The idea that the bishop was considered the wealthy leader of the "church" or house church is so intriguing. It seems to be such a contrast to today's notion that the leader of the church should be an example of poverty (or rather, the idea that if a pastor/bishop/leader of the church is poor then they're truly exemplifying Jesus). There's a part of me that falls more in line with the thought that a bishop shouldn't be wealthy, but there's also something great about living out servant leadership and showing the world what being Christlike means by sharing your wealthy. We certainly do not, in our current society of consumerism, have many examples of this. How sad is it that when we hear of such leaders like Tony Campolo, who caps his family income in order to give away the remaining to the poor, we are amazed because it's such a rarity. But then again, if I won the lottery tomorrow, I can't be certain that I'd be able to do the same (I could only hope that I would).