There was an interesting news piece about Dr. Creflo A. Dollar on ABC a few nights ago. If you haven't heard of Dr. Dollar (no lie, the last name is real), he's the founder of two churches: World Changers Church International in Georgia with 30,000 members and World Changers Church-New York which hosts over 6,000 members. According to his bio on the Creflo Dollar Ministries site, "Dr. Dollar is committed to bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to people all over the world, literally changing the world one person at a time." His churches bring in millions of dollars annually, and Creflo enjoys an affluent lifestyle that he tells most church members they deserve and can achieve. In fact, he has stated that Jesus did not arrive to the Earth poor.
Creflo's latest book is called 8 Steps to Create the Life You Want: The Anatomy of a Successful Life (Faithwords)
I don't look to preach religion or politics here at the Monetizer blog, but Creflo Dollar's story does show a few points.
1) You can build wealth through strong religious faith.
2) You can build wealth by pitching religion to others.
I would never suggest monetizing religion, although there was a report not long ago that millions of bibles sold in 2007. Quite possibly there's a niche site, but I'm not sure how many people would want to profit from selling their religion. Creflo Dollar definitely has the name and the audience to do so now, but according to his site he preaches about a range of topics including personal development. There's also been the reported possibility that Congress will be investigating Mr. Dollar for inappropriate use of church funds, for buying nice high-priced items like a private jet, mansion, apartment in New York and fancy cars.
All in all the concept of making money will extend to your belief systems, your drive, your hunger, perserverance, and faith in yourself or religion. Find Jesus and the money will follow...
