The church and ministry conference business is back with a vengeance with guest speakers often collecting large speaking honorariums. Many religious organizations refuse to disclose the size of honorarium payments, leaving donors and attendees in the dark as to how the money is being spent.

Reciprocal speaking arrangements (you speak at my event and I speak at yours) abound as speakers seek the spotlight.

After hosting a virtual conference last year due to COVID, attendees flocked to televangelist Bill Winston’s International Faith Conference, which was held in September in Forest Park, Illinois.

Guest speakers included televangelists T.D. Jakes and Kenneth Copeland.  Copeland used his Cessna 750.  Eagle Mountain International Church, also known as Kenneth Copeland Ministries, owns two jets: a Cessna 750 and Gulfstream G-V.

In August, Copeland held his Southwest Believers Convention. Creflo Dollar and Bill Winston, guest speakers, flew to Fort Worth for the event on each of their Gulfstream G-IV jets. If the hosts reimburse travel costs, tens of thousands of dollars are spent on ministry jets.

Speaking Fees

How much do guest speakers cost? The Harvard Business Review provides “a rule of thumb for appropriate pricing”:

$500 – $2,500 for new speakers

$5,000 – $10,000 for a first-time author

$10,000 – $20,000 for authors with several books

$20,000 – $35,000 for authors of best sellers

Celebrities and politicians may cost significantly more. In June, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke at the National Religious Broadcasters’ annual convention. According to booking agency All American Entertainment, Pompeo’s speaking fee is between $100,000 to $200,000.

The National Organization of Professional Athletes and Celebrities reports that comedian Chonda Pierce, a popular speaker at Christian events, has a speaking fee range of $20,000 to $30,000 and Tim Tebow’s speaking fee is $50,000 to $100,000. Tebow was Liberty University’s 2021 commencement speaker. Continue reading “Paid to Speak: The Speaking Honorarium Business”

After we reported in December 2020, “Trinity Foundation Investigation: $78.6 Million in Government Guaranteed Loans Given to Televangelists“, more reporters did a lot more digging.  Earlier this year, AP investigators, REESE DUNKLIN and MICHAEL REZENDES, reported that Catholic dioceses around the US requested and received millions in taxpayer aid from COVID emergency Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) funds while maintaining billions in cash and reserves.

In one particular case, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, NC received over $8 million in relief funds while they had roughly $100 million in cash and short-term investments available.  It’s interesting to note in regards to Catholic’s share of PPP funds that, “Catholic entities amassed at least $3 billion — roughly the same as the combined total of recipients from the other faiths that rounded out the top five, AP found. Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Jewish faith-based recipients also totaled at least $3 billion.

Catholics account for about a fifth of the U.S. religious population while members of Protestant and Jewish denominations are nearly half, according to the Pew Research Center.”, according to the article. (Read more here)

Trinity Foundation also reported in May 2021 that, in 2020, Trinity Broadcasting of Texas received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loan of $3,308,005.  The Texas-based non-profit also reported $30 million in donations, $24 million in revenue from selling airtime, and $17 million of investment income. Their total revenue for the 2019 year was $933,330,134!

During an episode of Leah Remini’s TV series about Scientology, a chilling strategy from L. Ron Hubbard is displayed onscreen. “Dominance of others is a control system. We are not looking for pleasant control–we are looking for effective control.”

Sometimes, there is little difference between Scientology and churches that claim to be Christian. Pastors and televangelists have employed the same techniques, using legal threats to control victims. At the heart of this scandal is the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs).

However, more victims and whistleblowers are fighting back by exposing the abusive practices on social media with the hashtag #NDAfree. A group of whistleblowers have created the NDAfree website featuring their stories.

Christian journalists are also highlighting the problem. Christianity Today news editor Daniel Silliman reviewed at least 15 confidentiality agreements and concluded on Twitter, “Many are so broad that someone who signs one could be in violation at any time.”

Televangelists Kenneth Copeland and Paula White effectively used NDAs to prevent congressional hearings into financial practices among televangelists.

In 2007, Senator Charles Grassley’s office sent faxes to six TV ministries demanding financial records. Copeland responded defiantly to Grassley, “You can go get a subpoena, and I won’t give it to you.”

Three years later the inquiry came to an end when Grassley decided not to issue subpoenas to the televangelists or former employees of their churches.

A Senate Finance Committee report on Copeland’s ministry stated, “Former employees were sincerely afraid to provide statements for fear of being sued since they signed confidentiality agreements.”

Continue reading “NDAfree – Opposing the Practice of Churches and Ministries Silencing Victims”

 

Trinity Foundation has created an online questionnaire for informants to report religious financial fraud. If you have witnessed religious fraud, theft or financial excess, please let us know about it.

Tips play an important role in solving crimes and exposing bad behavior.

According to attorney Stephen Martin Kohn, author of The New Whistleblower’s Handbook, tipsters uncover more fraud than professional auditors and law enforcement combined.

Trinity Foundation specializes in open source investigations. We comb through public databases and government records for evidence of religious leaders living extravagant lifestyles. However, our investigations often result in unanswered questions.

Informants may help investigators understand the big picture by answering the five Ws: who, what, when, where and why.

We will keep your identity confidential unless you authorize us to contact investigative reporters or government investigators on your behalf. We’ve been protecting the identity of confidential informants successfully since we began investigating in 1989.

NDA INFORMANTS WANTED: If you would like to become an informant and have previously signed an NDA, fill out our online questionnaire.

(Photo: GFA World, formerly Gospel for Asia, at NRB’s 2021 Convention in Grapevine, Texas. Gospel for Asia has rebranded after facing a series of scandalous accusations and settling a $37 million lawsuit.)

Where have the televangelists gone?

The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) annual convention was held this year in Grapevine, Texas, which is coincidentally the home of Benny Hinn Ministries.

Some of America’s best known televangelists (James Robison, Robert Morris, Marcus Lamb and Matthew Crouch) have homes within 10 miles of the Gaylord Texan Convention Center, home of the 2021 NRB Convention.

Yet, unsurprisingly, most televangelists and “Christian” TV networks were no-shows at the convention. Daystar Television Network, Inspirational Network and The Word Network stopped being convention exhibitors years ago. The ability to network over the Internet has dramatically reduced the need for in-person communication and the lingering effects of Covid-19 discourage large networking events in 2021.

Continue reading “Televangelists, but not the Religious Right, Abandon Annual National Religious Broadcasters Convention”

If you thought televangelist shoes and watches are expensive, let us introduce you to the extravagant world of ministry aircraft. From the mundane to the exotic, we are tracking trips to ministry events and vacation destinations.

Trinity Foundation recently launched Pastor Planes, an investigative project, with the objective of bringing financial transparency to churches, ministries and Christian universities using privately owned aircraft.

Pastor Planes can be found on Instagram and Twitter.

Trinity Foundation is currently tracking 50 aircraft.

By our calculations, there are days when more than $100,000 is spent on private-jet and charter-jet travel by televangelists, ministry executives and Christian university personnel. In addition to the cost of purchasing or leasing aircraft, jet fuel, pilots’ salaries, inspections, repairs, insurance, landing fees, and hanger fees result in higher travel expenses.

Christian leaders are commanded to be good stewards of resources entrusted to them. 1 Corinthians 4:2 says, ”Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”

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(Photo: David Cerullo, president of Inspirational Network)

The accumulation of wealth by prosperity gospel promoting televangelist David Cerullo boggles the mind!

As president of Inspirational Network, David Cerullo has become one of America’s wealthier televangelists—a fact that is obscured by net worth tracking websites severely underestimating Cerullo’s wealth.

Net Worth Post estimates that Cerullo has a net worth of $900,000. Meanwhile, Idol Networth estimates Cerullo’s net worth to be $3.2 million, but neither website reveals how they reached such dubious conclusions.

In 2010, the Charlotte Observer reported, “With compensation exceeding $1.5 million a year, Cerullo is the best-paid leader of any religious charity tracked by watchdog groups.” Eleven years later, Cerullo remains the highest paid executive in MinistryWatch’s 100 Highly Paid Ministry Executives list.

Last week the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published Inspirational Network’s 2019 Form 990, a financial disclosure document revealing total revenue, total expenses, and compensation of key employees. It shows that Cerullo received more than $3 million in 2019 bonuses, pushing total compensation to $7,319,371 for the year.

To create a big picture view of this ministry’s compensation, Trinity Foundation compiled a compensation spreadsheet of Cerullo, other family members working for the TV network and Dale Ardizzone, the network’s attorney.

Continue reading “Televangelist Receives at Least $41 Million in Compensation in 12 Years”

Matthew Crouch, president of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) has launched a massive restructuring of the world’s largest religious TV network.

Financial disclosure documents published last week on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website report that Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana (TCCSA), long the parent organization of TBN, and other affiliated organizations transferred $860,132,250 in assets to Trinity Broadcasting of Texas in 2019.

The Texas-based non-profit also reported $30 million in donations, $24 million in revenue from selling airtime, and $17 million of investment income. Total revenue for the year was $933,330,134!

In 2020, Trinity Broadcasting of Texas received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loan of $3,308,005.  Congress authorized the Small Business Administration to create the program to help small businesses retain employees during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While applying for the PPP loan, applicants were required to certify the following statement: “Current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of the Applicant.”

Was this loan necessary to guarantee ongoing operations? Trinity Broadcasting of Texas began 2020 with $878 million worth of net assets. Should a non-profit this large qualify for a loan for small businesses?

Trinity Broadcasting of Texas was able to qualify for the loan because it had less than 500 employees.

Continue reading “Trinity Broadcasting of Texas Obtains PPP Loan After Receiving $933 Million”

Televangelist Ernest Angley, pastor of Grace Cathedral in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, died last week at 99 years of age.

Controversy surrounded the prosperity gospel preaching faith healer.

A former church member told The Akron Beacon Journal that Angley said, “It’s against God’s will for anyone to have a child.” The newspaper reported pregnant church members were pressured to have abortions and men were pressured to get vasectomies. Angley also reportedly inspected genitals of male church members.

In 2004, Angley created a shell corporation in Aruba named Crestwind Aviation to acquire a Boeing 747SP jet, one of the largest televangelist jets in the world. Its only known rival would be an Airbus used by Eduardo Manalo’s Iglesia ni Cristo. Angley’s jet would be used a couple of times a year for mission trips to Africa.

Crestwind Aviation shows up in the Offshore Leaks Database, which raises an important question for Trinity Foundation investigators. Did Angley engage in international money laundering? Aruba was a hub for this activity.

In 2019, the Akron Beacon Journal reported, “Add in landing fees, maintenance and other related costs and, if Angley takes three trips a year averaging 16,000 miles round trip, the annual operating cost is about $2.16 million.” The jet was estimated to have cost $26 million when it was purchased. Before the jet was sent to an airplane graveyard, it cost $240,000 to fill the jet’s gas tanks.

Video of the jet, which Angley named Star Triple Seven, can be viewed on YouTube.

In his autobiography Hurry Friday! Angley wrote,”Thousands attend my services in other countries, acres and acres of people in one service. Thousands are saved, healed, delivered and baptized in the Holy Ghost. From all manner of death diseases they are delivered, including HIV/AIDS. Medical evidence proves they are healed.”

If Angley could really heal people of AIDS, why didn’t he perform healing services in hospitals?

Instead, Angley became comedy fodder for comedians, talk show hosts and documentaries as Angley would repeatedly say the word “heal” with a weird accent.

Sadly, Angley’s legacy is no laughing matter. Please join us in praying for the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of Angley’s victims, family, friends and church members.

 

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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”