Not Sure What To Think About THIS

From today's Dallas Morning News (main headline, above the fold, Sunday edition, mind you):

Tithing by credit card? Amen
More churches deciding, on balance, that automated offerings just bowing to reality
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, July 1, 2007

By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News
samhodges@dallasnews.com
At the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Dallas, more and more parishioners have signed up to give tithes and offerings automatically through their Visa or American Express cards.

"They want to get the points, and that's fine," said Bobby Brown, the church's business manager.

But is it really Christian to collect frequent-flier points on the way to heaven? Are churches that take plastic contributing to the nation's credit card debt crisis? Does tithing by automatic assessment rob from the thoughtfulness and spirituality of giving?

And is the latest innovation, the ATM-like "Giving Kiosk" – which lets people swipe a credit or debit card as they're entering or leaving worship – simply too suggestive of money-changers in the temple to work for most congregations?

Across Dallas and elsewhere, church leaders are grappling with such issues, trying to find their way in a brave new world of stewardship.

(you can read the rest of the article by clicking the link above)

As a pastor of a church, I'm truly interested in your thoughts on this...