Woman wins house by attending church on New Year's Eve

Thursday, March 02, 2006

(1/1/06 - LA MARQUE, TX) -- The chance to win a new $120,000 home wasn't the reason Tammy Woods attended her church's New Year's Eve service.

But the 35-year-old housewife was nonetheless grateful it was her key that opened the lock of the home's front door, which was held in a frame on a stage at Abundant Life Christian Center during services Saturday night.

"I was coming to serve the Lord and bring in the New Year," said Woods, a member of the church the last five years. "He's been good to me and this is where I need to be. I think God wanted me to have the house. It was God's will."

Woods was one of thousands of people who had entered a drawing for the new home that was given away by the megachurch in La Marque, located about 40 miles southeast of Houston.

This was the third year in a row that Abundant Life, founded in 1985, has given away prizes during its New Year's Eve service to entice people to attend. The church, which has more than 3,000 members, had previously given away a car, a motorcycle and furniture.

Just before the end of its three hour New Year's Eve service Saturday night, Abundant Life whittled down the contestants to 12 finalists -- symbolic of the 12 apostles. Each was given a key and asked to go up on stage to the home's front door.

Woods, wearing a sequined dress and jacket, was the tenth person to try a key. When the door opened, she raised her hands in triumph and began to cry.

During Saturday night's service, Pastor Walter Hallam joked that if he thought it would work, he would bribe people to attend church.

"You shouldn't have to bribe people to go to church," he said. "We wanted to do something special for people. You don't come to a church like this just to play games. You come to say yes to Jesus."

But the service did have a game show-like atmosphere as people would run down the aisles from their seats in the church's auditorium and head to the stage when their names were called. It looked like something out of the long running game show "The Price is Right."

In recent years, churches across the country have used giveaways to try and bring people back into their congregations.

A church in Sioux City, Iowa, gave away gas in September to first-time visitors, while a church in Tampa Bay, Fla. gave away a Hummer last January.

J. Gordon Melton, director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, Calif., said he doesn't think such giveaways are a long-term trend.

"It's a publicity stunt. It's a gimmick and like most gimmicks, it's ill conceived. The general public is pretty immune to such gimmicks," he said.

Donald E. Miller, executive director of the University of Southern California's Center for Religion and Civic Culture, said churches do need to package their message in "contemporary dress."

"If giving away homes, cars, or other gimmicks is strictly a marketing device, rather than being born out of a spirit of compassion and love for others, then the tactic is morally questionable," he said. "I see little evidence of Jesus manipulating people by sales gimmicks."

Abundant Life member Richard Murillo, whose company Trinity Builders constructed the three-bedroom home, said those who might be critical of the giveaway are not looking at it "in the way that we see it."

"Our whole intention is just to bless somebody," he said.

Woods and her husband and two daughters, ages 12 and 16, have lived in a mobile home in nearby Santa Fe for the last 12 years. The new home, located in an area subdivision, will be completed by the end of the month.

"I didn't think I would win. I'm excited. I don't know what to say," Woods said. "This has been a dream come true. I had asked God for this for a long time."

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