The Religion Business

It started ten years ago.

Troubled by the direction of American/Western Christianity, an award-winning documentary filmmaker named Nathan Apffel teamed up with successful businessman and former military officer Chris Ayoub to do extensive research, interviews, and creative work to produce something that might make a difference. The result is “The Religion Business,” a 7-part docuseries that will be released in just a few months, aimed at exposing the rampant fraud, theft, and mission drift running through our religious institutions.

“I am not on this journey with Nate to be a critic,” Chris says, “I am here to use the skillset God blessed me with to do the work necessary to bring positive change by providing religious institutions and donors the tools necessary to execute their intended purpose.”

The Religion Business’s Instagram account, which launched only in October of last year and has gained 100,000 followers in just five months, focuses on the need for financial accountability, transparency, and what happens when we do not address rampant hypocrisy and abuse inside the church. A lot of the talk is about the money.

“If you repurposed 27 cents of every dollar that the Western Christian church has, it could radically transform the face of the world – and be the light of the world – literally tomorrow,” Nate says in a conversation with the host of the popular social media account PreachersNSneakers. “So then all the people who are hating on Christianity as Christianity is declining are gonna say, ‘You know what? They’re actually doing some cool stuff. I don’t mind going back.’ And that’s what we see on TikTok and on our social media channels – especially TikTok – is there are so many people out there angry at the institution. They aren’t angry at God or their faith; they’re angry at the institution, and they have every right to be.”

According to the numbers, he may have a point:

$890 billion dollars is donated to the Western Christian church every year. “Where does all that money go?” one person asked online.

The answer is not terribly impressive…

Home foreclosures have risen sharply in the last month amid continuing inflation, a rising supply, and the worst tech layoffs since the dot-com collapse of 2001. After settling an antitrust lawsuit, the realtors association has agreed to end the standard 6% commission on buying and selling a house. As a result, commissions are projected to fall 25-50%, lowering home prices by perhaps $6-12k on average, according to TD Cowen Insights. Despite the commission reduction and the increased supply, experts say homes will not likely become affordable in the near future…

Investors are keeping a close eye on Bitcoin (BTC) in the wake of a tremendous rally this month and then a sudden sell-off that has seen the digital asset go from $52k to a high of $73k before quickly correcting down to about $62k. Despite all of this, some say that Bitcoin could soon lose its reputation as a volatile asset, as they see recent price corrections (sizeable though they are) as less dramatic than in times past. We may see much greater movement in the price of BTC soon, however, as more cash floods into the digital currency from the recently sanctioned spot ETFs…

The current demographic decline of Christianity, and religion generally, in America is now well-known, with 80% of Americans reporting that religion is losing its influence on daily life, and Pew Research reports a long, steady decline in Christian identification, which will likely result in minority status for Christians in the near future (according to some, that status has already been achieved). One strangely pragmatic but important question is being asked by Mark Elsdon, executive director of a campus ministry called Pres House: What will we do with all of these church buildings?…

Your weekly chance to test your Bible knowledge! The answer to today’s question may surprise you:

Q: How many “minor prophets” are there in the Old Testament?

Answer at the bottom

TIPS & TRICKS

Book Recommendation

More isn’t always better. Hustle culture, paying your dues, and going the extra mile are all good, but there does come a point where one more responsibility really starts to cost you. You realize you’ve double-booked; you missed a crucial deadline; there just isn’t enough time in the day, and yet the tasks continue to mount. We generally take on more and more responsibilities as we get older, even though we can’t imagine how we’ll pull it all off. We know that we need to trim down what’s on our plates so that we can focus on what is most important, but it never seems to work out when we try to reduce what we’re doing every week.

This is, according to Greg McKeown, in part due to the fact that we are not consciously employing a system to evaluate opportunities, requests, and tasks as they come in. It is because we do not stop to determine what is and is not essential…

• Christianity Today asks: Are Christian influencers on social media having a greater effect on congregations than pastors?

• A federal probe investigates whether Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram) facilitated the sale of illegal drugs.

• A Boeing 737 lost an external panel during a flight last week amid ongoing investigations into Boeing’s allegedly negligent quality control and manufacturing practices. No passengers were harmed in the incident.

• Inflation remained elevated in February, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Concluding an 18-month investigation, the DOJ has not filed any charges against the Southern Baptist Convention.

• The CDC reports the marriage rate has returned to pre-COVID levels.