
made by any human, a large percentage of these people often get their
perspectives out of balance, which can sometimes lead to other problems
related to power and control. Again, a whole other topic and I'm
digressing again.... ;)

Short answer to the long answer of the short question: If the members of
any church want to compensate its leaders amply, let them. I don't have
a problem with this. There's a bigger picture here.

[nickel]

Why not? They're willing to pay it, and he's willing to accept it. It's the free market at work. :-)

[Joel]

It's simply immoral and wrong.

And keeping hundreds of thousands of dollars from book sales? How is that moral when children are dying for want of pennies spend on clean water?

This is the kind of hypocritical pontificating that drives me mad.

[Emily]

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints (LDS church) and we do not have paid ministry. Each member is given a calling at church and it is all done on a volunteer basis. Additionally, we are expected to pay 10% of our income in tithing. My dad is the Bishop at my church (like a pastor), and carries on a full time job, as well as family responsibilities... I think that it is a conflict of interest to pay a pastor. I really like the way my church does it because it give people the opportunity to serve in different callings, such as teachers and leaders, and offers a lot of service opportunities. It can be difficult at time to balance church and life when you have a calling with a lot of responsibility, but, overall I think its the best system I have seen.

[JimL]

This guy is really in the minority. Often, we see the opposite in which churches put pastors into a somewhat weak financial position. Pastors deserve to be paid at least the typical family income for the area in which they live. In addition, they should be given medical, dental and retirement benefits. To do any less would be shameful.

As to the pastor with this article, I do believe it is excessive, but it is up to the church membership to decide what is right. Instead of filing litigation, members could vote with their feet and walk out the door to another church.

[Bob's Occasional Musings]

I am a church administrator and have been involved with church budgets and salaries for over 15 yrs in one aspect or another. I will also preface this post by saying, I am a full time volunteer for my church.

I do think that the mentioned salaries are excessive. I would be very interested to know how the church decided on that salary. We use data from two sources to determine the appropriate salaries for all of our staff including the senior pastor. The National Association of Church Business Administrators gathers data from thousands of churches and makes the data available to its members. The other resource is The 2009 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff .

“Based on a national survey, The 2009 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff provides reliable church employee compensation breakdowns for part-time, full-time, church size, income budget, and geographical setting. With this information, you can compare your plan to other churches that have similar positions and demographics.

Compensation profiles are broken down by categories so you can easily determine:
-Base salary
-Retirement
-Health insurance
-Housing allowance & parsonage
-Life insurance
-Continuing education”

My question to any pastor making those kind of salaries is what are you doing with the money. The Bible talks about contentment and I wonder if pastor’s who make large salaries understand what that means. Pastor's need to be examples and will one day, have to answer to God. I would point out the example of Rick Warren who "due to the success of his book sales, in 2005 returned his 25 years of salary to the church and discontinued taking a salary. He says he and his wife became "reverse tithers," giving away 90% of their income and living off 10%."

[Matt Jabs]

Let's just be honest and call a spade a spade. This is unacceptable and we all know it, so we might as well just go ahead & boldly state the misappropriation of these funds.

Is the salvation Jesus preaches throughout His ministry echoed in the halls of this church? I personally doubt it, though I of course have no factual basis for that statement.

Wonder what he's doing w/the money? That is ultimately between him, the congregation, & the Lord I suppose.

[ross]

Not often a topic comes up where I get to quote my favorite Eastwood movie, Pale Rider:

LaHood: It occurred to me it must be difficult for a man of faith to carry the message on an empty stomach, so to speak.
I thought why not invite this devout and humble man to preach in town?
Why not let the town be his parish? In fact, why not build him a brand-new church?

Preacher: I can see where a preacher'd be mighty tempted by an offer like that.

LaHood: Oh, indeed.

Preacher: Then he'd be thinking about getting himself a batch of new clothes.

LaHood: We'd have them tailor-made.

Preacher: Then he'd start thinking about those Sunday collections.

LaHood: Hell, in a town as rich as LaHood, that preacher'd be a wealthy man.

Preacher: That's why it wouldn't work. Can't serve God and mammon both. Mammon being money.

[Wise Money Matters]

No way. His "salary" should not be that much. On the other hand, I've heard of many churches in which their congregations give extra above their tithe as specific gifts to the pastor. This I can definitely see as acceptable even if the figure sky-rockets into the 6 digit area.

[David Nofsinger]

Really, the whole concept is easy enough.

1. When joining a church, always ask for the financials at the office. Most churches will give a copy of the budget to their parish once a year anyway.

2. If you are denied a copy of the financials, or you don't like what the financials show, tell the church why you are leaving, and find another church.

$600,000 out of church funds is pretty outrageous. I would think that if a church already offers a perish for a minister, that anything over $100,000 a year is still too much.

[Mike]

If all the members of the church are millionaires, then that is not outrageous. However, I doubt that is so. Therefore, making $600,000 would be excessive. I believe a pastor's salary should reflect the average salary of the congregation he pastors. One way to do that is to average the salary of the top ten givers in the church and make that the pastor's salary.

[Jim]

The number seems pretty high. But its really $250k salary plus expenses. Thats not the same as $600k exactly IMO. $250k is pretty high for a pastor of course. But its in Manhattan and its a wealthy church.

The church in question has an endowment of $100 Million. Its a VERY financially well off church. So they can afford it. The church leaders decided how much to pay him. Its not as if he's robbing the church or something.

MelMel makes some good points. Why is paying a pastor $250k for what is probably one of the richest church in a rich neighborhood such a horrible thing yet we pay an *average* CEO $10M? And like Sarah points out $250k after taxes isn't a giant fortune in NY city.

[Mudsling]

The church is not company, even non-profit company. Wonder where in the book can be found justificaiton for the salary from the church. As I recall all saints had nothing or gave away all possesions to serve God will. I thought it is all about spiritual values.

[wsbsteven]

We didn't know how Pastor's salary so we asked for a copy of the budget. We were invited to a meeting where they say they will answer our questions or suggestions but will not publish a public budget and never will. Is it possible they are hiding something? We are in the middle of a building program and they keep asking for money yet I don't know where it goes. www.trwc.com

[FMF]

Wsbsteven --

That's an interesting question -- who should know the pastor's salary. I may have to write about that.

[kosmo]

A housing allowance of 11,500/month (138K per year) plus an "equity allowance" to allow him to save up an buy a house?

I realize that it's Manhattan, but 11,500 can't pay the monthly mortgage?

[Chris Phone]

Pastors should not receive a salary at all. How can you expect a pastor to be above the world, when he is so tied to it? The church should provide for the pastor's needs for life, but not make him rich. Of course this is just pie in the sky because we all know that most pastors don't truly believe what they are preaching or they would turn down such a lavish salary anyway.

[Mike Zoril]

Because a compensation package of $600k per year is well in excess of what the average American makes, I find it to be somewhat generous for a pastor. Even though $600k is on the "generious" side, I do think that the church should have complete freedom to decide what they pay their pastors.

If it were me, I'd probably prefer the pastor's salary to be more in line with the American median income and then use the remainder to do good works.

[youwish]

We should remember that this is an anamoly. It is not fair that one guys give churches/pastors/christians a bad name. I would dare to say that this guy is in the .5 percentile of his peers. Most Pastors earn pennies compared to what they do. They often have to deal with the most difficult/stressful jobs in the world (death, counseling, budgets, etc). My respect to all the pastors. 600K is too much....it would seem to that a good base is to earn an average of the congrational salary.......

[Bob's Occasional Musings]

Just a note: The pastor in the Riverside Church resigns after 9 months amid all the controversy.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/riverside-church-pastor-resigns-after-2-months/?hp

[FMF]

Bob --

Maybe I'll apply for the new spot. I'd only need $575,000. :-)

[Kara]

How is it that this guy is making twice as much as the President and if my memory serves me wasn't Jesus a poor nomad? God wants us to tithe 10%, but what is SHE/HE using the money for....God doesn't need money, she/he is all powerful! Remember, the Bible was written by "Men" transcribing "God's" word. Man are an evil, corrupt, greedy species so don't you think it convenient that "God" is asking for money she/he doesn't even need?

@TJ Williams: It looks like you need to do your homework. The pope could lie to your face and you would probably believe him because he is a man of God. I don't mean to be cruel, but it would be pointless to try and be nice about it.

[debrah]

SIMPLY STATED...... THE CHURCH IS NOT A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, IT IS A CALLING! THE APOSTLE PAUL WARNS OF THIS WHEN HE PREACHED TO THE CORINTHIANS- WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT REALIZING THE TRUTH? PEOPLE BEAT AROUND THE BUSH BECAUSE THEY WANT TO JUSTIFY THEIR WAY OF THINKING OR THEIR DESIRES- ITS WRONG!! ITS WRONG TO BE A "RICH" PASTOR- WHY? MOST OF THE CONGREGATION ARE POOR PEOPLE THAT PUT THEIR FAITH IN THE TITHING THAT ISNT REQUIRED TO BE PAID IN THE FIRST PLACE- JESUS NEVER PREACHED ON TITHING TO ANY CHURCH- NOR DID HE REQUEST ANY FUNDS! JESUS REQIRES ORDER- YET, NOT THE ORDER THAT IS BEING IMPOSED ON THE CHURCH TODAY- PEOPLE, PLEASE GET THE KNOW THE LORD FOR YOURSELVES, READ THE BIBLE, PRAY, AND ASK FOR GUIDANCE, UNDERSTANDING, AND WISDOM. I DONT NEED A PASTOR TO HOLD MY HAND WHEN IT COMES TO GIVING- HOW MANY CHRISTIANS GIVE OUTSIDE OF SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP? VERY FEW. MOST CHRISTIANS ARE DEPENDENT ON THEIR PASTORS FOR E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G- YOUR PASTOR IS ONLY A MESSENGER- HE IS NOT CHRIST! WE WILL ALL STAND BEFORE THE LORD - ALONE. IN EVERYTHING YOU DO IN THIS LIFE, THROUGH ALL THE EXCUSES TO GAIN WEALTH AND DECEIVE THE CHURCH INTO BELIEVING THAT GOD IS A BIG BUSINESSMAN- DONT FORGET WE ALL MUST FACE HIM WITH AN EXPLANATION. I HOPE ALL POSPERITY PASTORS, WHO PROBABLY WOULDNT PREACH THE GOSPEL FOR FREE, HAS THEIR EXPLANATION OF WHY THEY ARE RICH AND MOST OF THEIR CONGREGATION REMAIN POOR.