Pat Robertson says bankrupt families should give him 'just $20 a month'

Televangelist Pat Robertson on Monday encouraged families who could not pay their bills to become "partners" of his ministry because "it's just $20 a month."

At the end of Monday's 700 Club broadcast, Robertson told the story of D.L and Deborah Hobby, who "lived large" in a 4,600-square-foot home until the housing market crashed and their real estate business dried up.

After selling their home at a "huge loss," the Hobbys declared Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 2010. The "defeated" family of four was forced to move into a 1,000-square-foot home.

"That is when we really started to focus on God," D.L. Hobby recalled.

"D.L. and Deborah did agree on one thing: They would keep on tithing despite their financial difficulties," a CBN narrator explained. "The Hobbys began to watch The 700 Club and eventually became partners."

"There were so many stories on there that gave me hope through God's word," Deborah Hobby told CBN. "And it just encouraged us."

That's when "amazing things started to happen," the report noted. "Deborah's business eventually started to rebound. And within two years of the bankruptcy, the Hobbys bought a larger home."

"Our finances have been restored because of him," Deborah Hobby observed. "And I believe it was because of us continuing to tithe, and us putting God first in our lives."

"They were faithful," Robertson opined at the conclusion of the report. "Listen, there is no way you can out give God. You can't do it. And that which is given to him will come back 30, 60 and 100 fold."

"We encourage you to join the 700 Club," the TV preacher added. "It's just $20 a month. And if all of us do it together, it gets to be millions and millions and millions of dollars!"

Watch this video from CBN's 700 Club, broadcast March 18, 2013.