Maybe you've heard--Shaun Alexander loves his church. So much, according to the Federal Way Mirror, he wrote a song. He even gave a speech:
Willis pointed to one church member that the congregation is particularly proud of — Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander.
Alexander wrote a song celebrating the church’s first service and spoke to the congregation.
“We will change the world with this church,” Alexander said.
This gathering was not without controversy. Pastor Casey Treat, leader of the Christian Faith Center where Alexander spoke, had his share of protesters outside.
“We do not believe that Christian Faith Center represents the true gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Mark, who declined to give his last name. “We believe in following the Bible... Casey Treat cherry-picks Scripture and he twists it.”
Lazaro Lopez said he was protesting because he believes Casey Treat is duping his congregation into making him rich. He noted Treat’s luxury vehicles and frequent helicopter rides.
This is just sad. Can't a fella start a church, bring in some celebs, get a massive following by developing a party-like atmoshphere, and live the high life anymore?
Just to add first hand experience with Casey Treat...
ReplyDeleteBack in school I worked summers at a University putting on conferences, one of which every year was for Casey Treat's church. The "camps" were for kids 12-16. Of the 100+ conferences held each summer, none was as commercialized and predatory as CT's "church camps".
I worked one session where the man himself said to 300+ kids, "If you see someone driving down the road in a rundown car, that's because they don't believe in God--if you believe in God you will drive a Mercedes like me."
I also ran a tape duping service were we made tapes of each "lecture" available for sale. One trick we learned to stay ahead of demand, was to have the runners who recorded the sessions listen for any mention of another session being available for sale. If a speaker "pushed" some other session, we could easily see and 300-400% increase in demand--even if the recording had been on the shelf for a few days with no sales. We always thought it funny how the tapes not selling would suddenly spike.
CT is the kind of christian that gives evangelicals the bad reputation that many people have of the religious right. The guy is driven by the, "In God we trust", that he finds on bank notes, not the scripture.
Of course, I guess 100+ kids speaking in tongues on command could be a sign from God.
Holy crap! I mean really, holy crap!
ReplyDeleteI think 100 kids owning/driving Mercedes without a liscence may be a sign from God, too.
Don't look now, but our very own Bloof seems to be typing in tongues!
ReplyDeleteTihspid a si abla!
ReplyDeleteHcsoj si os!