everything-free[Note: Every Friday we post a new rant from one of our writers, edited only for typos and spelling.This new series is not for those easily offended or for those who only like to play nice. So read this before you start posting your comments.]

I wrote a Monday rant on my personal website here: http://www.craiggross.com/post/144461476996/is-a-christian

My friend and I were emailing back and forth and he said to me:

“Ministry people just don’t sell stuff.”

I said, “You can’t sell something if you are in ministry just like you can’t cuss if you are a Christian. Or can you?”

I hate the mentality that everything coming from the church or a ministry should be free.

We have 14,550 pages on XXXchurch.com you can browse for free.

We have had over 1.2 million people use our X3watch free software.

Guess what? Turns out that a free user of X3watch today costs us on average of $8 per year. So, we created a paid version of the software that helps fund the free users and the ministry.

Maybe since I turned 40, some things I don’t care about anymore… like explaining why things cost money. I read yesterday, Wendy’s is going to start using computers and robots to replace employees to take your order. Why? Because they can’t survive paying $15 an hour to their employees selling fast food. People are in an uproar over this, but what do you think would happen? Some times things make sense when you spend a moment or two thinking about it. How can a fast food restaurant with a dollar menu survive when you have to pay employees $15 an hour? So, they get smart and replace humans with machines. Try calling any airline or major company on the phone today and you will get an automated service answering, not a live person.

Things costs money.

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It already has cost you more then money. It cost you your marriage, your job, your ministry, or your family, and now you are looking for a free way out?

Raising money for porn prevention, awareness, and accountability is a challenge. We have some great supporters of this ministry, but it is a challenge and even if we had unlimited funds, I still think there is value in charging for some of our products.

Every week we get emails asking for a freebie for one of our products. So many times we give discounts, scholarships, and have given stuff for totally free on a number of occasions. When you get something for free, you don’t value it like you do when you pay for it. Many times the people who get stuff for free don’t finish the workshop, don’t join the group, or don’t even begin.

Our ministry brings in 1/3 of our operating budget by donations, and if we only relied on that we would be able to do 33% of what we currently do. So, we have no problems putting a price to something not just because you pay for it and will have a higher chance of getting help, because at the end of the day, not everything in this world is free.

We can’t replace humans here at XXXchurch with robots and machines like Wendy’s.

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