“Through legislation Congress established the clergy housing allowance in 1921. The original goal was to assist small churches in providing financially for their ministers. Churches unable to provide a full-time salary, could often provide a place for the minister to live. The clergy housing allowance was amended in 1954 to allow clergy to set aside part of their compensation as a housing allowance and it would be exempt from the federal income tax.”
(Barry Bowen – Trinity Foundation) Televangelist Kenneth Copeland lives northwest of Fort Worth, Texas, near the shore of Eagle Mountain Lake in a “church parsonage” that can easily be described as a mansion or palace. The extravagant home fits Copeland’s theology as he teaches his church and TV audiences “to live like a king.”
Eagle Mountain International Church (EMIC) owns the 18,279 square-foot home currently appraised for $10,825,462. A road connects the home to the Kenneth Copeland Airport.
In 2007, Senator Charles Grassley surprised the religious establishment by launching an inquiry into six TV ministries. Grassley asked for EMIC and Kenneth Copeland Ministries to provide housing allowance information to the Senate Finance Committee.
Research
Word of Faith/Prosperity gospel
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