Authored by: tim on Tuesday, December 29 2009 @ 01:18 PM CST

Apparently, Fontaine doesn't come without some controversy of his own.

Taken from topix.com

Anonymous wrote:

<quoted text>
These are the comments I love. You just through random pieces of information out there in hopes it will make springs look bad. Why dont you go to the church office and ask for a print out of the financial information, I am sure they would be more than happy to do so for you. It's easy to type stuff on a computer and point a finger, maybe try following some of it up. I suggest you call the church office and have somebody properly explain to you what the kingdom builders are and what they do.

I can tell you all about Kingdom Builders, because I was one of them.

Leon called 200 people to a special meeting one evening and told all of us that we were the top 200 givers in the entire church. In this group were lower class, middle class and upper class people. He wanted to "build the kingdom for Christ," even more and reach more people for Jesus, so as the top 200 givers, he asked us to give a minimum of $5000 more per year. In return, he would provide us with free books and CD resources on how to grow our money, and there would be special guest speakers he brought in to teach us more.

He said that the books and resources would only be available to us and not to the congregation as a whole, because they just wouldn't understand.

We had semi-formal coffee and dessert evenings and other perks. It was an exclusive thing.

To help put it in context, giving was down the year that Leon started it up.

Take 200 people x $5,000 min each =$1,000,000 minimum extra finances per year.

It was manipulative way to stroke people's egos, then get them to give even more.

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Authored by: tim on Tuesday, December 29 2009 @ 01:35 PM CST

Another interesting tidbit from topix, though I can't confirm it, maybe some other readers can:

"ITS BAD FOR BUSINESS WHEN PEOPLE FIND OUT LEON AND SALLY ARE LIVING IN A 2 MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE THEIR KIDS ARE ATTENDING A 6,000 + A YEAR SCHOOL
HE FLIES HIS FAMILY TO AUSTRALIA COSTING THE CHURCH 30,000.00 THEY NEED NEW VEHICLES IN CALGARY ( AND THEY DON'T DRIVE HYUNDAI'S) SO I GUESS THEY DO NOT WAN'T THE PUBLICITY...."

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Authored by: BlastFurnace on Monday, January 11 2010 @ 02:00 PM CST

Because of a recent move, I don't have satellite at the present time and the cable company in my area (Cogeco) doesn't even offer TMC in the line-up, as far as I know.   No big loss, and even if it is available here I'd tell anyone who wants to subscribe to do so with extreme caution.

Still, it's both sad and funny when a board of directors claim they were led by Christ to such and such a person.   In my code, that's shorthand for, the selected person has a proven fund-raising record and can bring in the cash, ethically or not.   It's bewildering why this is allowed to happen.   A not-for-profit should be held to a higher standard primarily because of their tax-exempt status.

As to Tim's comments above, this sounds a lot like Pat Robertson's annual telethon where he solicits members for the "700, 1000 and 15k clubs" with various "benefits" at each level -- or a certain church in the LA area wih different "bird" levels and which has been in turmoil the last year or so because of a difference in business and theological approaches between father and son.   I though God's grace and salvation was a free gift to any man or woman who asks for that grace and is not for sale at any price.    That one has to buy airtime in the form of infomercials to sell salvation is bad enough -- to do so in a manner that is doctrinally unsound is worse.   I'd rather give my free money -- if I had any after giving to the more reputable faith-based groups such as the Salvation Army -- to an arts group that actually has better production values than what often comes out of the factories.   Anyone remember "Family Theatre"?

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