(Opinion) This week, televangelist Kenneth Copeland hosted the Southwest Believers Convention in Fort Worth, Texas; Michael Koulianos, Benny Hinn’s son-in-law, led the Jesus Image Pastors & Leaders Conference in San Diego, California; and John Bevere ran the Messenger Cup in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
These events cost a lot of money and generate large donations from the faithful. But how much is spent and how much is raised is not public information because none of these ministries file Form 990s with the IRS.
Perhaps that’s because none of them want you to know about their exorbitant expenditures, like traveling by private jet, rather than flying commercial, which would far more economical.
Copeland’s Eagle Mountain International Church owns two jets. The ministries of guest speakers Jesse Duplantis and Keith Moore also own two jets. Guest speaker Creflo Dollar’s company World Heir owns two jets. The churches of guest speaker Bill Winston and Nancy Dufresne each own one jet.
That’s ten jets represented by just six speakers at the Southwest Believers Convention. And that’s one among several recent charismatic Christian conferences, which raise revenue through a variety of avenues.
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Sponsorship
Some of the church conferences generate a significant amount of their revenue from corporate sponsorships. Companies attempting to reach wealthy Christians are quick to promote an event like the Messenger Cup.
This year’s underwriters include Ecostream, Hathaway Enterprises, Texas Hunting Land, The Real Estate Investor, The Wealth Group, and ten churches, including Gateway Church.
In the past year Gateway has announced two layoffs of church employees, first in November and then in June, but is still able to afford sponsorship of a large golf fundraiser.
Declining Financial Transparency
Bevere’s ministry Messenger International stopped filing 990s after the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, reporting only $47,037 in “conferences, conventions, and meetings” expenses on their final 990.
The big expenses for that year’s Messenger Cup were instead reported as independent contractor expenses. The ministry paid $337,844 to the Broadmoor Resort and Hotel which hosts the annual golf tournament fundraiser and conference.
Jesus Image stopped filing 990s after 2018. That final reporting year the ministry generated almost $3.3 million in revenue, of which $380,453 came from conference registrations.
Why would these ministries stop filing 990s? Most likely, they don’t want donors to know about their lavish lifestyles.
Last week Trinity Foundation discovered that Jesus Image purchased a $4 million parsonage in Sanford, Florida, in 2022. Such a purchase was unnecessary. Jesus Image president Michael Koulianos and wife Jessica Hinn Koulianos already owned, and still continue to own, a home 12 miles away in Longwood, Florida. The Koulianos family also own a lakefront home in Palm Coast, Florida, less than a mile from the beach.
John and Lisa Bevere maintain their residence, worth $2 million, in Franklin, Tennessee, over a thousand miles away from their ministry headquarters in Palmer Lake, Colorado. Trinity Foundation calls this practice “Long Distance Ministry.” The Beveres also co-own a beach house in Florida, worth $4 million.
Julie Roys contributed to this article, a version of which was originally published by Trinity Foundation.
Barry Bowen is a staff member of Trinity Foundation, a public nonprofit based in Dallas, Texas, that has been tracking religious fraud and helping victims for over 30 years.
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26 Responses
” they don’t want donors to know about their lavish lifestyles.”, 100% totally on target!!!
Please continue to dig deep into these money HOGS that do not represent God. They are not a church but a rolling money making machine using Jesus name. They are on His list to UNCOVER & EXPOSE so please keep it up until Father brings them down…LOW.
THANK YOU
BLESSINGS
I wish the article mentioned (I read and re-read) how can these “outfits” can quit filing 990’s. Whatever the reason, it seems the IRS should NOT allow this “escape” of accountability
Unlike other 501(c)3 non-profits, churches do not have to file 990s. So these “ministries” get themselves reclassed as churches to avoid reporting.
In the words of Rev R Friar Tuck “Prez the Lo-ward but we’ll pass on the taxes, thankyuh very much!” Why does your IRS permit this charade??
Funny, Christians are so gullible & generous! I thank God for podcast ministries, Julie Roys, Jon & Susie Lamb for busting the Ministry Mafia/Cartel wide open! I used to be one of those deceived, manipulated Christians! No more!
Nothing new. This has been going on for decades. Preying on the vulnerable has been the stock and trade of many religious and other organizations. State and the Federal governments are loath to go after then because it will cost politicians votes.
i think the solution is for Congress to pass a law REQUIRING ALL 501C3s, including churches and all the groups that reclassified as churches in the past few years, to file Form 990s annually.
However, there should be an opt-out only for small churches that take in less than $50,000 in revenue annually.
But it may take a change of control in Congress, or some horrific scandal that shocks the public, to get a bill like that passed.
Exactly!!! Perfectly said. Churches and religious organizations should have to be accountable as any large company or organization. I am so sick of hearing these religious celebrities talk about how busy they are and how valuable their time is that they have to have their own private jet or some outrageous luxury car. Actually, the beauty of the gospel is its sheer simplicity and the fact that a lowly, humble man like Jesus who owned literally nothing came to give us abundant life – which has NOTHING to do with physical wealth or luxury on earth. This is the Jesus I follow.
What a waste of money when too many children in this world struggle to get a good education or enough to eat, including affluent countries like Canada and the US. How can these ministries ignore Jesus rebuke,” What profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?”
It’s abuses like these that could threaten tax exemptions of legitimate Christian churches and charities. Takes a few rotters to spoil the whole apple crop.
I am very tired of the evil surmising many Christians are doing. Instead of jumping on bandwagons and HINTING at POSSIBLE problems (which is a classic satan accuser of brethren move), why not wait until something big is proven?
I happened to have personal friends who were NOT members of some mentioned ministries but who fell on hard times and were given jobs and helped through, NEVER REQUIRING MEMBERSHIP OR BEING CONTROLLED BY THE MINISTRY beyond normal employment requirements you would find in any job. They were treated very well and once they got into better times, they moved on to another state with great feelings and THANKFULNESS for the ministry having seen it from the inside out for quite a few years.
Another thing, give me 25 minutes in ANY of your homes and I know I could find things I would NEVER have or do, but I won’t judge you the way you are judging others you dont know.
Pilots who own their own planes are much better stewards of time and resources, independent of gov control to freely preach the gospel even during lockdowns that were illegal. I bet the many people in Afghanistan who were abandoned by the US are thankful for the Copeland loan of plane to get them out WHEN NO ONE ELSE WAS.
The gossiping is shameful. How big is your God? If any of us needs discipline, He is perfectly capable of doing it without any of our surmising.
You are right. These people would probably have them walking, from the way they sound. They could have a jet too, if they believed it in and had a need for it. Don’t have to wait on other people and companies with jets to get all over the world.
100% agree. Judge not, lest you be judged. Has anyone stopped to consider how many souls have been saved through these ministries? Let’s not tear each other down. Let’s keep Jesus at the forefront and pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
You are so right! Most of this is driven by bad theology and envy.
Take your blinders off. The church is full of corrupt leaders who abuse congregations and often women and children. Judging behavior is NOT judging people. The church needs to expose these “leaders” and stop ignoring victims
People sometimes give just so they can get a tax deduction. The IRS should take that option away. People like me who rent and file short forms don’t have that luxury of tax deductions for contributions, and I give what I feel the Lord would have me give to whomever, out of a happy heart.
I refuse to be forced to believe I have to tithe to some false preacher. Sometimes I even buy groceries in line at the store when I can see someone in need, “paying it forward” because Jesus was always talking about giving to the poor, then we lend to the Lord. He blesses us back as He sees fit.
One day at the harvest the angels will separate the tares from among the wheat and burn them up, Matthew 13the chapter, the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. Those ministers are the tares. I despise them. People who follow them are delusional and their eyes are veiled, and they have no discernment from the Holy Spirit. They have itching ears wanting to hear false teaching, or some new thing to tickle their senses.
2 Timothy 4:3,4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound (wholesome, uncorrupt) doctrine, but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching (tickling) ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables (fiction, myths).
There is no new thing, only Jesus Christ and His death on the Cross, and His resurrection. Soon, He will come and take us away. Are you ready? Are they ready? I am ready. The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come Lord Jesus, come!”
You know you’re a charlatan when you’re associated with Benny Hinn and Creflo Dollar. Ken Copeland does just what the Pharisees of Jesus’s day did, swindles people out of their money to enrich themselves.
Thanks, Julie, for providing this information. The huge loophole of classifying ministries as “churches” without meeting places or church services is atrocious. It’s also not limited to charismatic ministries. I was stunned to learn that Franklin Graham, had combined salaries of over a million from Samaritan’s Purse and BGEA according to the last 990 available several years ago. If you go to Guidestar or Charity Navigator, you can see the highest salaries paid, but ONLY if a 990 is filed.
One trick for getting a huge salary is by paying all your board members excessive amounts. Then it’s much easier for them to pay the ministry leaders multiples of what the board members received.
We need the government to end the overly broad classification of what constitutes a CHURCH, so that ministries can no longer hide their finances!
Poor, poor Ananias and Sapphira from Acts chapter 5. They were struck dead for lying about the proceeds from a plot of land that they owned. I wonder if apostle Peter was the first abusive church leader. That is my hypothesis on why God no longer strikes people dead. I think God realized that the apostles had too much striking-dead power in their tongues and he stopped punishing people. And so pastors and Christian ministries go wild now because there is no one to hold them back. I myself have donated tiny amounts every month to John Bevere when his ministry first started. I am mortified to see how much money has been hoarded – millions and millions of dollars instead of being just given away. Poor, poor Ananias and Saphira. I mourn for you
With all the scripture they use and abuse to justify there greed I hope they at least remember Matt 7:21-23.
At least copy paste the scripture for those who are unfamiliar with the Bible.
I just lost all respect for John Bevere.
“Bevere’s ministry Messenger International stopped filing 990s after the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017.”
Look at some of this boy’s YouTube recent videos:
“The Invisible Sin That Destroys Intimacy with God”
“Pursuing Holiness”
“Satan Is Using Certain Preachers to Brainwash You”
“Escaping the Trap of Casual Christianity”
And the best one of all:
“How to Have a Healthy Fear of God [FULL SERMON] — John Bevere”
John Bevere:
How does not filing a 990 and owning two mansions ($2,000,000 and $4,000,000) increase your fear of God?
I really believe that pastors and ministry leaders today, at least most of them, have lost the fear of the Lord. You know what is the saddest thing of all? We ordinary believers start thinking, if they can do anything they want and get away with it, why should we be so careful to live holy and blameless lives?
Please continue to follow with this. The word of Faith is doubling down with its false sincerity, humility and repentance while the ministers continue to stockpile massive wealth, houses, airplanes, vacations, etc
If I lived in or close to Aspen, Vail, or Steamboat Springs, Colo. I would go out to the local airports on big skiing weekends, copy down the private jet tail numbers and do some research and see if any Christian ministries’ jets were there.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some. After all, some of these modern Elmer Gantrys probably think they’re too good to deal with traffic like everyone else and just fly there instead.