(Photo: Worship leader Sean Feucht singing the song “There is a Name” in 2018.)
In 2022, Rolling Stone published a critical article about Sean Feucht, the conservative worship leader from Redding, California, who attracted large crowds by opposing Covid-19 lockdowns.
Rolling Stone reported, “He’s also pulling in millions for his ministry — and recently bought houses in Southern California and Montana.”
Feucht is part of a growing trend of religious leaders engaging in long distance ministry, spending much of his time far from his ministry headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Sean Feucht Ministries has acquired two parsonages, one in Washington, D.C. worth almost $900,000 and the other in San Juan Capistrano, California, purchased in 2024 for $3,450,000.
Trinity Foundation has also identified nine homes personally owned by Feucht, registered in his real name, John Christopher Feucht: One in California, one in Montana and seven in Pennsylvania.
The Redfin real estate website reports that two weeks ago, Feucht sold his Coto de Caza, California, home for $1.7 million.
Opposing Financial Transparency
In 2020, Sean Feucht Ministries reported $5,314,148 in total revenue, and then the ministry stopped filing the information return Form 990.
In 2021, Feucht applied to the IRS for a reclassification of his non-profit and the IRS granted the request in 2022.
(Screenshot: The reclassification request is disclosed in the IRS Tax Exempt Search.)
Religious non-profit organizations in the United States with a combined total of more than $700 million in assets have stopped filing 990s.
Following the Jim Bakker scandals in the 1980s, the late pastor D. James Kennedy testified in a Congressional hearing and said, “I would think that if a person is going to give money to something, that they have … a responsibility to learn where it is going.”
How can donors make informed decisions when financial data is unavailable?
Trinity Foundation contacted Feucht for comment, but so far has not received a response.
Questions sent to Sean Feucht:
- You are one of a growing number of religious leaders engaging in long-distance ministry, spending much of your time far from your ministry headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Redfin real estate website features pictures of the D.C. property, which I presume were taken before you purchased the property. Is it accurate to describe the D.C. property as a parsonage?
- Your ministry purchased a home in California last year. Did your ministry’s board of directors approve the purchase of the California and Washington, D.C. properties?
- We also discovered that you personally own a home in California and Montana as well as seven properties in Pennsylvania. Why have you chosen to acquire properties so far apart? Is it good stewardship?
- When we disclose this large number of properties you personally own, some Christians will wonder if you are receiving excessive compensation and getting rich off your ministry. What was your approximate compensation from Sean Feucht Ministries for 2024?