QUESTION:
Should the pastor take all the tithe money given by the believers or should he pay a salary from the tithe money? Also, should the tithe money be put in a designated Tithes/Offering box?
ANSWER:
“If you sent me downtown to get a loaf of bread, and you give me twenty-five cents to get the loaf of bread, and I met somebody on the street wanted something else, and I'd give him the twenty-five cents (See?), I give them your money. If they asked me for something, let them get it over here in this pocket and give them my money; but this is your money. And a tenth of it is the Lord's. And Levi the priest could live by the tenth. The tenth is to be a tithing that's to be brought into the storehouse with a promise of God to bless it and a proof. He said, "If you don't believe it, come and prove Me and see if I won't do it." See? That's right. The tithings goes into the church for the pastor and so forth like that to live on. And then the--the--the building funds and things like that is a separate fund altogether. Now, that--that is Scriptural. One time when we get started, I want to take a night... I've went here some time ago before I left the tabernacle and taken about two or three weeks and just on subjects like that and went plumb through it and showed what tithings was in the church.” [Questions And Answers, Jeff. IN, 61-1015M]
“With faith, believing, I have prayed for you, all I know how. I--I prayed with sincerity, with all I know how to pray for it. Look, I realize that. You know what? It's your tithe and offerings that I live by. It's your support, here at the church, that I have somebody to preach to. It's your love, and your "amens," and your fellowship. And your kind words amongst out in the world there where you go to, to different states across the nation, it's your words that helps take the Message. It's you. We are partners in this, with Christ. We are brothers and sisters, and He is our King. And I love you. I--I--I--I, where I am, I want you to be. I drive across the nation, to speak to you a couple times. I long to meet with you here on Sunday morning. I love you. I've always loved you. Sometimes I have to speak real harsh, but it's only corrective. You see, it's just it's because I love you, see, and I don't want you to miss It. You, you mustn't do that.” [Token, Jeff. IN, 63-0901M]
“I draw a salary from my church, of a hundred dollars a week. There sits a trustee, sitting right there, that knows that's right. And that's all I get from that. And, otherwise, it goes right into the campaign. [Testimony, LA , 63-1128M]
“I get paid from my church. I never took an offering in my life. I don't ask people. When people gives me money, I put it in foreign missions. See? Some of my trustees are setting present right now, knows that's true. I don't spend one cent of it. I take the Gospel, myself. I get enough built in there, I take off, overseas, and preach to the people. That, that you--that you--you... You're sponsoring them. They don't have one penny of money. And then when I go over there, then I go over there and preach the Gospel over there. The way is already paid by you Americans. You're building your home; you know nothing about it, but, that Day, you'll understand. See? It's you doing that. I get a hundred dollars a week from my church, and that's right.” [A Paradox, Tampa, FL 64-0418B]
“Someone sent me some boxes of candy. One sent me this tie chain the other day. And some of them sent me some tithe in an envelope. Oh, you don't know how I... I just can't get to you personally to say, "Thank you." [Testimony, LA, CA, 51-0509]
“I said, "What people send me." I'm looking in the face of people right now that sends me tithing continually. I never ask them; they just do it. That's the Holy Spirit. He's able to take care of His own.” [The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit, Jeff. IN, 58-0928M]
“I remember one night, I was... You know how poor people get, when you can't make ends meet. You've had them times, I sure. And I wondered how I was going to make ends meet. And I said to my wife; I said, "Honey, I'm going to take up an offering tonight at the church." Now, not because they wouldn't give it, my church was just about the congregation about like this right here tonight in my church. And they love me, but I just, I was working, and I had enough just to go by, and I didn't need it. So she said, "Well, I'm going over to watch you do it." Well, we didn't even have a collection plate in the church, not a--not a one nor nothing. We had a little box on the back where they put their tithes in.” [Jehovah Jireh, Brooklyn, NY, 56-1209E]
[Answer provided by Bro. Donny Reagan, Pastor, Happy Valley Church, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA]