It has been suggested that Tithings be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2012.

The English land division called the tithing was a grouping of ten households (Scandinavian: ten = ti, assembly = thing). Allied to this concept was a local administrative unit also called a tithing or tything, with essentially legal responsibilities, exercised by a "tithingman".^[1] Both meanings originated in Anglo-Saxon times, through arrangements for the management of estates, taxation and criminal law, for example in the procedure known as "view of frankpledge." In Kent, the equivalent to a tithing was a "borgh", or "borough", not to be confused with ancient boroughs,^[2] and the equivalent to the tithingman was the "borsholder", "borough-holder" or "headborough".^[3]

References[link]

See also[link]

Look up tithe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Frankpledge
• Head-borough

This article about geography terminology is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article relating to law in the United Kingdom, or its constituent jurisdictions, is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Michael Pearl (born 1945)^[1] is a Christian fundamentalist pastor, missionary, evangelist and book author.^[2] He is best known for his controversial book, written with his wife Debi Pearl, entitled To Train Up A Child.

Ministry[link]

Pearl has a Bachelor of Science from Victory University (formerly Mid-South Bible College). He worked with Union Mission in Memphis, Tennessee for 25 years.^[3]

No Greater Joy (NGJ) is Pearl's 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The organization brings in between $1.5 and $1.7 million a year through product sales and donations.^[4][5] The Pearls state that they do not receive royalties from the sales, and that the profits are used for ministry purposes.^[6]

Pearl has sold or donated over 1.5 million copies of his books, CDs, DVDs, and other materials.^[7]

[edit] Controversy over To Train Up a Child

To Train Up a Child was published by Michael and Debi Pearl in 1994. It has sold more than 670,000 copies.^[8]

The book advises parents to use objects like a quarter-inch plumbing tube to spank children. It also mentions withholding food and putting children under a cold garden hose.^[9][1]

Book cover of To Train Up a Child

The content of Pearl's book has been cited as advocating child abuse and its teachings were linked to the deaths of Sean Paddock^[10], Lydia Schatz^[11], and Hana Grace-Rose Williams. The parents were homeschooling their children and are believed to have read Pearl's book.^[12] Michael Ramsey, a Butte County, California District Attorney who prosecuted the Schatz case, investigated the Pearls' teachings and called To Train Up A Child, "an extraordinarily dangerous book for those who take it literally." "It's truly an evil book," he said.^[13] Pearl has stated, "The book repeatedly warns parents against abuse and emphasizes the parents' responsibility to love and properly care for their children, which includes training them for success."^[9]

Responses[link]

On his website, Pearl issued official responses to the controversy over To Train Up a Child and the deaths of Hana Williams and Lydia Schatz. The responses list quotes from Pearl’s book that warn against abuse.^[14][15] Pearl has also spoken to the media about the controversy, stating that the 15-inch plastic tubing he recommends in the book is “too light to cause damage to the muscle or the bone.”^[16] Pearl stated of the death of Hana Williams, “What her parents did is diametrically opposed to the philosophy of No Greater Joy Ministries and what is taught in the book.”^[17]

The Seattle Times noted that there is no mention in To Train Up a Child of the discipline used on Hana Williams except for spanking.^[18] The New York Times suggests that the Williamses’ other discipline tactics involve Pearl’s book taken to extremes, such as Pearl’s advice that “a little fasting is good training.”^[19]

Janet Heimlich, author of Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment, quoted Pearl as saying, “You are abusing your child when [corporal punishment] starts doing harm to your child.”^[20]

Other publications[link]

Other publications released by Michael Pearl and No Greater Joy Ministries include:

• No Greater Joy Magazine^[21]
• Training Children to be Strong in Spirit^[22]
• Good and Evil^[23]
• Created to Need a Help Meet^[24]

Good and Evil won the Independent Publishers Ippy Award Bronze Medal in the Graphic Novel/Drama category in 2009,^[25] and was a 2009 ForeWord Book Award finalist.^[26]

Personal life[link]

Michael Pearl married Debi in 1971.^[27] As of February 2012, the Pearls have five children and nineteen grandchildren.^[28] Daughters Rebekah Pearl Anast and Shoshanna Easling have spoken about their childhood in interviews.^[1][29]

Michael Pearl is a knife and tomahawk thrower,^[1] and holds the following championship titles:

• 2007 World Champion Frontiersman
• 2008 Gold Cup Winner
• 2008 World Champion Tomahawk Thrower
• 2008 World Champion Silhouette Throw
• 2009 Best Tomahawk Thrower
• 2011 Gold Cup Knife and Tomahawk^[30]
• 2007 National Thrower of the Year^[31]

References[link]

External links[link]

• No Greater Joy Ministries

David L. Ramsey III (born September 3, 1960) is an American financial author, radio host, television personality, and motivational speaker. His show and speeches strongly focus on discouraging the use of debt.

Ramsey's syndicated radio program The Dave Ramsey Show is promoted with a tagline that "It's about your life and your money," and it is heard on more than 500 radio stations throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in podcast format and on XM and Sirius satellite radio.^[1] He has written numerous books. His books and broadcasts often feature a Christian perspective that reflects Ramsey's religious beliefs. Ramsey was named the 2009 Marconi Award winner for Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year.^[2]

Ramsey's company, The Lampo Group, Inc., is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, and oversees three divisions geared toward financial counseling.

Ramsey has been featured on many media outlets including The Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes, and The Early Show on CBS. He recorded a pilot and six unaired episodes of The Dave Ramsey Project^[3] for CBS. He was the host of The Dave Ramsey Show, which aired at 8 p.m. ET and repeated weekdays on the Fox Business Network until June 2010. ^[4]

Biography[link]

Ramsey was born and raised in Antioch, Tennessee. He was a 1982 graduate of the College of Business Administration at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. At the age of 26, through his brokerage firm, Ramsey Investments, Inc., he built a rental real estate portfolio worth more than $4 million and became one of Tennessee's youngest brokers to be admitted to the Graduate Realtors Institute.^[5]

Ramsey was a licensed insurance agent in the State of Tennessee from 6/18/1984 until his license expired in 10/07/1996. His producers license number was 0652539. His record with the state can still be found online by visiting the lookup for license services.^[6]

Ramsey's success soon came to an end as the Tax Reform Act of 1986 began to have a negative impact on the real estate business. One of Ramsey's largest creditors was sold to a larger bank, which began to take a harder look at Ramsey's borrowing habits. The bank demanded he pay $1.2 million worth of short-term notes within 90 days, forcing him to file for bankruptcy relief.^[5]

Ramsey began counseling couples at his local church. Soon after offering private counseling services, Ramsey began attending every workshop and seminar on consumer financial problems that he could find. He developed a simple set of lessons and materials based partially on his own experience and on works and teachings by Larry Burkett and Ron Blue.^[7] In 1992, after many requests from his clients, he wrote his first book Financial Peace.^[5]

Ramsey has been married to his wife, Sharon, for 25 years; they have three children: Denise; Rachel; and Daniel. The family resides in Franklin, Tennessee.^[5]

The Dave Ramsey Show[link]

Ramsey started his radio show, currently known as The Dave Ramsey Show, in 1992 under the title of The Money Game. The radio show began on June 15, 1992. Originally a locally based show, it is now syndicated across the country. In 2007, the Fox Business Network launched a television show under the same title, but canceled the show in June 2010. Dave also self-identifies as a devout born-again Christian. Many churches have adopted Dave Ramsey workshops for their members.

Related companies[link]

The Lampo Group, Inc.[link]

Ramsey founded his company, The Lampo Group, Inc., in 1992,^[8] initially helping people one-on-one who were struggling with financial issues. In 1994 he hired Russ Carroll, Ramsey's lead financial counselor, and together they began teaching the first Financial Peace University classes on overhead projectors.^[8] Between 1999 and 2004, The Lampo Group grew from 18 to 105 team members. There are currently over 300 team members.

Ramsey runs his business completely debt-free, an accomplishment he states was critical to the success of his company.^[9]

Financial Peace University[link]

Ramsey is also the creator of Financial Peace University, a biblically-based 13-week video training series for adults, and a companion series targeted at teenagers that has been offered in schools across the nation. Some topics covered in the series are cash flow planning, investing, saving, credit, retirement, and giving.^[10]

Share It![link]

"Share It!" is a foundation created by Dave and Sharon Ramsey for the purpose of working with other non-profit organizations such as housing initiatives, work to success projects, domestic violence shelters, drug and alcohol recovery programs, crisis pregnancy centers, youth outreaches, and high schools to help others become financially literate.^[11]

EntreLeadership[link]

The word, EntreLeadership, describes the responsibilities of a small business owner as an entrepreneur (Entre) and as a leader (Leadership). EntreLeadership is also the name of a small business conference developed by Dave Ramsey. The principles presented at an EntreLeadership seminar are the core principles of how Ramsey grew his company, debt-free. EntreLeadership is available to small business owners in two forms; a one-day, abbreviated seminar, and a five-day master series located at a resort destination. The small business conference is personally taught by Ramsey and his leadership team. Ramsey also released a book titled Entreleadership in 2011. The book rose to the New York Times Bestseller's list nearly overnight. Entreleadership marked the 4th time Dave Ramsey has been listed on the New York Times Bestseller's list.^[12]

Criticism and Countercriticism[link]

The Nashville Scene has reported that Ramsey occasionally receives e-mails and letters containing the Bible verse: "And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24 KJV) Ramsey interprets such communications to be a rebuke of his own wealth and a call for poverty, and dismisses these letters as “doctrinal nitpicking.”^[3]

In 2004, Ramsey's column was dropped from The Tennessean and four other newspapers owned by Gannett Co. after it was discovered that the identities of those seeking help were duplicated or falsified in several of his columns. Ramsey attributed the duplications to a low-level employee. Ramsey offered refunds to the newspapers affected by the error.^[13]

Ramsey also feels that people should be good stewards with what God has given them, such as is illustrated with Matthew 25:13-30

Ramsey states that no one would remember the good samaritan if he's only had good intentions; he had money as well. The good Samaritan had a good heart and a heavy enough purse to pay an innkeeper to help take care of the injured man. Money was involved. Ramsey states money was at its best that day, and that money gives power to good intentions. That is why he states he is unashamedly in favor of building wealth. ^[14]

Publications[link]

Financial advice[link]

• Financial Peace: Restoring Financial Hope to You and Your Family (1997) ISBN 0-670-87361-6
• The Financial Peace Planner: A step-by step guide to restoring your family's financial health (1998) ISBN 0-14-026468-X
• How to Have More than Enough: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Abundance (2000) ISBN 0-14-028193-2
• More than Enough: The Ten Keys to Changing Your Financial Destiny (2002) ISBN 0-14-200047-7
• Financial Peace Revisited (2002) ISBN 0-670-03208-5
• The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan For Financial Fitness (2003) ISBN 0-7852-6326-8
• Total Money Makeover Workbook (2004) ISBN 0-7852-6327-6
• The Money Answer Book: Quick Answers to Everyday Financial Questions (2005) ISBN 0-8499-9619-8
• Priceless: Straight-Shooting, No-Frills Financial Wisdom (2006) ISBN 0-9774895-9-0
• EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches (2011) ISBN 978-1-4516-1785-6

Kids' books[link]

• The Super Red Racer: Junior Discovers Work (2003) ISBN 0-9726323-0-1
• Careless At The Carnival: Junior Discovers Spending (2003) ISBN 0-9726323-1-X
• The Big Birthday Surprise: Junior Discovers Giving (2003) ISBN 0-9726323-2-8
• My Fantastic Fieldtrip: Junior Discovers Saving (2003) ISBN 0-9726323-3-6
• A Special Thank You: Junior Discovers Integrity (2005) ISBN 0-9769630-0-0
• Battle of the Chores: Junior Discovers Debt (2005) ISBN 0-9769630-1-9

Contributions[link]

• 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller, Foreword by Dave Ramsey (2005) ISBN 0-8054-3188-8

Spanish Translations[link]

The Total Money Makeover, Financial Peace Revisited, and More than Enough have been translated into Spanish.

See also[link]

• Debt
• Bankruptcy
• Talk radio
• Envelope budgeting
• Debt-snowball method

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dave Ramsey official website
• FoxBusiness.com bio
• Dave Ramsey on CBS' 60 Minutes (Transcripts)
• Total Money Makeover
• Total Money Makeover Book Review

Joyce Meyer
Meyer teaching at the Hillsong Conference in Kiev on October 4, 2007
Born	Pauline Joyce Hutchison (1943-06-04) June 4, 1943 (age 69) St. Louis, Missouri U.S.
Occupation	Bible teacher, author, speaker
Nationality	American Citizen
Spouse(s)	Dave Meyer
Influences Tommy Barnett John C. Maxwell
www.joycemeyer.org

Joyce Meyer (born Pauline Joyce Hutchison; June 4, 1943) is a Charismatic Christian author and speaker. Meyer and her husband Dave have four grown children, and live outside St. Louis, Missouri. Her ministry is headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri.

Early life[link]

Meyer was born Pauline Joyce Hutchison in south St. Louis in 1943. Her father went into the army to fight in World War II soon after she was born. She has said in interviews that he began sexually abusing her upon his return, and discusses this experience in her meetings.^[1]

A graduate of O'Fallon Technical High School in St. Louis, she married a part-time car salesman shortly after her senior year of high school. The marriage lasted for five years. She maintains that her husband frequently cheated on her and persuaded her to steal payroll checks from her employer. They used the money to go on a vacation to California. She states that she returned the money years later.^[1] After her divorce, Meyer frequented local bars before meeting Dave Meyer, an engineering draftsman. They were married on January 7, 1967.

Meyer also reports that she was praying intensely while driving to work one morning in 1976 when she said she heard God call her name. She had been born-again at age nine, but her unhappiness drove her deeper into her faith. She says that she came home later that day from a beauty appointment "full of liquid love" and was "drunk with the Spirit of God" that night while at the local bowling alley.^[1]

I didn't have any knowledge. I didn't go to church. And I had a lot of problems, and I needed somebody to kind of help me along. And I think sometimes even people who want to serve God, if they have got so many problems that they don't think right and they don't act right and they don't behave right, they almost need somebody to take them by the hand and help lead them through the early years.^[2]

Meyer was briefly a member of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in St. Louis, a congregation of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.^[1][3] She began leading an early-morning Bible class at a local cafeteria and became active in Life Christian Center, a charismatic church in Fenton. Within a few years, Meyer was the church's associate pastor. The church became one of the leading charismatic churches in the area, largely because of her popularity as a Bible teacher.^[1] She also began airing a daily 15-minute radio broadcast on a St. Louis radio station.

In 1985, Meyer resigned as associate pastor and founded her own ministry, initially called "Life in the Word". She began airing her radio show on six other stations from Chicago to Kansas City.

In 1993, her husband Dave suggested that they start a television ministry.^[1] Initially airing on superstation WGN-TV in Chicago and BET, her program, now called Enjoying Everyday Life, is still on the air today.

In 2004 St. Louis Christian television station KNLC, operated by the Rev. Larry Rice of New Life Evangelistic Center, dropped Meyer's programming. According to Rice, a longstanding Meyer supporter, Meyer's "excessive lifestyle" and her teachings often going "beyond Scripture" were the impetus for canceling the program.^[4]

In 2005, Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America" ranked Meyer as 17th.^[5]

Ministry[link]

Meyer speaks humorously, sharing with her audience her own shortcomings and taking playful jabs at stereotypical church behavior. A particular crowd favorite is the "robot" routine, in which she goes into a stiff-armed imitation of a robot chanting "What about me? What about me?"^[6]

According to Joyce Meyer Ministries, Meyer earned her doctoral degree from Life Christian University, an unaccredited institution in Tampa, Florida.^[7] Meyer has been given an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity by Oral Roberts University, an accredited institution in Tulsa, Oklahoma.^[7]

Salary and finances[link]

Joyce Meyer used to travel in this Canadair Challenger 600S; seen here in Sydney, Australia, when she was a 'special guest' at the Hillsong Conference in July 2005. It has since been replaced by a Gulfstream IV

Meyer, who owns several homes and travels in a private jet (currently a Gulfstream IV),^[8][9] has been criticized by some of her peers for living an excessive lifestyle. She responded that she doesn't have to defend her spending habits because "there’s no need for us to apologize for being blessed."^[8] Meyer commented, "You can be a businessman here in St. Louis, and people think the more you have, the more wonderful it is...but if you’re a preacher, then all of a sudden it becomes a problem."^[8]

On November 11, 2003, the St. Louis Post Dispatch published a four part series."^[8] exposing Meyer’s "$10 million corporate jet, her husband’s $107,000 silver-gray Mercedes sedan, her then $2 million home and houses worth another $2 million for her four children", her $20 million headquarters, furnished with "$5.7 million worth of furniture, artwork, glassware, and the latest equipment and machinery, including a malachite round table, a marble-topped antique commode, a custom office bookcase, a $7,000 Stations of the Cross in Dresden porcelain, an eagle sculpture on a pedestal, another eagle made of silver, and numerous paintings", among many other expensive items — all paid for by "her ministry". The article prompted Wall Watchers^[10] (a Christian nonprofit watchdog group) to call on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Meyer and her family.

Following the adverse publicity about her lifestyle and Ministry Watch's request for an IRS probe, Meyer announced in 2004 plans to take a salary reduction from the $900,000 per year she had been receiving from Joyce Meyer Ministries (in addition to the $450,000 her husband received) ^[11] and instead personally keep more of the royalties from her outside book sales which Meyer had previously donated back to Joyce Meyer Ministries. She now retains royalties on books sold outside the ministry through retail outlets such as Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, and bookstores, while continuing to donate to her ministry royalties from books sold through her conferences, catalogues, website, and television program.^[12] "The net effect of all of this," notes Ministry Watch,^[10] "was most likely a sizable increase in the personal compensation of Joyce Meyer and reduced revenues for JMM." In an article in the St. Louis Business Journal, Meyer's public relations director, Mark Sutherland, confirmed that her new income would be "way above" her previous levels.^[13] Joyce Meyer Ministries says it has made a commitment to maintain transparency in financial dealings,^[14] publish their annual reports,^[15] have a Board majority who are not Meyer relatives^[16] and submit to a voluntary annual audit.^[14][17] Currently this ministry is receiving a "C" rating (81-90) in financial transparency from Ministry Watch.^[18]

Senate investigation[link]

On November 6, 2007, United States senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa announced an investigation of Meyer’s ministry by the United States Senate Committee on Finance.^[19] Grassley asked for the ministry to divulge financial information^[20][21] to the committee to determine if Meyer made any personal profit from financial donations, asking for a detailed accounting for such things as cosmetic surgery and foreign bank accounts and citing such expenses as the $23,000 commode mentioned earlier. He also requested that Meyer's ministry make the information available by December 6, 2007. In her November 29 response to Grassley, Meyer notes that the commode is a chest of drawers. Meyer writes that it was part of a large lot of items totaling $262,000 that were needed to furnish the ministry's 150,000-square-foot (14,000 m²) headquarters purchased in 2001. She said the commode's price tag was an "errant value" assigned by the selling agent and apologized for "not paying close attention to specific 'assigned values' placed on the pieces."^[20] The investigation also aimed to scrutinize five other televangelists: Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Eddie L. Long, Paula White, and Creflo Dollar.^[19]

Joyce Meyer Ministries responded with a newsletter to its e-mail list subscribers on November 9, 2007. The organization referred to its annual financial reports, asserting that, in 2006, the ministry spent 82 percent of its total expenses "for outreach and program services toward reaching people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as attested by independent accounting firm Stanfield & O'Dell, LLP." The message also quoted an October 10, 2007, letter from the Internal Revenue Service which stated, "We determined that you [Joyce Meyer Ministries] continue to qualify as an organization exempt from federal income tax under IRC section 501(c)(3)." The same information was also posted to the ministry website.

Meyer and Hinn were the only two ministries to comply with the Senate's requests for financial records, and both of them made commitments to future financial transparency. Neither party were found to have done any wrongdoing.^[22]

ECFA accreditation[link]

In 2009, Joyce Meyer Ministries received accreditation from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). In an announcement on March 12, 2009, the ECFA said that Joyce Meyer Ministries and Oral Roberts University had met their requirements of "'responsible stewardship', which involves ministries' financial accountability, transparency, board governance and fund-raising practices."^[23]

Works[link]

• Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind. 1993. ISBN 0-446-69109-7. 
• Me and My Big Mouth: Your Answer is Right Under Your Nose. 2002. ISBN 0-446-69107-0. 
• How to Hear from God: Learn to Know His Voice and Make Right Decisions. 2003. ISBN ISBN 0-446-53256-8. 
• The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word. 2004. ISBN 0-446-57736-7. 
• In Pursuit of Peace: 21 Ways to Conquer Anxiety, Fear, and Discontentment. 2004. ISBN 0-446-53195-2. 
• Straight Talk: Overcoming Emotional Battles with the Power of God's Word. 2005. ISBN 0-446-57800-2. 
• Approval Addiction: Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone. 2005. ISBN 0-446-57772-3. 
• Look Great Feel Great: Joyce shares twelve practical keys that will help you look and feel great. 2006. ISBN 0-446-57946-7. 
• The Everyday Life Bible: The Power of God's Word for Everyday Living. 2006. ISBN 0-446-57827-4. 
• The Confident Woman: Start Today Living Boldly and Without Fear. 2007. ISBN 0-446-53198-7. 
• Woman to Woman: Candid Conversations from Me to You. 2007. ISBN 0-446-58180-1. 
• I Dare You: Embrace Life With Passion. 2007. ISBN 0-446-53197-9. 
• The Power of Simple Prayer: How to Talk with God about Everything. 2007. ISBN 0-446-53196-0. 
• Top 10 Qualities of a Great Leader. 2007. ISBN 1-57794-913-7.  (by Joyce Meyer and Phil Pringle)
• Conflict Free Living. 2008. ISBN 1-59979-062-9. 
• Start Your New Life Today: An Exciting New Beginning with God. 2008. ISBN 0-446-50965-5. 
• The Secret To True Happiness: Enjoy Today, Embrace Tomorrow. 2008. ISBN 0-446-53199-5. 
• Never Give Up!: Relentless Determination to Overcome Life's Challenges. 2009. ISBN 0-446-58035-X. 
• Eat the Cookie--Buy the Shoes: Giving Yourself Permission to Lighten Up. 2010. ISBN 0-446-53864-7. 
• Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle. 2010. ISBN 0-446-58036-8. 
• Beauty for Ashes. 
• The Penny. 

See also[link]

• Prosperity Gospel
• Word of Faith

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

• Official site
• Joyce Meyer at the Internet Movie Database
• Everyday Life Broadcast with Joyce Meyer online