WASHINGTON (RNS) The senator who has investigated six prominent ministries for questionable finances has praised one of them — Joyce Meyer Ministries — for joining the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
“This is a positive development,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. “It’s good to see increased financial accountability, transparency, board governance, and ethical fund-raising taken seriously.”
The council announced the new membership of Meyer’s Missouri-based ministry on Thursday (March 12), the same day it announced that Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., had also been approved for membership.
Grassley said his investigation into the six ministries is continuing.
Meyer’s ministry and Benny Hinn Ministries in Grapevine, Texas, have given him “extensive answers” to questions his staff has sent them.
Creflo Dollar Ministries in College Park, Ga., has declined to provide any information.
And the three other ministries have given “incomplete responses”:
Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga.; Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Newark, Texas; and Randy and Paula White of Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla.
Meyer’s ministry is the only one of the six that has affiliated with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, a group Grassley compared to a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.”
Joyce Meyer Ministries reaches a potential audience of 3 billion people each day with its “Enjoying Everyday Life” television and radio program.
“We are pleased to include in our membership a ministry which seeks to strengthen Christian individuals and the environments in which they live, work and worship,” said ECFA president Dan Busby.
By Adelle M. Banks
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