(Photo: St Matthews Churches includes inexpensive items such as this tablecloth in mailouts to create a sense of obligation for the letter recipient to donate.)

How a Man You’ve Never Heard of Created the Unholy Grail of Televangelist Fund-Raising Letters and Keeps the Cash Rolling In Over 60 Years Later.

By Mike Renfro and Pete Evans

You’d certainly be forgiven if the name Gene Ewing doesn’t ring a bell. What this name does ring is the cash register. Gene Ewing is the behind-the-scenes J.R. Ewing of TV Preachers and their cash gushers. It’s a show that’s been going on for over six decades—mostly at the expense of the poor, elderly, sick and hurting.

His stock-in-trade for most of his career has been scripture-draped fund-raising appeals, replete with highly personalized pitches and promises for renewed health and prosperity. Predictably, it’s Ewing and his partners that have been the ones prospering. And if IRS records before they “went dark” and re-branded as a church are any indication at all, they’ve been prospering to the tune of millions of dollars annually—all pouring into a lawyer’s P.O. box, overflowing with cash, checks and cynically-abused dreams.

You can google him but you’ll struggle to find a photo of him from this side of the 1960s. Perhaps the only thing more mysterious and elusive than the man is the church from which his appeals emanate. And unlike many of his cohorts in televangelism such as Jim Baker and W.V. Grant, who both spent time in prison, Ewing’s always managed to avoid both the law and the limelight.

James Eugene “Gene” Ewing, Milton Ray McElrath (Ray), and until recently, their now-deceased lawyer J.C. Joyce have been the three main individuals consistently running what is now Saint Matthews Churches under many different names.  How did this organization evolve into the money machine it is today?

Continue reading “James Eugene Ewing, Founder of St. Matthews Churches: the Religious Direct Mail Monster”

A word from our president, Pete Evans, about why people fall for the prosperity gospel.

Desperation is a huge motivator.  When you or someone close to you is dying or suffering, it’s natural to want to help in whatever way we can.  Or, when finances become so strapped that you or a person close to you is in anguish, there is a desire to alleviate the suffering.  So if a televangelist comes on television promising that God wants to heal and financially bless individuals, but God requires a gift first—care of the ministry of course; desperate people begin to grasp at straws and take desperate measures. It becomes a sort of heavenly lottery and plays on people’s natural greed as well.  In desperation, people give to the ministry in order to get their invisible lottery ticket and “expect a miracle”.

The televangelists use a twisted and perverted version of one of Jesus’ parables—the parable of the sower and the seed. First, the true meaning of the parable:  Jesus was talking about the seed of Christ in us—about his life in us and how it can be trampled on, choked out, or—best case—nourished.

Next, the perversion of the parable:  the seed is your money; which, planted in the good ground will be multiplied by God via health, healing, or an exponential increase in wealth based on the amount one gives.  To quote Hitler’s despicable propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” I would add, at least until the spell is broken.  The Goebbels quote is often called “The Big Lie”.

In November, Fort Worth-based William Gallagher was sentenced to 3 life terms in prison and an additional 30 years, all to be served concurrently.

The 80-year-old Gallagher, who wrote “Jesus Christ, Money Master,” used Christian radio and meetings held in churches to promote his fake investment “Ponzi” schemes.  Gallagher billed himself and his company, Gallagher Financial Group, as financial services experts.  As of this writing, his Linked-In page still claims 11-50 employees.

Ms. Lori Varnell, chief of the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Elder Financial Fraud team, told the BBC News that she wasn’t surprised Doc Gallagher would use Christian radio to dupe his victims.  “Within the Christian community, there’s a high level of trust. Especially here in the Bible Belt,” she said. “Once you start speaking the Christian language, and using their words, their phrases, that will be a tell-tale sign to other Christians that you’re a Christian.”

Gallagher promised unusually high returns of 5% to 8% annually on investments and even provided fake financial statements to present to his investors.  The BBC also reported his scheme amassed $32 million dollars.

Gallagher’s Christianity-cloaked scheme, also known as religious affinity fraud, deceived many trusting elderly investors—mostly between the ages of 62 and 91—and left a wake of financially destroyed victims, bereft of their life’s retirement savings.

One of televangelist Benny Hinn’s financial secrets was revealed in a recent court ruling: The prosperity gospel is not working for Hinn. World Healing Center Church (WHCC), better known as Benny Hinn Ministries, has been struggling with debt for 15 years.

In an April 7^th United States District Court ruling, Judge Alvin Hellerstein granted summary judgment on behalf of Mail America Communications Inc. which sued WHCC for breach of contract. Before the lawsuit was filed in September 2018, WHCC owed the direct mail company $2,993,221.74.

Judge Hellerstein also required WHCC to pay 4% interest on the unpaid balance and attorney’s fees.

The judge’s amended order provides insight into the finances of Hinn’s organization and confirms rumors that Trinity Foundation investigators have heard though the grapevine. Hellerstein wrote, “For nearly 15 years, Defendant had been falling behind its payment obligations, with over $5.6 million in arrears by early 2012.”

WHCC’s spending priorities are to pay ministry executives first and vendors last, according to an anonymous informant. Continue reading “Judge Reveals Televangelist Benny Hinn’s Dark Financial Secret”

The Crime

After pleading guilty to embezzling church funds, Lara Ford, former business manager and staff services manager at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, has been sentenced to ten years in prison with the opportunity for early release after serving six months.

An August 26, 2019 updated police report indicated a “total loss of $1,377,14.76” … but the total continued to grow as the investigation continued. Ford’s attorney Lex Johnson told The Roys Report that more than $1.6 million was stolen.

According to the police report, Ford “made transfers to her own checking accounts once or twice a month for the past 7 to 8 years. The amounts were reportedly between $1500 and $1700.”

Ford used Automated Clearing House to transfer at least $363,834 from the church’s Allaso Ranch account and $324,313 from another church account to her personal bank accounts. The thefts were disguised as payments to vendors and refunds for children unable to attend the church camp.

Ford also stole cash from offerings and embezzled money from the church’s housing allowance account, which raises additional questions. According to the police report, Fellowship Church used Automatic Data Processing LLC (ADP) to manage “some of the church’s payroll, mainly the housing allowance about 30 employees receive.”

Is the clergy housing allowance being abused? Are non-clergy employees receiving housing allowances?

Continue reading “Failure of Oversight: Finance Manager Steals $1.6 Million from Fellowship Church”

The Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the courts from hearing numerous court cases. A year ago, Trinity Foundation shared a list of eight court cases we are monitoring. Our list is growing as more lawsuits have been filed against religious organizations.

In May 2020, we reported that a panel of judges upheld televangelist Todd Coontz’s conviction of tax evasion. Then justice got delayed again. Coontz appealed his conviction to the United States Supreme Court which finally denied his appeal on February 22, 2021.

In 2018, Mail America Communications sued Benny Hinn, alleging the televangelist’s World Healing Center Church owed the publisher almost $3 million. Oral arguments are scheduled for April 7, 2021.

National Outreach Foundation Inc. (NOFI), one of the few non-profit organizations to have its tax-exempt status revoked by the IRS in 2020, has sued the federal government in US Tax Court.

NOFI is operated by a husband-and-wife team with no additional independent board members or employees. Therefore, no oversight is available for the organization.

In 2017, NOFI generated $62,185,730 in revenue and spent only $425,125 in grants to charitable organizations. Therefore, less than 1% of revenue was spent on charity. If NOFI were a private charity it would be required to pay out at least 5% annually of its total assets.