Senators Send Letters to Three Ministries

March 13, 2008

Senators Send Letters to Three Ministries

The Senate Finance Committee is turning up the heat on three Christian ministries that so far have refused or failed to respond to its investigation of so-called prosperity gospel churches.

On Tuesday, the committee’s co-chairmen — Sen. Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, and Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa – sent letters to the groups urging them to cooperate with the inquiry, which is looking into questionable salaries and fund-raising practices at a half-dozen churches.

Mr. Grassley started the examination in November when he asked the ministries turn over financial data by the end of this month.

The letters indicate that Mr. Baucus is now joining the inquiry, which gives it more power. As chairman of the committee, Mr. Baucus may issue subpoenas to the uncooperative groups.

“To date, you and/or your legal counsel have not provided the requested information to Senator Grassley, nor offered any assurances that the information would be forthcoming,” the senators wrote this week to Kenneth Copeland Ministries, in Newark, Tex.

“The committee continues to hope that mutually respectful discussions will enable the committee to obtain the requested information without resorting to compulsory process.”

Mr. Copeland and other ministers have objected to the inquiry saying it violates privacy laws and oversteps the legislative role of Congress.

In their letters, the senators wrote that while the Internal Revenue Service is charged with enforcing tax laws, the committee sets tax policy, which includes oversight of nonprofit groups.

And they added that they would work with the groups “to protect any proprietary or confidential information.”

Aside from Copeland Ministries, the senators sent letters to World Changers Church International, in College Park, Ga., and New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, in Lithonia, Ga.

They also sent a letter to the Without Walls International Church, in Tampa, Fla., which they said has promised to turn over financial information but has yet to do so.

The remaining two groups under investigation — Benny Hinn Ministries, in Grapevine, Tex., and Joyce Meyer Ministries, in Fenton, Mo., — are largely cooperating with the inquiry, they said.

— Ian Wilhelm

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