Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
The Ft. Worth Star Telegram reports:
A Kenneth Copeland Ministry jet worth $3.6 million has been denied tax-exempt status by the Tarrant Appraisal District, setting the stage for a battle that could require the minister to reveal his salary if he wants the jet to be tax-free.Jeffery D. Law, Tarrant chief appraiser, said the jet was denied tax exemption because the ministry failed to disclose salaries of directors as an application requires. Law said the ministry, based in Newark, northwest of Fort Worth, will protest the denial at a hearing Monday morning.
"The application requires that they submit to us a list of salaries," Law said. "They have not given it to us, and as a result we have denied their exemption."
I bet the salaries are absolutely huge.
Comments
Perhaps a new bumper sticker is in order:
"God is my co-pilot, and we're filing a joint return."
Posted by: democommie | December 12, 2008 10:10 AM
Are we going to take bets on whether it is 7 or 8 figures? Imagine the weeping and gnashing of teeth among their followers if they found out that the directors are making the same as some big-time CEOs.
Posted by: Iason Ouabache | December 12, 2008 10:35 AM
Just asking -- will the Tarrant Appraisal District reveal the salaries to the public if they do find out? (I'm ignoring our 'leak'y culture for my question.)
Posted by: Janicot | December 12, 2008 10:46 AM
As a recovered fundie I'll bet these people have very modest salaries. And millions in "love offerings" or some such nonsense each year.
Posted by: MPM | December 12, 2008 11:14 AM
Iason Ouabache wrote:
But would that really upset the people who go to these churches? I don't know enough about the fundamentalist mindset on this to say. Certainly, those who are happy members of this ministry already know that this is not one of those vows-of-poverty churches.
From what I've noticed as an outsider, people who are deeply involved in a church often tend to identify with their pastors; when he does well financially, it's a bit like when someone you love is doing well. You're proud and pleased. It says something about his value; it says something about your good taste, because you value him, too; and, in some weird way, it may say something to you about how true the church is, or how true the religion is. God rewards his faithful servants. Your belief in the pastor, and in God, is thereby being reinforced.
Again, I really don't know. Maybe people would be upset over too high a salary: they think Copeland is "doing well," but not that well. I do think, however, that the capacity of the Truly Faithful to rationalize away what they don't want to believe is more 'absolutely huge' than any possible amount of money the pastors can theoretically give themselves.
Posted by: Sastra | December 12, 2008 11:16 AM
The capacity of the born agains to accept any load of crap is unlimited. Just think back to the scandal involving Jim Baker. Many of his follower would have cut the hearts out of the critics for having the temerity to question Mr. Bakers ethics.
Posted by: SLC | December 12, 2008 11:35 AM
You pretty much nailed it, Sastra. Copeland is quite happy to openly brag about his jet, and has never shied away from talking about his wealthy lifestyle in front of his congregation -- especially when one of his buddies is in town. (They seem to love to openly compare notes in that regard.)
When you teach your congregation on a weekly basis that wealth and virtue go hand in hand, it's no surprise that they can get away with it.
I suspect Copeland is more concerned about people outside of his congregation finding out. A big enough uproar in the local media would make things a little rocky for Copeland for a while, but unless some sort of criminal activity is uncovered, I suspect even then he will weather the storm.
One trick these pastors use to keep their own salaries in the "reasonable" range is to put family members, in particular their wives, on the payroll. Another is to personally retain all the royalties from books and other ministry materials that are heavily promoted in their broadcasts. I believe Benny Hinn and John Hagee use these tricks. Pat Robertson used to, though now that he made his fortune selling his network (funded by donations) to ABC (and keeping a large slice of the profits himself -- nice how that works) he can make himself look like a saint by not drawing a salary at all.
Posted by: tacitus | December 12, 2008 11:47 AM
I went to a church for almost 10 years that is a fervent supporter of Copeland, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, etc. ... the "prosperity" ministers. One of the reasons I left 1.5 years ago were the CONSTANT appeals for money by not only the pastor, but every traveling minister that visited.
Guaranteed: Copeland believes that the devil has stirred people up to prevent him from getting the tax exemption that he believes God owes him. And he can back that up with enough scripture that it will make your head spin.
These guys practice the fine art of separating well-meaning people from their money.
Posted by: Gregg | December 12, 2008 12:44 PM
Fixed that for you, Gregg.
Posted by: Jonathan | December 12, 2008 12:59 PM
Gregg:
I think you gave us another bumper sticker.
"Pastor Copeland does not believe in separation of church and state; he does beleive in separation of the flock and their money."
Posted by: democommie | December 12, 2008 1:27 PM
I'm a musician and I played a gig at this guy's church once. It was absolutely huge. Two 5,000+ capacity worship centers, their own landing strip, and there were rumors of plans to build a stadium.
Highest paying gig I've played yet. $400 per man for a full jazz big band with extended rhythm section and a full choir to play for 1 hour - oh and there was free food. Do the math on that shit, folks.
Ridiculous
Posted by: JR | December 12, 2008 3:17 PM
MPM points out the profligacy of "love offerings" and Sastra mentions the group identity effect. Both of these are deeply ingrained in the charismatic church, be it focused on prosperity or not. Both, ah, behaviors are common to enterprises that feature, to one degree or another, exclusivity and special privilege.
Adding to what Sastra wrote I can testify (!) from personal experience, that congregations identify very strongly with their pastor. I can't say that I ever observed outright emulation, but it was hard to ignore the way that the mood of the congregation would mirror the mood of the preacher not only during the course of a single sermon (this happens in movie theaters too), but in a more general and lasting sense. The faithful were trying to be good when they emulated his piety and holiness. They were also trying to be good when they would adopt some irritating doctrinal defect in a visiting preacher.
This effect was heightened when my little church was faced with replacing our familiar pastor, a popular, red-haired young man with an infectious laugh. We tried on several candidates for size and while each was an instant hit, there was the inevitable "small point of concern."
Eventually, an energetic Brit got the job. There was rejoicing and thanksgiving among the faithful, including myself. There was also an obvious increase in the length or after service conversations, and I caught a whiff of discontent that didn't register until later when there was a schism. I was part of the group that split and set up a new house of worship. Within a few months I was outa there and have not returned by virtue of what I had not observed throughout.
I had not seen people changed and empowered. I had not seen people healed. I did not see the faithful come together in one accord. I did not see miracles nor did I ever see any act done in the name of God that could not have been done with less fuss in your name or mine and with immediate and demonstrable result.
What I did see among the elect, the faithful, was normal, everyday human relations with positive and negative qualities precipitating positive and negative results, just like in real life. Quite indistinguishable from any other demographic. The only difference is that to belong to the church and listen closely to the "minister of the word" and to do it as a group and to observe the rituals and take an active part in them is a powerful inducement to accept the most improbable of causes and their attendant authorities. It's no wonder that so many people get hooked on faith; immediate assurance is easily available, peer support is at hand, and there is always that promise: "Soon."
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | December 12, 2008 9:21 PM
$3.6 million? What the hell kind of jet is that?? Must be a time-share thing I think. You certainly cannot buy a private jet for that sort of money.
Posted by: Stephen Llewellyn | December 12, 2008 11:12 PM
Looks like it's a $20 million jet, and (of course) they use it for personal travel, like for vacationing in Hawaii and Fiji and for dropping in to see family:
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17633/kenneth-copeland-jet
Posted by: tacitus | December 13, 2008 1:11 AM
o/~ Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Cessna Bravo ~\o
Posted by: llewelly | December 13, 2008 3:23 AM
Maybe the rev ought to get his patriojism on and buy oneathem MV-22 Ospreys. They don't have a solid safety record, yet, but prayer works wonders.
Posted by: democommie | December 13, 2008 8:52 AM
It IS a $20 million jet. Could $3.6 million just be the taxes owed on the purchase?
Posted by: PensiveGadfly | December 13, 2008 3:55 PM
I bet the salaries are absolutely huge.
It's not the salaries you have to worry about; it's what gets done with funds set aside for church purposes where these ministers usually get in trouble. A lot of them flat out misappropriate the funds. They'll use money set aside for mission or charity work to buy themselves luxury items. Since a good number of them have zero fiscal transparency with the congregation, the abuses can be staggering, even more than what the salaries will ever be.
But would that really upset the people who go to these churches?
The answer is, increasingly, YES.
We recently had a fundie megachurch get a ton of bad press/scandal because the members were upset about what they were seeing of their minister, namely his almost obscene self-indulgence (chartered jets, luxury items) while constantly begging for more and more donations. Enough members got fed up, and turned on him.
What fun it was to see that little dustup splattered across the newspaper, for weeks and weeks!
Posted by: Aquaria | December 14, 2008 5:04 AM
There are many tricks that can be used. For example, Copeland doesn't own a home. His church owns his house, and 'rents' it to him and his family for an undisclosed sum. Because it's church property, it's completly tax-exempt. This is justified by the church claiming that the house is also used to house visiting speakers.
As an earlier comment suggested, his wife is indeed on the church payroll too.
I mentioned him on my own blog. He actually has a website set up to aid people who want to protest that the government dares to investigate a minister for tax abuse, and it's on that I found his admission about the not-my-house trick.
I also found that he doesn't own a private jet. He owns *THREE* private jets.
Details:
http://moronality.blogspot.com/2008/12/post-third.html
Posted by: Suricou Raven | December 14, 2008 8:49 AM
It is sad that this man claims to represent the creator of the universe and takes advantage of his position to profit. This is a clear example of Acts 20:29.
Unfortunately I can tell that atheists will use this heretic as an example of how "bad" Christianity is, when in reality he is an example of how "bad" the world is without true knowledge of Jesus Christ.
So please save your snide comments in return to my post as I do not plan to read those ones. I just wanted to make it known that this man does not represent what Jesus stood and died for.
Posted by: Mike_C | December 15, 2008 11:37 AM
Mike_C:
...and he's no true Scotsman, either.
Posted by: T. Bruce McNeely | December 16, 2008 5:31 PM
he's a self indulgent, greedy scumbag.
Posted by: d jones | February 18, 2009 11:43 PM
You are all a bunch of whining babies full of envy at the success of another. Wow,and someone used the word "temerity". Let me say wow backwards. What a bunch of losers who point the finger on your huge lazy ahrses.JR is droning...zzzzzzzz. Let me guess, this is a Comment Box full of careful failures on food stamps who love damage joy.
Posted by: SummaGenius | March 24, 2009 11:24 PM
Mike C drives a Volkswagen and has rage issues.Calm Down!
Posted by: SummaGenius | March 24, 2009 11:28 PM
Ed Brayton has a face that is as fat as the Jet he wishes he had.He looks like a Hippo.
Posted by: SummaGenius | March 24, 2009 11:30 PM
Oh yes 'By their fruits ye shall know them'.
Mike_C won't read anything that contradicts his preconceived worldview (eliminates that ubiquitous, pesky liberal bias don't you know), and SummaGenius takes ad hominem to limit of his/her/it's ability (embarrassing for even an eight year old).
If this is all the Religious Rump's got... :) DJ
BTW Acts 20:28-30
"28 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit made you overseers, to feed the assembly of God that He acquired through His own blood,
29 for I have known this, that there shall enter in, after my departing, grievous wolves unto you, not sparing the flock,
30 and of your own selves there shall arise men, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them."
[Empasis on orginal passage quoted above]
Posted by: DIngoJack | March 25, 2009 12:11 AM