So, I just heard from someone who was persuaded by a member of this Church to attend services. Its a beautiful building she says. Awesome. Really worth seeing. Looks like a fancy mall with a food court she says.

Not a word about God or Jesus.



I'm thinking the REAL God isn't pleased with Rev Dale Ebers and his flock of Building worshippers.

Rolling Hills church is an abomination. Every time I drive by on 205 I flip it the bird.

And, this building is a text book example of why religious organizations like this should lose their tax exempt status. If you have the money to build a mega church, you don't need my tax payer dollars to do it. I'm okay with the tax exempt status of smaller congregations, but this is clearly a business disguised as a religion.

Is she single? Did she meet Wayne (and his mama) yet?

She's married. But I've an itching to attend service there one day to see if I can spot an older man with an even older woman. But I'm thinking there might be HUNDREDS of such couples there!

Skeptical...your looking to low.

I'm thinking about the tax exempt bit.

It really shouldn't matter what the size of the congregation is. If it operates as a religious organization, then it's tax exempt. I don't see scale as a factor in this.

IMHO, if scale is significant, then at some level, the law is flawed. There would be some violation of equality in there somewhere. Maybe that's the case, but I don't think so.

So, what's the difference between a business and a religious organization? I don't think I know.

I agree about churches like this, BTW. The thread caused me to arrive at this question.

It's one of those "know it when you see it" deals. Generally, I don't like those because they mean I am missing something significant and that leads to being unable to reason related things out properly.

Care to hash that out? Might learn something! (hoping I learn something!)

To kick it off, one element is the accumulation of wealth, but that's confusing.

Churches do accumulate wealth. It gets used for missionary work, expansion, maintenance, replacement of consumable and non-durable supplies, and compensation for significant members.

Is one difference that accumulation being a zero sum game for a religious organization? All the wealth being accounted for, as in somebody should be able to look at everything and find it all.

One place where I'm totally not sure of is compensation. Some people make a living wage doing stuff for the church. Others make more than that and clearly profit from the church activities.

---> and I'm differentiating compensation from profit in terms of dollars consumed for a modest daily life, and those dollars that are not consumed in this way, diverted to savings as being profit.

The church itself accumulates, but that's supposed to be planned for right?

There should be no wealth pooled anywhere that isn't tied directly to either compensation or the activities associated with getting the word out.

If not government regulation, there needs to be a check on this type of thing.

There's no check and balance on Rolling Hills-type churches. The folks that SHOULD be making waves about this are other church going people. God is not going to be offended if believers start to question certain churches crossing the greed barrier.

I agree.

And my question is about defining what that check is.

Most of us know it when we see it, but that's not enough for regulation. What defines that barrier?

Have any of you ever attended Rolling Hills Church? Talked to one of the pastors there? Talked to one of their members? Or are you just guessing what they're all about?

Anyone? Anyone?

I have been to Rolling Hills Church. I know people who attend RHC.
But then again I talk to many church goers on a regular basis so it's not anything new for me.

I posted on the differences between business and religious organization, sparked by the commentary on this thread.

Was really interested in those differences, largely as a way to quantify other statements made on the thread. Until that gets clearer, it's just a nice church in that regard.

I've met members. It's a mixed bag, and I personally would not attend based on those experiences.

It's not my kind of church community either but there are some wonderful people who do attend RHC.