St. Matthew's Churches

Last updated

St. Matthew's Churches, formerly St. Matthew Publishing, Inc., [1] is an evangelical Christian ministry. It is primarily a mail-based ministry with an address in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with churches in New York City and Houston. [2] In 1999, St. Matthew Publishing Inc. reported $26.8 million in revenue. [1] In 2007, it reportedly earned $6 million a month. [2]

Contents

Origins

The ministry is led by its founder James Eugene "Gene" Ewing, a former tent minister, who, according to the Trinity Foundation, lives in Beverly Hills, California. [2] [3] Ewing, a native of Kaufman, Texas, was born in 1933 and has written fundraising letters for other evangelists, including Oral Roberts [4] as well as Don Stewart, WV Grant, and Rex Humbard. [5]

Ewing operates Church by Mail Inc., which had a several decade long struggle with the IRS before being denied tax-exemption in 1992, which was appealed. [1] Ewing was a revivalist in the 1960s with revenue at $2 million. [1] He then began writing fundraising letters for Oral Roberts. By 1971, Ewing renamed organization Church of Compassion as a "mail-order church with half a million 'members'" with income exceeding $3 million. [1] In 1979, he started for-profit advertising and printing "to provide printing and mailing services to nonprofit religious groups." [1] Then, in 1980, his business Church by Mail applied for tax-exemption. [1] However, by the 1990s his businesses owed back taxes to state and federal agencies. [1] Nonetheless, in 1993, he bought a $2.2 million, 6,400-square-foot (590 m2) home above Beverly Hills. Subsequently, a year later the U.S. Tax Court ruled Church by Mail Inc. is "operated for private rather than public interests" and "is not a church" within the meaning of federal tax laws. [1]

Operations and fundraising

The ministry has been accused of preying on low-income and elderly people by using census records to target their mailings. [6]

Although for several years the ministry operated without a church building and conducted its direct mail donation operation through the Tulsa address, a physical location to hold services—a then-78-year-old Baptist church in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood [4] —was purchased in Houston in 2004. St. Matthew's Churches' lawyer says weekly services draw about 1,000 people. [4] According to the Trinity Foundation, an evangelical watchdog group, the physical churches are only associated with the mail-based ministry as a cover that allows the lucrative operation to retain tax-exempt church status. [7] The status was granted by the Internal Revenue Service in 2000 after a 17-year court battle. [2]

One of the organization's mailings consists of a paper "prayer rug", on which recipients were encouraged to kneel and pray. This mailing, along with others, have been mentioned by the Attorney General of the State of Arkansas, among others, as not providing information about their financial and fundraising practices. [8] [9] While the ministry does hold tax exemption status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, it has been the subject of numerous complaints to the Better Business Bureau, whose evaluation conclusion was that the organization did not meet two standards for Charity Accountability. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Televangelism</span> Use of radio and television to preach religion

Televangelism, also sometimes called radio evangelism or teleministry, is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to preach religion, and most prominently Christianity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oral Roberts</span> American religious leader (1918–2009)

Granville Oral Roberts was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity Gospel Theology. He was ordained in both the Pentecostal Holiness and United Methodist churches. He is considered one of the forerunners of the charismatic movement, and at the height of his career was one of the most recognized preachers in the US. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Broadcasting Network</span> International Christian television network

The Trinity Broadcasting Network is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN was headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, until March 3, 2017, when it sold its highly visible office park, Trinity Christian City. The broadcaster retained its studios in nearby Tustin. Auxiliary studio facilities are located in Irving, Hendersonville, Gadsden, Decatur, Miami and Orlando, Tulsa and New York City. TBN has characterized itself as broadcasting programs hosted by a diverse group of ministries from Evangelical, traditional Protestant and Catholic denominations, non-profit charities, Messianic Jewish and Christian media personalities. TBN also offers a wide range of original programming, faith-based films, and political opinion commentary from various distributors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth E. Hagin</span> American preacher (1917–2003)

Kenneth Erwin Hagin was an American preacher. He is known for pioneering the Word of Faith movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Copeland</span> American gospel preacher

Kenneth Max Copeland is an American televangelist associated with the charismatic movement. He is the founder of Eagle Mountain International Church Inc. (EMIC), which is based in Tarrant County, Texas. Copeland has also written several books and resources.

Robert Tilton is an American televangelist and the former pastor of the Word of Faith Family Church in Farmers Branch, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. At his ministry's peak in 1991, Tilton's infomercial-style program, Success-N-Life, aired in all 235 American television markets and brought in nearly $80 million per year; it was described as "the fastest growing television ministry in America."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Joyner</span> Evangelical minister

Rick Joyner is an American public speaker and author. He founded MorningStar Ministries with his wife in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy James Hargis</span> American televangelist (1925–2004)

Billy James Hargis was an American Christian evangelist. At the height of his popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, his Christian Crusade ministry was broadcast on over 500 radio stations and 250 television stations. He promoted an anti-Communist, segregationist message as well as evangelizing, and founded a radio station, monthly newspaper, and a college in Tulsa, Oklahoma to support his ministries. In 1974, several students at his American Christian College accused Hargis of sexual misconduct; however, the Tulsa district attorney found no evidence of wrongdoing. Hargis went into partial retirement, and the college closed in 1977. He continued to publish his newspaper and write books.

Asa Alonso Allen, better known as A. A. Allen, was an American Pentecostal evangelist known for his faith healing and deliverance ministry. He was, for a time, associated with the "Voice of Healing" movement founded by Gordon Lindsay. Allen died of alcoholism and liver failure in a coma at the age of 59 in San Francisco, California, and was buried at his ministry headquarters in Miracle Valley, Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Duplantis</span> American preacher

Jesse Duplantis is an American preacher from the Christian Evangelical Charismatic movement. He is based in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., and the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries.

The Trinity Foundation is an American watchdog ministry founded by Ole Anthony in 1972. Its main mission is to expose abuse of public trust by televangelism and religious organisations. It has provided information to news outlets as well as state and federal agencies. As of 2020, the president of the organisation is Peter Evans.

Walter Vinson Grant, Jr., who goes by W. V. Grant, is a televangelist whose ministry has been based in the Greater Dallas area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joyce Meyer</span> American author (born 1943)

Pauline Joyce Meyer is an American Charismatic Christian author, speaker, and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce and her husband, Dave, have four grown children and live outside St. Louis, Missouri. Her ministry is headquartered near the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri.

Donald Lee Stewart is an American Pentecostal minister and purported faith healer. He is a televangelist who hosts Power and Mercy on Black Entertainment Television, The Word Network, and other television channels. He is the successor to the late A. A. Allen's organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Land Experience</span> Christian theme park

The Holy Land Experience (HLE) was a Christian amusement park in Orlando, Florida and registered non-profit corporation. HLE conducted weekly church services and bible studies for the general public. HLE's theme park recreated the architecture and themes of the ancient city of Jerusalem in 1st-century Judaea. The Holy Land Experience was owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. It closed in March 2020.

Live Prayer is a Christian evangelical Internet and television ministry located in Tampa, Florida, founded and operated by Bill Keller.

William Herbert Keller is an American television evangelist and the host of Christian evangelical Internet and television ministry Live Prayer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eagle Mountain International Church</span> Church in Texas, United States

Eagle Mountain International Church is an evangelical nondenominational church in Newark, Tarrant County, Texas in the United States. It was founded in 1986 by the evangelist Kenneth Copeland, and the senior pastors are George and Terri Copeland Pearsons, Copeland's son-in-law and daughter.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Reaping from faith: Lucrative 'seed faith' mail ministry has Tulsa ties". Tulsa World. April 27, 2003. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bransetter, Zita (May 13, 2007). "Prayers, cash flow into Tulsa". Tulsa World.
  3. ↑ Salinger, Lawrence M. Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime . p. 681.
  4. 1 2 3 Malisow, Craig (March 22, 2007). "Christians send in money for prayer requests which may just go up in smoke". Houston Press.
  5. ↑ Swindle, Howard (March 10, 1996). "Mailbox ministry: Direct-market evangelist brings in millions lawyer says it all goes back into his mission". Dallas Morning News . Retrieved May 17, 2007.
  6. ↑ Klimkiewicz, Joann (May 31, 2006). "Watchdog group claims prayer rug preys on elderly". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  7. ↑ Trinity Foundation. Prayer rug to riches
  8. ↑ McDaniel, Dustin (May 25, 2007). "Prayer Rug Pitch Wears Thin". State of Arkansas.
  9. ↑ State of South Carolina. Fraud Alert Task Force. Published March 21, 2005.
  10. ↑ Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Guide – St. Matthew's Churches. Published April 2004.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.