The method for collecting
offering at the church I attended this past Sunday is definitely one worth
mentioning. After about 2 hours into the service, a woman comes to the front of
the church holding a small pedestal of sorts. It's basically a small piece of
wood covered in aluminum foil. In the center is an even smaller piece of wood
that is the perfect size for one of the two model cars- a silver BMW and a red
Mercedes- Benz. This particular week the BMW was on the top level- reflecting
its success in collecting the most money the previous week. The Mercedes was
turned over- reflecting its failure to win the offering the previous week. She
waves her arm and shouts HALLELUIAH BMW and everyone on the BMW team screams.
Then she shouts HALLELUIAH MERCEDES-BENZ and everyone on that team screams.
Each team takes turns coming to the front of the church to contribute their
offering to their assigned team. Men are at the front frantically counting the
money as it is put into the basket. Once both teams have had a chance to
compete, the exact amount of money each team raised is announced along with the
winner for that week. I would like to take this time to state that I'm a
proud member of BMW and we won this past week! The situation is quite humorous.
Although, maybe the churches in the States should adopt this policy- it's a lot
more exciting than the way we do things! I can only end by saying HALLELUIAH
BMW!