Jesus said no one can serve two masters; either God or mammon ultimately takes control. Yet despite desires to serve God, church leaders find money issues unavoidable. For some reason, God seems to have wed money and ministry, even while warning of the dangers of money's allure. How does the church leader deal with this uneasy marriage?

LEADERSHIP sought out a pastor who has known years of both lean and fat.

Jerry Hayner grew up in West Virginia, one of four sons of a glass-factory worker, and as he says, "We wore out the erasers on pencils because we didn't have a lot of paper." A basketball scholarship put him through college, and he later graduated from Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He has pastored in Vanceburg, Kentucky; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Gainesville, Florida; and is now pastor of Forest Hills Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Many pastors feel guilty or embarrassed talking about money, whether the church's or their own. Why is that?

Money seems so ...