Due to changes in demographics and shopping habits, the American landscape is littered with dead malls. The Ponce de Leon Mall in St. Augustine, Florida, has closed the mall common areas and only its anchors with their own entrances have stayed open. One of those spaces is rented to a non-denominational church. Now the mall’s owner has offered the church the opportunity to buy the entire mall, and they’re raising money to make the down payment. [More]
churches
Can Churches Provide A Meaningful Alternative To Payday Lending?
By 1.12.15
With one-in-four Americans turning to questionable financial products like payday and auto-title loans, an unlikely group is stepping in to provide consumers with a less-costly alternative. Churches across the country are helping members escape the trap of revolving debt by aiding them in obtaining safer loans. [More]
Would-Be Armed Robbers Learn Not To Mess With Bingo Players
By 9.17.13
When you think about it, the combination of volunteer labor and piles of cash means that It’s kind of surprising bingo games don’t get robbed more often. A game at a New Hampshire church was going normally when two men entered the office and pointed a gun at the volunteers. He asked them to fill it with cash. [More]
Religious Employers Will Have To Provide Birth Control For Employees
By 1.23.12
Religious opposition to birth control won’t be a good enough reason for church-affiliated employers to get out of having to cover birth control for employees, according to an announcement from the Department of Secretary of Health and Human Services. Several types of companies will have an extra year to come into compliance with the edict, ushered in by the Obama administration’s health care reforms. [More]
Now In Churches: ATMs!
By 8.6.07
Churches are stocking up on ATMs thanks to a new IRS rule that requires taxpayers to closely document their charitable giving. By placing an ATM in the lobby, congregants can collect a paper trail, and churches can collect tithings. It’s win-win. According to Time, the practice isn’t new:
Large urban churches have been accepting credit cards for several years, tapping into the Generation P (for Plastic) aversion to carrying cash. Pastors like to tell jokes about parishioners collecting Frequent Flier points on the way to heaven. A recent Dallas Morning News poll found that 55% of 200 local churches accept credit and/or debit cards.
Chick-Fil-A Gives Free Sandwiches to Church-Goers
By 3.8.06
Chick-Fil-A likes God. If Jesus was poultry, they’d serve ’em up with BBQ communion wine sauce. The store is never open Sundays. The sponsor Christian music concerts. A Muslim sued them alleging they forced him to pray at work.
Pastor Complains About Satan Tagline Criticism
By 2.15.06
A couple days ago, we wrote about how St. James Church used a quote from Satan as their website tag line. Church Marketing Sucks has been following the story, and has posted this comment from the pastor of St. James:
Satan Speaks: All Your Church Are Belong To Us
By 2.13.06
Church Marketing Sucks has a post up detailing the unique tag line a church has chosen for itself in Pennsylvania.
Inside the Lakewood Mega-Church
By 12.20.05
We are fascinated by Lakewood Church of Houston, Texas, who recently (well, the last year or so) completed the renovation of the Houston Rockets arena into their new 92 million dollar worship complex. (We first wrote about them here.) Boxtank, a site that concerns itself with the buildings left over by Wal-Mart and other big box retailers, has a special report about the Lakewood complex, detailing one woman’s adventure into the heart of godness. Just one tidbit: 40 police officers patrol the complex during Sunday service.
