KINGDOM BUSINESS – APRIL

Kingdom Business

EXTREME COUPONING

For over a decade, a Madison, Wisconsin, grocery store owner by the name of Ken Kopp, printed a coupon in his church bulletin offering a free gallon of milk for those who attended Mass on Sunday. A local newspaper
reporter by the name of Patricia Simms inquired about this freebie and asked him how he would really know if the person had truly gone to Mass and he replied, “Well, if they didn’t, then they’re lying, and they’re going to burn in hell and we get to watch.”

Ouch. Pretty harsh! Well, I am so thankful that watching others suffer is not something we will do when we go to heaven! We have God’s written promise that heaven is a place of no mores!

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelations 21:4

I’m always searching for interesting church business items that can be used here at Peace. When I came across the article about Ken Kopp, I thought it was interesting because not only am I a couponer, I thought it was pretty neat that a business owner would encourage church attendance and out of
his own profits give free milk to others who did so. Even if his statement is bad theology, I am encouraged that fellow Christians care about our relationship with Jesus, and encourage our church
attendance.

As I write this article, our Pastors are in the middle of the Visions of Mystery series about the book of Revelations. Time and time again, our Pastors have reminded us that when we go to heaven, there is no way we would watch our loved ones suffer. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain in heaven. If we watched our loved ones suffer, we would grieve over their suffering – and that’s not heaven.

Sadly, the article I read about Mr. Kopp was on the internet because of a group that threatened to sue him for discrimination. A lady by the name of Annie Laurie Gaylor, who had regularly shopped at the store, promptly wrote the grocer a letter informing him that discriminating among patrons on the basis of creed is a violation of the Civil Rights Act. The letter added: “Your message is certainly coming out loud and clear: only Catholic customers are truly valued.” Gaylor received a reply from Ken Kopp’s attorney suggesting that she was free to stop at her neighborhood Catholic Church any Sunday to pick up a church bulletin in order to obtain her weekly free milk (on implicit pain of hellfire, of course). After a few months of paying for an attorney to answer and write a few letters, Mr. Kopp stopped running the coupon ad in his church bulletin. I tried to find out more information, but this report came from a 1996 article, and Mr. Kopp’s store was closed around the year 2000.

Well, that’s just business!

April is Peace’s new Fiscal Year and we start with a newly approved Spending Plan. If you haven’t had an opportunity to review the Voters approvals – please contact me and I’ll help get you up to speed on the recent Kingdom Business at Peace.

Minding His Business,

Patti Ninneman
Business Manager