Pastor Gains National Attention with $100 Bills

But after six years, giving people $100 shows the limits of charitable creativity. 

The Chronicle of Philanthropy (Lynn O'Shaughnessy) offers a free article on the Kingdom Assignment, a charity idea of Denny Bellesi, who founded the Orange County megachurch Coast Hill Community Church (EIN 33-0121271, churches don't file Form 990). 

The Kingdom Assignment started with $10,000 collected for a mission opportunity that didn't come to pass.  Pastor Bellesi had an idea.  He called for 100 volunteers at a church service (didn't tell them what for), then gave them each $100 and told them to report back in 90 days to tell what they had done with the money. 

Apparently that original effort led to a number of projects that attracted more than $1 million in donations—primarily through the publicity value of the giveaway story.  One beneficiary was a women's shelter in Dana Point, California, operated by Foundation for Hope (EIN 33-0858418 Form 990).

But that was six years ago, and churches around the country are still trying to repeat the event, with mixed results.  The stunt still has publicity value, but coming up with new ideas is proving difficult.  The article reports ideas like:

• Using the money to stage a concert to raise money to purchase a headstone for the grave of a young child who died
• Holding a Christmas part to collect toys to send to evacuees of Hurricane Katrina
• Throwing an open house for friends to collect shoes to send to poor people in Mexico

The article cautions that most people will not think big and may just give the $100 to the Salvation Army.  The reporter cites a case where a congregation member simply broke down the $100 into smaller bills, put them in plastic bags with an explanation of the Kingdom Assignment, then hid them in a grocery store for shoppers to discover. 

Last year, Denny Bellesi and his wife offered $1,000 to one church in every state to help Katrina victims.  They only had 21 takers and stopped the effort as interest in Katrina waned. 

Now the Coast Hills church is trying a different approach, asking people to donate something worth $100. 

So it's an attractive notion that people will respond spontaneously a call for creative ideas, and a very few do, but not enough to make the investment worthwhile.  (Wikipedia: take note!)

Of course, the original project led to a book and appearances on Oprah and other national publicity.  But among the critiques of the book on Amazon are these comments by Douglas Gwinn:

When money is flaunted and tossed around in church, I think it betrays a lack of creativity. Preachers who need to toss around 100 spots in church are preachers who have run out of material to preach on. They need a gimmick.

Comments

[a fundraiser]

I love the idea and think it's the kind of experiment you need to repeat over and over and over again... because once every 100 times... the idea is going to be brilliant... or maybe not even that great... but it will multiple exponentially. If the fundraiser/pastor can contain afford to maintain it - I say keep doing it - it's a better idea than cow bingo... and no less moral than bingo.

[Douglas Gwinn]

Thank you for quoting from my Amazon.com book review. For a complete biblical analysis of The Kingdom Assignment, please see my article at www.ccel.us/KA.html

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