How do you, as a minister, make money? Do you have a job other than the ministry or is the ministry a full time job?
I do not use my ministry as a source of income, because in my ministry my goals are simple: worship God and allow others the freedom to do the same, thus why I started a church that welcomed anyone regardless of religion, race, sex, etc.
For my income I am a multi-faceted freelance worker:
Artist (painter)
Author (novels and short stories)
Writer (non-fiction articles, books, and sermons)
Seamstress and Crafter (dolls, religious icons, shrines, CosPlay costumes and other stuff)
Hoodoo Conjur Doctor aka A Voodoo Witch Doctor (psychic, medium, card reader, channeler, divination, hoodoo rootwork, candle spells, etc)
I make 100% of my income online either selling my products and services, either on my own web sites (I run over 200 web sites, besides the one you are on right now, which I have built over the years) or via commissioned websites (such as Zazzle and Etsy), or writing for e-zines.
My top income maker is Zazzle ($200 – $600 per month) than Squidoo ($90 to $200 per month).
All of the rest (AllPosters, LinkShare, Commission Junction, Amazon, CafePress, Associated Content, HubPages, Etsy, LuLu, Spoonflower, and eBay) each bring in under $50 per month, but they do bring in enough so that when I combine everything at the end of the month, I am able to live off of my online income fulll time; not as well as I’d like, but it does get a little higher each month, so over all I’m glad I switched to working at home online full time. The benefits of being home outweigh the low income. But yeah, there you have it.
My making 100% of my income through these various channels, allows me the freedom to run my church without having to include requests for “tithes”, “offerings”, etc, which in turn allows me to focus on the spiritual side of the services rather than worrying about where the money is coming from to keep the church open.
Oh yeah, and by doing it this way I am not tax exempt, because none of my income is coming from parishioners, so I pay taxes just like any one else.
This post was written by Wendy C Allen aka EelKat, is copyrighted by The Twighlight Manor Press and was posted on Houseless Living @ http://houselessliving.blogspot.com and reposted at EK’s Star Log @ http://eelkat.wordpress.com and parts of it may also be seen on http://www.squidoo.com/EelKat and http://laughinggnomehollow.proboards.com If you are reading this from a different location than those listed above, please contact me Wendy C. Allen aka EelKat @ http://laughinggnomehollow.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=viewprofile and let me know where it is you found this post. Plagiarism is illegal and I DO actively pursue offenders. Unless copying a Blog Meme, you do not have permission to copy anything appearing on this blog, including words, art, or photos. This will be your only warning. Thank you and have a glorious day! ~ EelKat
