Collin Hansen has a great interview with John Piper on compensation for pastors, including honorariums from outside engagements and writing income. Here’s one of his questions and an excerpt of Piper’s answer.
When did you first realize you would need some plan to handle the money earned from your speaking and writing? Were you ever tempted to keep the money for yourself?
With the successful sales of Desiring God starting in 1987, I saw that there could be substantial income from writing and speaking. I resolved that I should not keep this money for myself but channel it to ministry. I never doubted that the Lord would provide us with a salary that would be sufficient for our family. So I saw no reason to keep the money that came in from the books and speaking. These royalties and honorariums were being earned while I was pastor of Bethlehem, and so it seemed the church should benefit from them, not me privately.
At first, I thought I could do this simply by channeling the royalties to the church, but realized soon that this had tax implications. Since these royalties were technically in my control as the copyright holder, giving all of them to the church made me liable for income taxes. So we created a foundation. The Desiring God Foundation now owns all the copyrights of my books and intellectual property, and receives and distributes all the income. I have no access to the money at all. I do sit on the board of the foundation with my wife and five others. This board safeguards the aims of the foundation, and makes the decisions to which ministries the income should be given. It is a thrilling ministry.
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Read the whole thing.
Some of you may know that from 2005-2007 I was an apprentice at The Bethlehem Institute (now rolled into Bethlehem College and Seminary). Along with 20-30 others, I saw John Piper “up close” a couple of times a week for 2-3 years. In our day it seems that there is both extreme fascination (from some) and extreme skepticism (from others) towards “famous” pastors. John is the real deal when it comes to having a godly perspective on money, possessions, and fame. His heavenly-treasure orientation was palpable.