This bothers me greatly. How you get people to church is how you keep them. What will they have to do next year to top this? How about attracting people to church because the congregation are actually living like Jesus in their daily lives?

Well, I suppose Jesus did give a free meal to 5,000 ;o)

But REALLY?!?!!?!

If this is what the church has become...I want out!!
The church as game show. OUCH!
I don't care if all the items were donated, it's just wrong. And of course, it didn't sound like the news reporter said anything about the Gospel or the resurrection of Jesus...maybe those things were preached, but we know who got the glory in the news clip...the lady jumping around...not because she was responding to the gospel, but because she just won a new car.

Lord, Jesus, please forgive us.

Such gimmicks only serve to celebrate greed and have absolutely nothing to do with the Easter story! This only offers more evidence about what is wrong with the church in North America!

This article makes me sad. I read a related story where the pastor used the age-old excuse of "It's worth it if one person comes to Christ...". But to what? A gospel that equates the resurrection with a $300 goody bag? Where is the trust in God that He will guide the lost to our churches rather than relying on game show tactics? I'm convinced that many churches believe in the river of life but that in too many of them, the river, though a mile wide is only an inch deep.

Thank you Randal, you got this exactly right:
"Lord, Jesus, please forgive us."

"Lure people into Church that normally don't go to Church."

Uh...yeah, apparently Pastor Bill Cornelius is taking the marketing approach to evangelism, "If a relationship with G-d doesn't interest you and to encourage you to fellowship with others who are in a relationship with G-d...perhaps a NEW CAR will change your mind!"

Just one more thing that makes the American Church look like the rest of the world around it.

Well...I guess we've got another John Tetzel on our hands...

No surprises here folks, just another example of the evangelical torpor that is destroying the Church.

Perhaps they can strike a deal with MTV for a reality series as they follow the church's 20 somethings on a "mission" trip to the Jersey Shore. Could that be any worse than this "Powerball for Jesus" nonsense?

This is extreme, but is it really different from enticing any "seeker" to come join our church because we have really loud and cool music or we have an over the top children's area or a coffee bar? or you get a t-shirt and shorts if you get baptized, or another bar for your Sunday School pin? How about the old fashioned Sunday School contests where your team goes to Disneyland if you bring the most kids? How many women's events have "door prizes"? Aren't all of these a form of "get em in the door and get em saved? It don't matter how just get em to come." Use vulgar words to get the hits. Find Jesus in the centerfold. Amen.

I'm reminded of St.Frances of Rome (On her feast day priests bless cars due to her patronage of cars and drivers). I like St. Frances.
But it's one thing to care for drivers, and quite another thing to turn a church into a car lot.

I am curious, is the church doing any good thing here in the states and around the world? Try posting some of that for a season. I hope we have the ability to learn from our successes as well as from criticizing our family.

One man's strong faith allows him to give away cars, another man's weak faith does not. The one who gives cars away should not look down on the one who does not. The man who does not give away cars should not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his on master he stands or falls.

No wonder the world doesn't like Christians...

Robert, Tetzel was actually fleecing the people selling indulgences to profit the RC Church. This, on the other hand, is an enticement by a clergyman/church offering material gain to potential members. Both are wrong. Both involve material gain, but it seems to me in opposite directions, no?

I'm encouraged that for the most part we see the folly in this.

Mike, good point. Definitely a connection, I agree.

Kurt, I think this Scripture is actually more to the point: Acts 8:18-24.

Kurt, in many other issues, I would agree with your point. This is not one of them. This is most certainly deserving of condemnation, whether or not the world likes Christians for doing so. Karen, you are spot on with Acts 8.

I really torn by this whole concept and here is why - the purpose. As best I can tell from the video the purpose of giving away such big ticket items was to compare it to the incredible gift that has no price tag of grace. I get that. We all try to come up with creative ways to express the incredible truth of grace. The problem is how do you shift the focus and the excitement of giving away stuff to Jesus? I actually don't have a problem of a church giving away a car - if certain conditions were met. One that the cars were donated. Two that the giveaway happened at a different time and place so that the focus stays on Jesus not the new car. Third the person eligible acutally needs a new car. Give a car to someone who can't get to work or whose car is about to fall apart. To me that would be life-changing in more way then one.

Oprah did it first!