Just One More Example of the Benefits of the LORDS WORK
Surging ministry, growing questions
By Ames Alexander and Tim Funk
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Posted: Saturday, May. 23, 2009
As Easter approached, the ad ran repeatedly on the Inspiration Network: David Cerullo, clutching a Bible, told viewers they, too, could receive prosperity, physical healing and other blessings God gave the ancient Israelites.
All they had to do, the televangelist said, was send $200 or more.
“Go to your phone,” he said. “Sow your Passover offering and watch God do what he said he would … Call now.”
Pitches like this have transformed the Charlotte-area cable network into one of the world’s fastest-growing Christian broadcasters, beaming into more than 100 countries on five continents. They’ve also helped turn Cerullo, Inspiration’s CEO and on-air host, into a wealthy man.
He brings home more than $1.5 million a year, making him the best-paid leader of any religious charity tracked by watchdog groups. His salary dwarfs those of executives leading far larger religious nonprofits.
David and Barbara Cerullo live in a 12,000 square-foot lakefront home in south Charlotte – complete with an elevator and an 1,100-square-foot garage. Their grown children also receive handsome salaries.
His network, with a budget of nearly $80 million last year, sprang from the remnants of Jim Bakker’s PTL Club. Cerullo and his colleagues have raised much of the money by repeating this on-air assertion: God brings financial favor to those who donate.
Cerullo says he’s heard from many people who’ve “reaped a harvest” after contributing.
But some donors are disillusioned. Rebecca Mills, 54, of north Mississippi, gave about $400 two years ago. Money was tight. But it was a time when she was recovering from breast cancer and trying to get closer to God.
The more she read the Bible, the more she wondered why she’d written those checks: “I could just … tell that what they were saying wasn’t right.”
Read the rest here:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/408/story/741812.html
How many of you religious types want to defend this church and pastor? These mega-churches should be taxed just like any other business. Its an industry, nothing more. Money/profit is what matters here, so let them pay taxes like everyone else.
I am tired of subsidizing the GOD industry with MY tax dollars. You should be as well.
