1997 SDX Awards--Brownsville Revival costly

9. Public Service in Journalism
CIRCULATION LESS THAN 100,000

PUBLISHED SUNDAY NOVEMBER 16, 1997
Copyright 1997 The Pensacola News Journal. All rights reserved

Revival costly,
but figures are vague

By Amie K. Streater
staff writer

PENSACOLA - The high cost of putting on the revival is always emphasized during the nightly call for $100 donations at the Pensacola Brownsville Revival.

But church leaders refuse to say exactly what those costs are.

An abbreviated 1996 financial statement the church released to the News Journal lists only $22,402 as revival expenses. It also lists a series of administrative costs that does not indicate whether any of those are attributable to the revival or whether these costs encompass any salaries:

Depreciation: $188,729.
Office: $168,345.
Utilities: $159,744
Maintenance: $149,217
Security: $112,291.
Janitorial: $42,609.
Building insurance: $27,522.
Distribution: $24,145.
Gasoline and travel: $12,033.
Advertising: $11,543.
Flowers: $8,586.
Photography and magazine: $8,004.
Lease: $8,001.
Kitchen: $4,983.
Building: $4,800.

Church officials just say the revival is costly.

"It's unreal, the expenses," church business administrative assistant Rose Compton said.

Administrative expenses amount to 14 percent of the Brownsville Assembly of God budget, and salaries and benefits amount to 15 percent.

Associate Pastor Carey Robertson said he thinks Brownsville's expenditures for salaries and administration are more conservative than what churches usually spend in these areas.

"Normally, churches break a budget up into three parts, 33 percent of their budget goes to operating expenses, which includes mortgage, utilites, maintenance, all those things, 33 percent goes to ministry and 33 percent into salaries," he said. "That's generally what the concept is.

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