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Is ApologetiX Serving Two Masters?
Wed., Sep. 12. 2012 6:10pm EDT
When we send out letters like last week's, we brace ourselves, because people don't always understand exactly where we're coming from. Here's an email from a fan that raised questions we should probably address:When you played your last concert with us (a couple years ago) I asked why you were not nonprofit. You said you hoped to make money. Well, you are not. You cannot serve two masters. Give up the make money thing and go nonprofit. Our hospital is nonprofit and the CEO gets paid 800K/year. That kind of nonprofit would not hurt you. Pray for me and I will pray for you as I have been doing. I really hope you can hang in there and that God has a plan. I responded to this person, and here's basically what I said:
You misunderstood what I meant. I certainly didn't mean that I wanted us to become rich. We don't make a profit. I haven't had a raise in over a decade, and I have four more kids now than I did then! The other guys in this band are in the same boat (or the same bus).
What I meant was that we are trying to earn our keep rather than just entirely rely on the charity of others. As the Bible says, "For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: 'If a man will not work, he shall not eat'" (2 Thessalonians 3:10).
We work hard at what we do, and we have the ability to earn a certain amount with concerts and the CDs we produce. We also have a lot more debt that we've carried over the years. We want to pay that debt off, and we have been slowly working toward that goal.
I think it's a lot easier to have a hospital approved as a nonprofit organization than a rock band, Christian or otherwise. It's hard enough for some church-affiliated organizations, let alone for a band.
If you knew somebody else who had a Christian business, would you tell them that they were wrong to want to make enough money to pay off their debts and not have to constantly rely on the charity of others?
We will certainly pray for you. And I do appreciate your honesty. And I also appreciate the fact that you want our ministry to continue and that you wanted to share us with the people of your church and community in the first place!
Editor's note: We are not trying to imply that nonprofit organizations don't work as hard as for-profits. We know that many of them work even harder. We are just trying to do as much as we can before we ask for help.
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