Churches and Numbers

I read this recently and laughed.  This truly is how many pastors and evangelists play fast and loose with attendance numbers. Of course, I never do. VirtueOnline - News - Viewpoints - PB Sees Same-Sex Marriage as 'Done Deal*Parishes Lose Properties*More Lawsuits: During a Sunday morning service at Trinity Church Wall Street last summer, a longtime parishioner looked around during the reading of the Gospel and counted the worshippers. By her tally, there were 49 people in the pews of the historic lower Manhattan church - a meager turnout for the storied, 314-year-old parish. She was puzzled, then, when the next week's church bulletin reported attendance at 113. Trinity's rector, the Rev. James Cooper, had apparently decided that tourists who wander in and out of the chapel should be counted as well, she was told. It's funny these days ... after having worked for an evangelist I can't walk in a gathering anywhere without counting how many people were there.