Author: Barry Bowen

Financing a Millionaire Lifestyle: Pastors Generate Wealth from Life and Business Coaching

Barry Bowen

(Screenshot: Keith Craft preaching about the “Favor-Minded Advantage.”

When a pastor lives extravagantly, it is appropriate to ask, “How does the pastor finance his luxurious lifestyle?”

Historically, America’s richest pastors obtained their wealth by authoring best-selling books.

However, an increasing number of pastors are generating wealth through life coaching.

Keith Craft

One of America’s wealthiest pastors is Keith Craft who leads Elevate Life Church in Frisco, Texas. Craft charges clients $84,000 annually to participate in his Life Mastery Mastermind.


(Screenshot: Keith Craft’s personal website promotes his life coaching business.)

Craft owns two houses in Texas, two vacation homes in Destin, Florida, a mountain home in Colorado, a yacht, and a Cessna 650 jet.

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Daystar Television Co-Host Doug Weiss Filed Questionable 990, Runs Association for Sex Therapists as a Personal Business

Barry Bowen

Marriage counselor and sex therapist Dr. Doug Weiss has become a host of Daystar Television Network’s TV show MinistryNow after marrying Daystar co-founder Joni Lamb, following the death of her late husband Marcus Lamb.

Weiss founded Healing Time Ministries and the American Association for Sex Addiction Therapy.  Both entities operate in a questionable manner.

An investigation by journalist Jene Nelson revealed that Healing Time Ministries appears to have filed a fraudulent postcard 990 with the IRS.

In 2022, the Carl H and Edyth B Lindner Foundation gave a $400,000 grant to Healing Time Ministries. However, Weiss’ non-profit organization reported to the IRS that its total revenue for 2022 was $50,000 or less.

Where did this money go? It would be appropriate for the IRS Exempt Organizations Division to audit the non-profit organization to find out.

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Memes Spreading Toxic Theology

Barry Bowen

The prosperity gospel’s mass acceptance in America is evident by its promotion on social media.

In September 2023, a Facebook post featuring a meme with the words “3 Days from now you Will be a billionaire. Claim it 🙏” went viral.

The post received more than 275,000 likes. Also, more than 106,000 people responded with a love (heart) reaction.

The idea that people can claim wealth by making a positive, verbal affirmation is based on the twisting of scripture, and the practice has been popularized by Word of Faith preachers and televangelists.

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What Should Suzanne Hinn’s Forensic Accountant Look for During Divorce Case Against Benny Hinn?

Barry Bowen

 

(Photo: Benny and Suzanne Hinn appearing together on TV following their 2013 remarriage.)

In a divorce petition filed on July 26, 2024, in Florida, televangelist Benny Hinn’s wife Suzanne Hinn reported, “The marriage between the Wife and Husband is irretrievably broken.”

Suzanne requested spousal support and asked the court, “Require the Husband to contribute to the Wife’s attorney’s fees and costs, including forensic accountant fees, both temporarily and permanently …”

Because Florida is a no-fault divorce state, the forensic accountant would not be looking for financial fraud or other financial crimes.

The divorce petition provides a clue for what a forensic accountant would examine:

“Determine if the Husband has transferred away or disposed of assets within the two (2) year period prior to the filing of this case or during the pendency of this case and, if so, make appropriate adjustments in the equitable distribution scheme.”

The forensic accountant should start by identifying bank accounts and assets owned by the World Healing Center Church and consulting companies such as Family Altar of the Air and eMinistries Consulting, Inc., which are run by Benny’s top confederate Donald B. Price.

Bank accounts may have been opened in trade names registered to each of these legal entities.

World Healing Center Church has registered one active trade name in Texas: Benny Hinn Ministries.

Continue reading “What Should Suzanne Hinn’s Forensic Accountant Look for During Divorce Case Against Benny Hinn?”

Televangelist Keith Moore Acquires Third Jet with List Price of $17.5 Million; Creflo Dollar’s New Jet Was Priced at $18.6 Million

Barry Bowen

(Photo: April 21, 2024, rebroadcast of sermon Free from Idolatry on YouTube. We are not insinuating that the pictured 7X jet is Moore’s idol.)

Televangelist Keith Moore’s ministry Faith Life International has purchased a third jet following a fundraising campaign featuring a fundraising goal of $10 million.

The used Dassault Falcon 7X jet acquired by Moore’s ministry was listed for sale at $17.5 million on the website AircraftVx. A new model would have cost $60 million.

The Federal Aviation Administration disclosed the purchase when it certified the jet in May.

The jet’s original tail number was N1902C, but has been changed to N37KM.*

 

Tail numbers are the aircraft equivalent of license plates for cars. When ministries purchase a jet, the ministry founder’s initials are frequently used in the tail number.

Continue reading “Televangelist Keith Moore Acquires Third Jet with List Price of $17.5 Million; Creflo Dollar’s New Jet Was Priced at $18.6 Million”

Suzanne Hinn Files for Divorce Again from Televangelist Benny Hinn

Barry Bowen

(Photo: Suzanne and Benny Hinn saying their wedding vows for a second time in 2013.)

Last week Suzanne Hinn filed for divorce for the second time from televangelist husband Benny Hinn.

Suzanne and Benny first married on August 4, 1979. Thirty years later Suzanne filed for divorce in February 2010.

Three years later the couple remarried before a large audience at the Holy Land Experience in Orlando with the late pastor Jack Hayford officiating.

Following the re-marriage, Benny Hinn Ministries sold DVDs of the event for $25. Christian Post reported, “The evangelist is busy getting back to work following his marriage, and has announced plans for a ‘life-changing’ trip to Greece and Italy, where he says he will retrace the steps of the Apostle Paul, one of the most prominent writers of the later books in the Bible.”

The first Hinn divorce was filed in California, a no-fault divorce, community property state. The second divorce was filed in Florida, which is a no-fault divorce, equitable distribution state.

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40 Church and Ministry Leaders’ Beach Houses, Beach Condos and Waterfront Homes Identified; Their Total Net Worth Is $140 Million

Barry Bowen

(Photo: Trinity Foundation investigator Pete Evans took a picture of Benny Hinn’s Dana Point, California, beach home while it was under construction. Evans spoke with Dave Busk, the builder, and was told the new residence would be his client’s “dream home.”)

Beach houses and beach condos along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have become the vacation homes of choice for America’s wealthiest pastors.

In 2017, Joel Osteen purchased a beach house in Newport Coast, California, for $5 million. Recently, the Redfin real estate website estimated Osteen’s second home to be worth $11 million.

Over the past three years Trinity Foundation has conducted hundreds of property searches, resulting in the discovery of 40 beach houses, beach condos and waterfront homes in coastal cities owned by church and ministry leaders and their non-profit organizations. These 40 properties are worth a combined $140 million.

Wikipedia defines beach house as “a house on or near a beach.” For this study, Trinity Foundation restricted its definition to a home or condo within one mile of a beach. This restrictive definition prevented the inclusion of televangelist David E. Taylor’s $8 million Tampa parsonage and other expensive pastor-owned vacation homes.

Two waterfront properties, while technically more than one mile inland, were included in this study because of their construction next to canals with large boat docks allowing the property owner to quickly travel by yacht into the Gulf of Mexico.

(Photo: Word Network CEO Kevin Adell’s waterfront home is located near a yacht club. In addition to the waterfront home, Adell owns a mountain home in Utah and multiple residences in Michigan. His total residential property holdings are at least $18.5 million, based on estimates from real estate websites.)

Thirty of the properties are vacation homes. The most expensive secondary pastor residence is currently for sale at a price of $14.9 million. Florida is the most common location for pastor vacation homes.

For televangelist Benny Hinn, one beach house is not enough. Hinn appears to reside in two beach houses. Hinn’s Dana Point, California, beach house is currently worth $12 million, according to Redfin.

During an inquiry into religious ministry abuses of the tax code, Hinn’s attorney informed Senator Chuck Grassley that Benny Hinn Ministries “decided the best use for the facility was as a retreat for Pastor’s contemplation and study, Church-purposed entertaining, and for short-term overnight stays preceding or following travel.”

In 2013, Hinn transferred the Dana Point home to his assistant Donald B. Price and Dominion Land Trust, possibly through a straw buyer arrangement. However, in 2020, a corporation filing revealed that Hinn was still using the residence.

In 2020, Hinn purchased a beach condo in Palm Coast, Florida, for almost $2 million. Hinn’s son-in-law, Michael Koulianos, who leads the ministry Jesus Image, also acquired a beach house in Palm Coast.

Continue reading “40 Church and Ministry Leaders’ Beach Houses, Beach Condos and Waterfront Homes Identified; Their Total Net Worth Is $140 Million”

Compensation, Housing Allowances for Marcus and Joni Lamb and Paula White Revealed in Unsealed Documents

Barry Bowen

(Screenshot: Marcus and Joni broadcasting from Israel.)

The unsealing of court records is a powerful but infrequently used tool for bringing financial transparency to religious organizations.

Trinity Foundation filed requests to obtain financial records from Word of God Fellowship, the parent organization of Daystar Television Network, and Paula White Ministries, following the conclusion of lawsuits filed against the two ministries.

Three former Daystar employees sued the network for alleged harassment, discrimination and emotional suffering. The three cases were later dismissed.

After Paula White sued YouTube (theremnantsjnj channel) content creator Shirley Johnson for alleged copyright infringement, Johnson countersued for malicious prosecution and won.

These documents, while old, disclose compensation information that televangelists often try to keep secret.

Daystar Television Network claims to be a church and Paula White Ministries acts as an integrated auxiliary of a church to avoid filing a Form 990 which would disclose to donors the total revenue, total expenses, and compensation of key ministry employees.

Compensation for Marcus and Joni Lamb, Co-Founders of Daystar

Numerous questions arise when examining financial records. While it looks like Joni Lamb was paid significantly more than the late Marcus Lamb because the housing allowance was reported separately, if Marcus received the housing allowance, he was paid more than Joni.

 

 

Following Marcus’ death in 2021, Joni became president of the network and married marriage counselor, sex-therapist Doug Weiss.

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Using the Ministry Jet for Romance? Daystar’s Joni Lamb Visited Fiancé, Now Husband, and New Condo on Ministry Jet

Barry Bowen


(Photo: Doug Weiss appearing on the Daystar TV program Joni Table Talk, Joni Lamb on the right)

Since October 2022, Daystar Television Network’s ministry jet has made 24 round-trip flights from Fort Worth to Colorado Springs and 13 round-trip flights from Fort Worth to Destin, Florida, at an estimated cost of $769,220.

The purpose of the Colorado Springs flights were a mystery until Daystar President Joni Lamb announced her engagement to Colorado Springs psychologist and author Dr. Doug Weiss in March 2023.

The following screenshot shows Daystar’s jet flying to Colorado Springs and returning to Fort Worth two days after Joni’s surprise engagement announcement. Is it appropriate for a church leader to use the ministry jet to visit a fiancé?

If the couple used commercial aircraft rather than the ministry jet for personal flights, they could have saved more than $700,000 on travel expenses.

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Pastor Jamal Bryant: “I Could Have Killed You Myself”

Barry Bowen


(Pastor Jamal Bryant preaching at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church)

Church congregations should pay special attention when pastors use violent rhetoric in the pulpit.

During his April 21st sermon, Jamal Bryant used symbolism to compare the wild animals on the ark who were not on a leash to the people in own congregation.

“Here’s the flip side, the flip side is the people on the boat that need to thank me cuz I knew you was a rat. God, y’all ain’t saying nothing to me. I knew you was nothing but a snake and I could have killed you myself …”

After preaching the sermon, Jamal Bryant shared on Instagram a video clip of the incendiary words with an explanation:

“Self restraint is an under appreciated discipline. Some people are really blessed that you have it because you had the power to damage brands, reputations and businesses. May your reward come to you swiftly!”

Bryant and his predecessor Eddie Long have both used the word “kill” frequently in sermons. A search for the word “kill” appears 773 times in sermon videos.

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