$9 Billion Wasted

Each year $9 billion is spent on debt, debt service and maintenance on US church buildings - building real estate worth over $230 billion.

That's according to Pagan Christianity?, a great/frightening/disheartening/encouraging book about the pagan roots of Western Church practices and traditions.

The book is full of things that'll make you think twice about what you know as "church," and I recommend it.

The $9 billion figure stands out because it's ridiculous. The US church spends $9 billion on buildings? Really? Wow, what a waste.

Here's list of things $9 billion could buy:

• 9,000,000,000 vaccinations against meningitis, measles, polio or other deadly epidemics (Doctors without Borders.)
• 3,571,428 sponsorships providing full-time residential care for children in an Arms of Love Children's Home, which includes all meals, housing, houseparents and other staff, a private education, clothing, medical care, recreation, and all other costs of full-time care for a year (Arms of Love).
• 1,285,714 heart surgeries for Iraqi children (Shevet Achim).
• 900,000 international homes (Habitat for Humanity).

And that's per year. Think of what a decade of targeted giving could do.