“Easter at a megachurch in Corpus Christi, Texas, will look like the popular TV game show “The Price Is Right.”

Sixteen cars, 15 flat-screen televisions, furniture sets and other prizes are lined up at Bay Area Fellowship Church and ready to be claimed by anyone who attends the church’s Easter services on Sunday.

Though the church of some 7,000 weekly attendees has regularly flexed its creative muscles to draw the unchurched, the upcoming “Ultimate Giveaway” is like no other outreach it has ever attempted.

Pastor Bil Cornelius, who made the game show analogy, admits it’s a bit “outrageous.”

But he sees it as “an opportunity to share Christ with people who may never go to a church for any reason,” he told The Christian Post.

The prizes are worth over $2 million and are all donated items or sponsored by members of the church. Pastor Cornelius asked the congregation to give and to get their businesses involved for the bold effort. Bay Area members signed up to give cars, bikes, laptops, gym memberships and other gifts.“

We may laugh, be appauled or even admire what is happening here, but it raises some serious questions.  How should consumerism be dealt with in the church?  Is enticing people into church services through the promise of material gifts the right way to offer the gospel of Jesus?

Read the original article in the Christian Post here