Last Sunday (October 13) I preached about everyone’s favorite topic … Tithing. Why?? Because that was the topic I pulled out of my sermon hat!! (Not really … I seriously do pray and ask God what He wants me to preach on. He put this on my heart, so I obeyed). It is everyone’s favorite topic. It was really funny, too … The early worship was pretty full, but 11:00 worship was pretty thin in attendance. Makes me wonder if people were talking about it in Sunday School …
Fast forward to yesterday. One of the topics of discussion for some friends of mine yesterday was something I said in the sermon the week before: I said “I don’t know what ANYONE gives at Ebenezer except myself. I don’t know, and I don’t want to know!”
My friends thought surely I said that for effect. “C’mon, SURELY you know. How could you know the statistics you presented without knowing who gives what???”
First of all, Automated Church Systems software does a pretty good job in presenting statistics. And, yes, you can run reports without names. Second, I didn’t even run the report. I asked someone else to run it for me. And third, I take what I say in the pulpit quite seriously. If I tell you something about me, it is TRUE!! Because, a long time ago, I decided if I say something in the pulpit, it had better be true out of respect to my Lord and Savior. Call it an ethics thing, but I would fear my fate if I stood and said something I knew to be untrue. I am not perfect, but I have this healthy fear and respect of God Almighty.
Also, a long time ago I made a decision that I do not want to know who gives what in our church. Yes, there are other pastors in other churches who DO know what people give. That is between them and their churches. A very wise professor in seminary, many years ago, told me that I really DO NOT want to know. He was/is right!! I believe in that so much that it made our fundraiser angry a few years ago when he was encouraging me to know some things about individuals and their giving habits. I told him then of my commitment not to know these things. He told me he had never been in a church where he didn’t know such things. We had to agree to disagree.
I know that one day I will stand before God and He will hold me accountable for everything I have said from each pulpit in which I have stood. Seriously, It is TRUE!!!
The Random Thinker 
You are a wise man.