About the Authors

(Due to the many requests for information about the authors, this page has been added.  OTP)

Thank you for your interest in the book, “Beyond Tithes and Offerings”, as well as your interest in the authors.  By selecting this page, I see that you would like a little information about the authors.

If you actually had a copy of the book, you would find it a little unusual since there is nothing regarding the authors in there.  Therefore, before providing you with some information regarding the authors, I would like to provide an explanation as to why there is no section titled, “About the Authors”, in our book.

It is our opinion that Christians have borrowed the secular way of determining from whom to receive instruction - which is based on who you are and how many degrees you hold.  For example, an author who happens to hold a doctorate degree (indicative of superior knowledge) automatically gains the respect of readers, while an author without similar credentials does not receive the same level of respect and attention.  Furthermore, endorsements from people in the former group also weigh heavily on whether or not a book, or a piece of written work, gains notoriety.

However, the Spirit can lead anyone and there is no requirement of a degree before the Spirit can guide someone into truth - only a yielded heart is required.  While there is nothing wrong with obtaining a higher level of education in the area of biblical studies (in fact, we would encourage it), or with the acceptance by one’s peers, we would hope that this is not the sole basis on which Christians determine the worthiness of a book, or anything that someone is sharing with another.  In fact, we have received plenty of positive feedback regarding the book.  Those comments can be seen here, Book Comments .

My brother and I are not well-known leaders within the Christian arena of radio, television, evangelism, or even as authors.  Therefore, some will look at the authors of this book and wonder what we could possibly offer the Christian community and what qualifies us to do so.  However, 1st Corinthians 1:26-29 comes to mind in situations such as this, which states the following: “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.  Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things -- and the things that are not -- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”

Many people say they are led by the Spirit to tithe, or to teach Christians to tithe, according to the traditional practice of tithing.  We, on the other hand, know that the Spirit has led us to produce literature to the contrary – “Beyond Tithes & Offerings”.  This is not to mean that Christians shouldn’t support their local church financially.  This book, however, will demonstrate the difference between biblical tithing and today’s monetary version of tithing.  Without boasting, we are satisfied with our effort and are pleased to say that we worked hard at what the Spirit has placed on our hearts.  We have confidence that this book will be instrumental in changing the lives of many Christians.

Unfortunately, some like to make heroes or superstars out of those that want to do the work of God.  We don’t want people to accidentally lift the names of the authors of this book when they should be lifting the name of our Savior.  Therefore, not wanting to put focus on the authors, we left the “About the Authors” section out of our book.  To us, the authors were not important.

Now that I have informed you as to why we did not include biographical information on the authors, I will say a few things about us for your own personal understanding of the authors.

We were born in 1965 in Tacoma, WA, and yes, we are identical twins.  We are the only children in our immediate family.  Raising us alone, our mother, Vickie Webb, did the best she could with two boys.  Fortunately, we were not the kind of children that found ourselves in much trouble.  I think we were pretty good children (smile).  We both attended Washington State University (WSU) in Pullman, Washington, where in 1989 we both received Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science.

Mitchell went back to Tacoma and found employment with the City of Tacoma wherein he has worked as a database programmer and performs PC support.  He is currently married to his wife of over 11 years, Tracy, of Tacoma, Washington, and has four boys (one of which is a foster child).  He coaches year round including flag football, basketball, and baseball.

Since returning home from college, Mitchell has attended a variety of churches.  The most memorable is the church that opened its doors to the homeless and actually gave them a place to live.  Many people used the pews as their beds.  While a member of this church, Mitchell ran the soundboard, held bible study twice a month on Friday nights, and spent several nights at the church while on ‘duty’, so-to-speak.  On several occasions, Mitchell’s wife and children also spent the night at the church.

Due to his direct personal experiences with the needy and the homeless, he felt the need to create Mission Impossible, a non-profit organization that assists people by providing food and clothes and by paying for rent and utilities when appropriate. His view is that the church, as a whole, does much to build the spiritual nature of individuals, but could do more to help out with the physical and practical needs of individuals. He feels that he ought to do what he can as a Christian to fill the gap in contemporary Christianity - the one where people are taught to bring their tithes and offerings to the local church, almost always leaving very little for the poor!

After graduating from WSU, I (Michael) went to graduate school at the University of Florida where in 1991, I received a Master of Science degree in Computer Science.  Following graduation, I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina to work for IBM, where I have spent my entire career developing, testing, and supporting networking products.  Since then I have married my wife of over 7 years, Rhonda, of Summerville, South Carolina.  We currently have 2 children..

Although a believer in Christ for years, I did not really commit myself to the Word until I was about 26 years old.  From that time forward, I began to think of myself as having a very large family - the children of God.  One day, a sister in Christ explained to me that I could be cursed for not tithing money to the church, or for not calling my financial gifts to the church a tithe (and then an 'offering' for the money that was donated above the tenth).  I believed this to be incorrect because Galatians 3:13 states that Christ became a curse for me.  “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’”

Because of this remark about being cursed made in 1992, the only real intense studying that I engaged in for several years was centered on tithing and Christian giving.  I did not want my siblings in Christ to think that they could be cursed over someone else’s non-biblical perception of Christian giving.

Both my brother and I have found that many Christians are lost concerning what kind of giving God would have us to do, or more correctly, the priority of our giving.  It is out of love that we want to encourage all Christians to “love their neighbor”.  Christian giving, according to the Bible, is that which is centered on giving to those in need.

Unfortunately, Christians in general have been sidetracked into thinking that giving to the Lord really means building our own personal kingdoms (one on every corner). As a result, we are not furthering the kingdom of God, which is centered on building up each other. This support of one another includes more than just prayers, which is necessary when someone else is in need. However, we need to follow-up our prayer time with allowing ourselves to be the answers to the prayers, much like the Corinthian church. This is why Mitchell started his own non-profit organization to help those in need. In addition to praying, he wanted to do something tangible regarding those with heavy burdens. First John 3:17-18 (NIV) states the following: “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

My brother’s desire to actually help those in need through Mission Impossible, coupled with my desire to educate Christians on true Christian giving, have resulted in the book, “Beyond Tithes & Offerings”.  The motivating factors behind this book, as well as our lifelong desire, are passages that tell us to love our neighbors (Mk. 12:31, Gal. 5:14) and to remember the poor (Rom. 15:25-26, Gal. 2:10).  The urgent need of this kind of book stems from Christian leaders that misinterpret the word of God in order to have people give money to the local, or institutionalized, church.  As a result, many Christians have based their Christianity on a monetary standard (today’s version of tithing), as opposed to their calling to love their neighbors (among other things).

The danger today is that many people focus on man’s version of giving with little regard for what God has called us to do. The result is explained in Matthew 25:31-46 where it states how the Lord will separate the sheep from the goats. Neither one of us wants our fellow believers to come face-to-face with the Lord and possibly be called evildoers (Matt. 7:21-23) for doing what they believe the Lord has told them - giving the monetary tithe - when they should have placed their priorities in supporting the needy. Please don’t misunderstand us. We believe the local church should receive financial support. But it should not be at the expense of or our calling as Christians or of sound doctrine, by converting biblical tithes into monetary tithes.

We do not yet have the formal endorsements from those well-known in the Christian community, nor the credentials.  However, we do have the endorsement of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  In addition, we have received numerous emails from individuals, including pastors, who have spoken positively regarding our book.

Some people are interested in the denomination of the church that we attend, so I will comment on that briefly here.  As for denominations, my brother and I don’t get too deep into the issue.  We haven’t studied the differences in denominations to make a statement as to which we should belong.  I personally think denominations divide the Church and cause more harm than good.  Anyway, each of us has attended different denominations over the years.  I currently am a member of a non-denominational church, which is the first non-denominational church I have attended.  Please don’t take this to mean that I endorse non-denominational churches.  I simply wanted to satisfy the curiosity of those that would like to know denomination I currently belong to.

Thanks for taking the time to read this information.  I hope the above information satisfies your interest regarding the authors.

In the name of Jesus,

Michael
Coauthor