Category: Jets and Aircraft

Updated Tax Rates on Televangelists Making Personal Flights on Church Aircraft

Barry Bowen


(Photo: Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Bombardier Global Express)

Twice per year the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) updates the tax rate charged on “non-commercial flights on employer-provided aircraft” which includes personal flights taken on ministry aircraft.

The latest tax update was announced in the April 10, 2023 edition of the Internal Revenue Bulletin and covers personal flights taken between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2023.

The tax is comprised of a terminal charge of $52.35 along with an additional tax based on miles of the trip known as Standard Industry Fare Level (SIFL).

SIFL Mileage Rates for the first six months of 2023:

Up to 500 miles = $0.2864 per mile
501-1500 miles = $0.2183 per mile
Over 1500 miles = $0.2099 per mile

Only a handful of televangelists disclose their use of private jets on the IRS Form 990, a financial disclosure document which reveals total revenue, total expenses, and compensation of executives. However, most TV preachers claim a church exemption from this disclosure.  This fringe benefit would need to be reported on the televangelist’s personal income tax form 1040 each year.

Schedule J includes a box to checkmark for the use of first-class or charter travel.

Trinity Broadcasting Network Jet Depreciates $20 Million in Three Years

Barry Bowen

(Photo: Trinity Broadcasting Network jet at Fort Worth Alliance airport.)

(Correction: The headline has been changed from “Trinity Broadcasting Network Jet’s Value Drops $20 Million in Three Years” to “Trinity Broadcasting Network Jet Depreciates $20 Million in Three Years.” Also, a paragraph has been added providing an IRS definition for depreciation.)

IRS form 990s and audited financial statements prove that churches and ministries waste millions of dollars annually by purchasing business-class jets.

In 2017, Trinity Broadcasting of Florida (TBF), a non-profit affiliate of Trinity Broadcasting Network, replaced its older Bombardier Global Express jet with a newer 2010 model. On its 2017 form 990, TBF reported $8,814,590 in depreciation but did not disclose how much of the depreciation was for aircraft.

For 2018, TBF reported $6,780,942 in airplane depreciation expense. For 2019, TBF reported total $6,846,838 in total airplane depreciation and $6,929,106 for 2020.

In three years the TBF jet depreciated by $20,556,886.

Depreciation totals are not available for 2021 or 2022 as 990s for these years are not yet available.

According to the IRS, “Depreciation is an annual income tax deduction that allows you to recover the cost or other basis of certain property over the time you use the property. It is an allowance for the wear and tear, deterioration, or obsolescence of the property.”

Organizations with lower-priced aircraft also report large losses for aircraft. LIFE Outreach International, the ministry led by James Robison, is the parent organization of Zoe Aviation which owns a Cessna 560XL jet manufactured in 2000.

Zoe Aviation had net operating losses of $782,292 in 2021 and $745,207 in 2020.

 

Risky Transparency: Is Trinity Foundation ‘Doxing’ televangelist jets?

Barry Bowen

(Photo: Pastor Planes tracked 13 aircraft on November 20, 2022.)

For eighteen months Pastor Planes, a project of Trinity Foundation, has published daily tracking maps of televangelist, ministry and Christian university jet flights to bring transparency to religious non-profit use of private aircraft.

Private jets are often examples of poor stewardship and a waste of donor funds.

And then it happened! Twitter suspended Celebrity Jets, a popular account well known for real-time tracking of jets owned by Hollywood celebrities. Celebrity Jets was accused of “doxing” — which is a word that  typically refers to revealing the address of a person’s home. In this new context it refers to posting real-time location of an aircraft.

How is Pastor Planes any different?

Continue reading “Risky Transparency: Is Trinity Foundation ‘Doxing’ televangelist jets?”

Long-Distance Ministry: Pastors Buy Second Homes and Start Churches Hundreds of Miles from Their Base

Barry Bowen

(Photo: In the 1970s, televangelist pioneer Oral Roberts acquired mansions in Beverly Hills and Palm Springs, CA, leading his Tulsa, OK-based ministry from afar.)

Oct. 31 was the day Martin Luther posted the 95 theses on the Wittenberg Church door—October 31, 1517—which began the reformation, also called by some the 2nd wave of Christianity. He critiqued expensive church real estate along with many other practices of the Catholic Church and the Papacy.  Today, Luther’s anger would probably be directed at the aberrant activities of the megachurches.  The reformation is over 500 years old and we still struggle with some of the same problems.

To expand their reach and receive larger donations, televangelists and megachurch pastors are planting churches hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles, from their base of operations. Some pastors appear to be motivated by pursuit of wealth, planting churches in wealthy communities. Others are drawn by the allure of Hollywood, taking up residence in Beverly Hills.

The investment in long distance ministry frequently produces extravagant housing expenses and over-the-top travel costs. Why fly first class when your donors will finance a jet?

The late televangelist Fred Price illustrates the trend of long distance ministry by planting a church in New York City while his home was located over 2100 miles away in California.

In 2007, Business Jet Traveler asked Price, pastor of Crenshaw Christian Center, “How much do you fly for the church?” Price responded, “A couple of years back, when we were first establishing the church in New York, my wife and I flew every single week-52 weeks-Los Angeles to New York and return. Now the least we’d go is once a month and recently we’ve had to go twice a month.”

Joseph Prince, the Singapore-based televangelist, has launched two churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and acquired a large plot of land in Colleyville, TX for future expansion. If there is one city in the world that doesn’t need another televangelist, it is Colleyville, the home of Robert Morris, pastor of Gateway Church, James Robison, head of LIFE Outreach International, Matthew Crouch, head of Trinity Broadcasting Network, and Joni Lamb, head of Daystar Television.

Church members and donors to the churches and ministries cited in this article should ponder critical questions. Can a pastor effectively lead his congregation from afar? Are million-dollar mansions good stewardship?

Continue reading “Long-Distance Ministry: Pastors Buy Second Homes and Start Churches Hundreds of Miles from Their Base”

Televangelist Creflo Dollar Preaches Against Tithing (We’re doing a double take on this one)

Barry Bowen

In two recent Sunday sermons Televangelist Creflo Dollar preached against tithing based on fear and guilt. On July 3rd, Dollar told his congregation, “I would argue that tithing isn’t required or even encouraged for believers in Jesus Christ…”

Instead, Dollar is now preaching that Christian giving should be based on gratitude.

Dollar made a surprising announcement in his June 26th, sermon titled “The Great Misunderstanding” about how his beliefs on tithing changed.

“I want to start off by saying to you that I’m still growing and that the teachings I’ve shared in times past on the subject of tithing were not correct. And today I stand in humility to correct some things I have taught for years and believed for years, but could never understand it clearly because I had not been confronted with the Gospel of grace, which has made the difference.

I won’t apologize ’cause if it wasn’t for me going down that route, I would have never ended up where I am right now. But I will say that I have no shame at all saying to you throw away every book, every tape and every video I did on the subject of tithing, unless it lines up with this.”

While Dollar’s rejection of fear-based giving is welcome, a lot of questions remain, and Trinity Foundation investigators wonder if Dollar is simply changing his message to appeal to a larger audience.

Yes, consider us skeptical. If a preacher is unwilling to apologize for leading people astray, does he really “stand in humility” as Dollar claimed?

Continue reading “Televangelist Creflo Dollar Preaches Against Tithing (We’re doing a double take on this one)”

Million Dollar Homes Become Status Symbols of Televangelists and Pastors

Barry Bowen

By Barry Bowen and Pete Evans, Trinity Foundation


(Photo: Former home of faith healer David Turner, from Realtor.com)

Donors, where is the money going?

When a televangelist’s ministry or pastor’s church owns a private jet, you can almost be certain the leader lives in a mansion. That is one of the lessons Trinity Foundation has learned from investigating religious fraud and excess for more than 30 years.

In April 2021 the Houston Chronicle’s Jay Root asked Trinity Foundation for assistance on an article series about church parsonages in Texas. Trinity Foundation compiled a list of megachurches and large media ministries in the state and then searched for parsonages and homes of pastors and ministry leaders.

Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle examined the state tax code and filed open records requests with county appraisal districts seeking lists of parsonages.

Root’s thorough investigation uncovered startling evidence of pastors living extravagantly: “A months-long Houston Chronicle investigation of ministers’ tax-free residences found no shortage of extravagant homes in high-dollar locales. At least two dozen were worth over $1 million even using the artificially low values that exempt properties typically carry.”

If you are keeping track, that is at least 24 parsonages in Texas worth more than $1 million.

Trinity Foundation also investigated pastor and ministry housing in other states, discovering multi-million dollar homes of several televangelists and pastors who have received little media scrutiny. It’s time to present some of our findings.

Continue reading “Million Dollar Homes Become Status Symbols of Televangelists and Pastors”

Six Ministry Jets Fly to Texas for Televangelist Marcus Lamb Funeral; Memorial Highlights

Barry Bowen

December 6th was a busy day for ministry aircraft as Pastor Planes (Instagram and Twitter) tracked 12 aircraft making 24 flights.

Seven ministry aircraft, of which six were jets, flew to airports in the Dallas-Fort Worth area carrying televangelists to pay last respects and attend the memorial service of Marcus Lamb, the founder of prosperity-gospel promoting Daystar Television Network, who died of Covid on November 30th after staunchly advocating resisting the Covid vaccine.

Trinity Foundation investigator Pete Evans observed limousines picking up two celebrity preachers after their jets landed.

Photo: A close-up view of the Dallas-Fort Worth area shows two ministry jets and a Beechcraft King Air F90 landed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, three jets landed at Fort Worth Alliance Airport and one jet landed at Fort Worth Meacham Airport.

Continue reading “Six Ministry Jets Fly to Texas for Televangelist Marcus Lamb Funeral; Memorial Highlights”

Documentary Explores the Work of Missionary Pilots

Barry Bowen

Ends of the Earth is a new documentary about Christian missionaries. It tells a captivating story while showing the work of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) pilots serving in Papua, Indonesia.

Seventy-five years ago, following the end of War War II, pilot Betty Greene formed MAF to take the Gospel to hard-to-reach places. Greene’s missionary vision lives on as MAF serves in 27 countries.

The documentary introduces its audience to Liku, a Bible study teacher from the Wano people group, who has an infectious smile. Filmmakers accompany MAF pilots Joyce Lin and Nathan Fagerlie on their flights. The pilots provide critical support for missionaries Rebecca and Tim Ingles who moved to Indonesia with the goal of taking the Gospel to an unreached people group.

Lin and Fagerlie used small single-engine aircraft to reach remote areas, landing on unpaved runways, bringing medical supplies, food and the Gospel. MAF planes also transport people needing emergency health care.

Villagers slowly build a landing strip with primitive tools. Dirt is moved with wheel barrows rather than bulldozers. When the landing strip is complete, a trip from one village to another will be reduced from days of walking down to a ten minute flight.

The MAF missionaries serve with humility, in stark contrast to America’s televangelists that own private jets. None of the missionaries promote the prosperity gospel. They are motivated by a sincere desire to serve, rather than the accumulation of wealth.

For the amount of money televangelist Kenneth Copeland spent on purchasing Cessna Citation X and Gulfstream G-V jets, MAF could operate a fleet of small planes in Asia, Africa or South America.

Trinity Foundation president Pete Evans found the documentary to be “moving and exciting” and in awe of pilots landing on risky runways.

The documentary’s title comes from a famous Bible verse. Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The final night to catch a theatrical screening of the Ends of the Earth is October 21, 2021.  The film will be screened in 700 theaters. Tickets are available through Fathom Events.

MAF is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and publishes an audited financial statement on its website. In 2019, the mission agency’s pilots flew 19,525 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Ministry Jet. One Day. Six Flights.

Barry Bowen

On September 26th, ADSB Exchange tracked televangelist James Robison’s Cessna 560XL jet making six trips. The jet is registered to Zoe Aviation, a shell company owned by LIFE Outreach International.

ADSB Exchange uses Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) rather than an American time zone to determine the date. The first flight, which left from Destin, Florida, began on September 25th UTC.

The jet traveled from Destin to Fort Worth, Texas, then to Centennial, Colorado, then to Fort Worth again, then to Austin, Texas, then Santa Fe, New Mexico, and finally to Eagle, Colorado.

Questions an investigator might ask:

  • Was there a ministry purpose for each flight?
  • If the flights included personal, non-ministry travel, are the trips reported as a fringe benefit and taxed? The Internal Revenue Service has established a tax rate that includes both a terminal fee and a tax based on mileage for such flights.
  • If Zoe Aviation is leasing the jet to other organizations, should LIFE Outreach International report the revenue as unrelated business income and file a Form 990-T to disclose the revenue to the IRS?

Creative Commons License   This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Calculating the Cost of Ministry-Owned Aircraft Flights

Barry Bowen

Let’s take a look at one of the most expensive days so far in 2021 for church, ministry and Christian university aircraft trips. We tracked eight aircraft on March 19, 2021. It is possible that more than $100,000 could have been saved by flying commercial rather than using privately-owned aircraft.

 

List of aircraft owners:

A. Mt Gilead Full Gospel International Ministries
B. Mighty Horn Ministries
C. Liberty University
D. Liberty University
E. Faith Life Church.
F. Assemblies of God Financial Services Group
G. Philadelphia Church of God
H. Harvest International Ministries

Continue reading “Calculating the Cost of Ministry-Owned Aircraft Flights”