Since several of us in here are @Pastors, I wanted to share this wonderful example of how easy it is to appeal to our base desires—in this case, a pastor’s desire to be “important”—in order to scam people. Here’s the email I got:
I am Pastor James Davis of Heart Church, United Kingdom. We are
writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at our upcoming annual
conference tagged “TRUTH CONFERENCE 2019” coming up from 1st through
3rd of march 2019. The purpose of this conference is to trigger the
pursuit of deep Christianity among youth, young adult, old and partial
Christians. Also, to resource all believers interested in being better
equipped to share and defend their Christian faith.
VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises)
Eastwood Hall,
Mansfield Rd, Eastwood
Nottingham
NG16 3SS,United Kingdom.
Date : March 1st to march 3rd 2019
Scheduled Topic: Setting Aside Mundane Affairs and Passionately Pursuing Christ
Theme: Shinning like stars in the world through the Gospel
Your expertise and experience in this field of work will be an
excellent addition to our programme (TRUTH CONFERENCE), as many of our
visitors will look forward to hearing and learning from your work. It
is an honor to be able to invite you to be a guest speaker for a talk
on (Setting Aside Mundane Affairs and Passionately Pursuing Christ),
as we have read your profile on your online website
(https://www.christchurchcincy.com/), and aware of your great
contribution to this field of work.
We look forward to a positive response. If you can RSVP in 48 hours to
our contact details (hello.heartchurch@gmail.com) and we will provide
you with additional information you might require.
PS: Flight arrangement, hotel accommodation, ground transportation and
honorarium will be sorted by the event organizing committee.
Remain blessed,
Mission Co-ordinator
Man, this is crazy. Perhaps a UK version of the “short-term missionary” method of funding a work? The website looks like they really exist. But this is also clearly a staggered mass-mailing invitation, looking for any pastor that will accept.
I should add that this sort of thing is why I don’t accept friend requests on FB from pastors in developing areas like India or Africa any more. They’re always just looking for money from rich Americans.
Yup, I’ve gotten that one several times and I have no idea what the play is. Only that it IS a play. Others get harder to figure out, and I don’t want my principle simply to be that I only answer North Americans. Love,
Interesting. I too have received this email (or one like it) a couple of times. The “tells” are there (vagueness, no contact name, how would they know about me?, my expertise?, etc.).
The comment about it stirring powerful desires is so true. We pastors are being covertly trained by our Big Eva culture to conflate audience size (and scope) with being used/blessed by God. The man who has faithfully shepherded the flock of fifty for decades is not worthy of the microphone. If his work was truly of God, his church would have grown ten-fold by now, rendering him worthy to be heard. The mass-production idol factory that exists within us constantly wants to deceive into confusing (what really is) pride with faithfulness to God.
The issue I am struggling with, and I hope this doesn’t come across like a “humble brag” (as I am quite prone to those), is accepting invitations to preach/speak outside of our body. In February, I am scheduled to teach on Sunday morning for a church plant in the area that is trying to get its legs under them. While I look forward to encouraging them from God’s Word, part of me is saying inside “I don’t truly know you folks”. It’s as though I have convinced myself that I cannot be used by God to deliver His message to anyone other than the flock He has graciously given to me, those I truly know deeply. Without the depth of that knowing, my application will/must hover at the level of generality. Perhaps this is something that the Lord will help me overcome as He continues to mature me.
Sorry if that strays from the OP, but it was actually helpful to express those thoughts in writing.
Here’s the new email scam, different conference and church but some things remain the same, I read something else about this. That they send you to someone to get your working visa done for 400$ and that’s where they get the money out of the pastors. people can also register for the conference and stuff. Here’s the email I got and almost fell for
Message Details:
Name: Pastor Dickson Watt
Email: info@graceabundantchurch.com
Subject: PROGRESS CONFERENCE 2023
Message: Abundant Grace Church 8 Belmont Hill, Lewisham, London. SE30 16BD. Website: http://www.graceabundantchurch.com Email: info@graceabundantchurch.com Church Office Phone: +44 7441 458992 Greetings to you Pastor Samuel Walker, I am Pastor Dickson Watt of Abundant Grace Church, United Kingdom. We are writing to invite you to be our guest speaker at our upcoming conference tagged “PROGRESS CONFERENCE 2023” coming up from 28th through 30th of July 2023. The purpose of this conference is to trigger the pursuit of deep Christianity among youth, young adult, old and partial Christians. VENUE: Conference Hall (Inside Church Premises) 8 Belmont Hill, Lewisham, London. SE30 16BD. Date: July 28th to July 30th 2023 Scheduled Topic: Setting Aside Mundane Affairs and Passionately Pursuing Christ Theme: Reach Out and Touch Someone The weekend of the conference is going to be filled with incredible times of worship, clear and relevant teachings and powerful encounters with God’s presence and your expertise and experience in this field of work will be an excellent addition to our programme (PROGRESS CONFERENCE), as many of our visitors will look forward to hearing and learning from your work. It is an honor to be able to invite you to be a guest speaker for a talk on (Setting Aside Mundane Affairs and Passionately Pursuing Christ), as we have read your profile on your online website (https://www.fbcparadise.com/) and aware of your great contribution to this field of work. We look forward to a positive response. If you can RSVP in 48 hours to our contact details (info@graceabundantchurch.com) and we will provide you with additional information you might require. PS: Flight arrangement, hotel accommodation, ground transportation and honorarium will be sorted by the event organizing committee. In His Grip, Pastor Dickson Watt Senior Pastor Abundant Grace Church +44 7441 45899
seemed legit till I started researching the other speakers and trying to find the location of the church and venue.
My guess is that the flight and logistical things are all going to be something they ask you to pay for upfront and then they will reimburse you. Of course you will be paying them that money. And you will never get reimbursed nor booked for a flight.
I did have someone from India message me on facebook once claiming to be a pastor and ask me to pray for their ministry. I assumed it was going to be a scam so said I do not have any money. They assured me that they didn’t just need money. But they needed someone to preach to them. I ended up setting up a zoom call and there were about 30 people in a room singing songs and doing a little pentecostally type worship. I then preached to them through zoom the gospel. It was interesting.