This week televangelist Kenneth Copeland hosts the Southwest Believers Convention in Fort Worth, Benny Hinn’s son-in-law Michael Koulianos leads the Jesus Image Pastors & Leaders Conference in San Diego and John Bevere runs the Messenger Cup in Colorado Springs.
Special events allow religious leaders to connect with followers and to raise large amounts of donations. Unfortunately, none of the organizations hosting these events file the IRS Form 990 disclosing conference or travel expenses.
Throughout the week guest speakers for the Southwest Believers Convention will fly to Fort Worth in their ministry jets rather than by less expensive commercial airlines.
(Screenshot: On July 27th, preacher Keith Moore traveled on his ministry’s Raytheon 390 jet from Branson, Missouri, to Fort Worth.)
Copeland’s Eagle Mountain International Church owns two jets. The ministries of guest speakers Jesse Duplantis and Keith Moore also own two jets. Guest speaker Creflo Dollar’s company World Heir owns two jets. The churches of guest speaker Bill Winston and Nancy Dufresne each own one jet.
Sponsorship
Some of the church conferences generate a significant amount of their revenue from corporate sponsorships. Companies attempting to reach wealthy Christians are quick to promote an event like the Messenger Cup.
This year’s underwriters include Ecostream, Hathaway Enterprises, Texas Hunting Land, The Real Estate Investor, The Wealth Group, and ten churches, including Gateway Church.
(Screenshot: Gateway Church is listed as Messenger Cup underwriter.)
In the past year Gateway has announced two layoffs of church employees, first in November and then in June, but is still able to afford sponsorship of a large golf fundraiser.
Declining Financial Transparency
Bevere’s ministry Messenger International stopped filing 990s after the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, reporting only $47,037 in “conferences, conventions, and meetings” expenses on their final 990. The big expenses for that year’s Messenger Cup were instead reported as independent contractor expenses. The ministry paid $337,844 to the Broadmoor Resort and Hotel which hosts the annual golf tournament fundraiser and conference.
Jesus Image stopped filing 990s after 2018. That final reporting year the ministry generated almost $3.3 million in revenue, of which $380,453 came from conference registrations.
Why would these ministries stop filing 990s? Most likely, they don’t want donors to know about their lavish lifestyles.
Last week Trinity Foundation discovered that Jesus Image purchased a $4 million parsonage in Sanford, Florida, in 2022. Such a purchase was unnecessary. Jesus Image president Michael Koulianos and wife Jessica Hinn Koulianos already owned, and still continue to own, a home 12 miles away in Longwood, Florida. The Koulianos family also own a lakefront home in Palm Coast, Florida, less than a mile from the beach.
John and Lisa Bevere maintain their residence, worth $2 million, in Franklin, Tennessee, over a thousand miles away from their ministry headquarters in Palmer Lake, Colorado. Trinity Foundation calls this practice “Long Distance Ministry.” The Beveres also co-own a beach house in Florida, worth $4 million.