The one part of the "stats" given that I am most uncomfortable with is the amounts held in investments. I know of at least one instance in which a pastor found that a church he was assigned to held quite a few thousand dollars worth of G.M. stock, and got it disposed of and the funds put to appropriate use. (Which says little or nothing about the picture on a national or worldwide scale). If one of the big national church bodies takes in 16 trillion a year, pays it's pastors and other full time employees a decent living wage, and uses the remainder in genuinely "Christian" ways, I have no complaint. I'm sure there is far too much abuse going on, by institutions which should be the last to be excused for it. But listing total revenue figures doesn't say much one way or the other.