Joyce Meyer Ministries

ministrywatch.com has issued a donor alert on the Joyce Meyer organization. I had written this post about her organization back in January. Sad to say that the situation has become worse.

The donor alert can be found here.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an article here. From that article:

“She’s using the ministry for her own private gain,” Holman said. “That’s the position we’re taking.”

Records filed with the assessor also show that collecting money and gifts is a major part of the work at the headquarters. Dozens of workers count the money streaming in each day. And seven ministry workers spend at least part of their time keeping track of the personal gifts that go through the ministry to Joyce and Dave Meyer, according to their job descriptions.

On Friday, Sutherland denied that Meyer accepts any gifts without having them independently appraised and paying the ministry for them.

Sutherland also disputed Holman’s stance on the ministry’s tax status.

“We feel that since the federal and state governments have told us that we’re tax-exempt that the local government should honor that,” he said. “No one should pay taxes they are not required to pay.”

A watchdog group called WallWatchers previously has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the Meyer family’s use of ministry money. IRS officials have declined to say whether they are doing so.

The ministrywatch.com donor alert made the following comment regarding the self-serving Word-of-Faith or prosperity gospel:

Jesus and his followers never amassed personal wealth through their ministry and instead lived a clearly sacrificial life. Meyer would be wise to follow this example and encourage her believers to do likewise as this would lead to much greater spiritual prosperity, the value of which far exceeds anything material.