Mid-level Corporate Theocrat Spills The Beans, Gets Fired

(okay, not really fired, but this is all in good fun.  Read on...)

Recall in the blog on Monson's Groomed Sales-Force (Taming of the Shrewd revisited) that at the very end I calculated the cost a family pays for the "blessing" of sending their son or daughter on a mission to provide free sales-labor?

This is about $4800 per year at current expected donation rates. (If I have the current value at $400 per month correct--anyone have better figures?  Let's adjust it for the upfront costs of  $2000 to get ready and other extras as well.)  A typical mission can cost upwards of $12,000 for everything.  For senior couples, that seems to be about $20,000 - $30,000 per year.  For example, at the LDS corporation #1 rated paid theme attraction in Hawaii, the Polynesian Cultural Center:

...they have a whole gang of senior couple missionaries.
See http://www.polynesia.com/current-missionaries-volunteers.html

On another page, they also state:

"Openings for voluntary (non-paid) service missionaries at the Polynesian Cultural Center...Living expenses per couple are estimated between $2,000-$2,500 per month."

Yep, the church gets free labor from couple missionaries to staff its theme park, the #1 paid attraction in Hawaii (according to them).

Now, this tidbit comes from a mid-level executive (1st counselor) in the Pacific Area Presidency of the LDS Corporation.  Interestingly, it's only available on the Australian country variant of the LDS site.  It's an inadvertent admission printed on the LDS website, which may get taken down when they fire ("release") Elder Pearson from his mid-level position.  Ok, he's not fired. Elder Pearson (former CEO of Ingenix, Inc., a subsidiary of United Health Group) is a member of the 1st quorum of the 70, a position which usually goes until age 70.  He spilled the beans and in light of the Mormon Corporation fraud case, it has new meaning and problems for them.

"a young man who faithfully serves a mission will likely marry in the temple and raise a righteous family. His children, and their children, will also likely grow up to be active faithful members of the Church. In three generations that young returned missionary’s posterity will probably account for over eighteen active adult tithe-paying members."

I'm not sure if Pearson really knows this or is speculating here.  But I bet there's some truth behind it.  Think about that line that in three generations each returned missionary will "account for over eighteen active adult tithe-paying members." 

This doesn't include the converts.  This is purely just a statistic on the RM getting home as  a completely life-long dedicated Mormon, getting sealed, having babies, who have babies.     That assumes each couple has an average of three kids.  I think at current birth rates it might be lower than 18.  I think closer to 2x2x2 = 8.  Whether it's 8 or 18, the point is, the church corporation really does see this as a game of increasing tithe-payers.

What would 8 - 18 full tithe payers pay per year into the system?  Assuming that each couple earns an average income (currently around $50,000 in the US) that would be between $200k - $450k per year.  If only half were active, that's $100k - $225k per year.

Over a lifetime, that's millions of dollars from their initial investment to train the missionary into a shrewd salesperson.

If we extend this hypothetical calculation to the near 80,000 missionaries currently serving (as linked in the former blog), that ends up being income of $16 billion to tithe with only 4 full tithe-paying couples after three generations.  Over each decade for each household, that's a sum of  $16 billion in tithing in futures.  Now, the existing full-tithing membership is at least ten-times the missionary force, so we can expand the base by that order and the result is each year, the total LDS membership is donating $16 billion in tithes.   I wish I could invest in a Mormon stock market and pay for my personal retirement on betting the LDS corporation futures.  They have a great gig going.

In defense against the Mormon corporation fraud case, I have a lot of Mormons that tell me that their church is not a money-minded corporation and the gospel is not about money collection. 

Let me ask: Why do the Mormon leaders collect more dollars per member than just about any other Christian church?  What does this mid-level corporate officer admission really tell you?  Are you sure your gospel isn't about money?

This investment is from the church corporation requiring  the originating missionary to pay his/her own way at $6000 per year.  That's a huge return on investment.

No wonder they lowered the age to 18 on males in early 2013.  They get a lot of return if they can move them out of their parent's home in high-school and into the missionary training center almost immediately.  Not much chance for the teen to go wayward living on his/her own.

Here's the screen capture of that talk, just in case it disappears.

(click on the above to zoom in)

It's no wonder they can afford to buy yet another big business investment, in downtown Philly no less.

See  http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/real-estate/2014/02/mormon-church-to-build-32-story.html

and

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140213_Mormons_to_build_32-story_tower_in_Center_City.html