Many of us occasionally ponder cosmic questions like how God fits into All This and what He really wants for us. There are times when humankind’s chronic inhumanity leaves us with doubts.
So it’s a good thing that someone like the Rev. Creflo Dollar is around to reassure us that God is up there and wants the best for us. And I do mean the best.
Back in March, God’s charismatic agent from College Park announced that The Lord wanted him to fly in style. Did Jesus want him to travel in a Learjet 85, a $21 million bullet that allows corporate chieftains to crisscross the nation in comfort? Nah, the Lord has better things in mind and has directed Rev. Dollar’s desire to the Gulfstream G650, a $65 million craft called the “Holy Grail” of luxury jets.
“I knew it was time to believe God for a new airplane,” Dollar said in a video announcing his newest mission.
I tend to believe him. Who could make up something that audacious?
Rev. Dollar took heat after his announcement, causing his World Changers Church International to remove the video from its website. But you must remember, people laughed at Noah when he announced his bold plan for a new mode of transport. And who ended up laughing last that time?
The Bible is silent on the matter of whether anyone helped Noah fund his ambitious mission. But the Lord wants 200,000 kindly souls to part with $300 each to send the preacher airborne in a style befitting a top-flight televangelist. Three hundred dollars is not a lot, perhaps just a monthly payment on a used minivan, or half a month’s rent for a middling one-bedroom apartment in Hapeville.
The fact that the World Changers congregation is largely black, and that African-Americans were pounded with special fervor by the Great Recession, is something I’m sure is not lost on the reverend. But after some thoughtful prayer, Rev. Dollar is back at it. Recently, World Changers’ board of directors, which seems largely to be Creflo Dollar, made an announcement: “We plan to acquire a Gulfstream G650 because it is the best, and it is a reflection of the level of excellence at which this organization chooses to operate.”
Excellence might not be the correct word. Opulence is more fitting. This is the pastor who has traveled in a Rolls Royce, lives in a mansion, had a multi-million dollar New York condo, and until recently was happy with regular old corporate jets.
He is among the world’s elite at preaching the prosperity gospel, the loud, exciting message that God will reward those who believe — especially if they send a portion of their hard-earned earnings to their favorite preacher, who, in this case, is the fittingly named Rev. Dollar. Forget vows of poverty. This is the Amway of religion, apologies to Amway.
Dollar is an amazing, self-made success story. In 1986, he held his first service in a school cafeteria. Within a decade, he was operating in the 8,500-seat “World Dome” near Old National Highway.
A decade later, a U.S. Senate Finance Committee found him to be the “least cooperative” of six televangelists during an investigation of lavish spending by preachers. The committee found no wrongdoing. But it made plain that the preachers’ extravagant lifestyles are not only footed by the faithful but also partially subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.
Last week, while reporting on the dire living conditions just west of downtown Atlanta, I asked a couple pastors what they thought of Dollar’s visionary plan.
For 44 years, Rev. Curtis Lester has run the Greater Bethany Baptist Church near the Georgia Dome. Like many churches, the 125-person congregation has struggled to continue its mission. The congregation fixed up several homes near the church to provide poor people with decent housing. But the effort was plagued with troublesome tenants, vandals and thieves who plundered the structures. The homes are now boarded up.
“I wouldn’t use a plane,” Rev. Lester said with a smile. “Jesus is my model and he travelled by foot, sometimes by boat. I pity (Dollar’s) members. I don’t know what image that serves.”
World Changers spokesman Vic Bolton sent a message saying there really is an independent board of directors, “contrary to reports that tend to represent us as a one-man show.” He said the board planned on buying a new plane anyways and the plans were hastened by an accident that totaled the old jet.
Additionally, he said, “We reserve the right to practice what we believe, and will not be deterred by the opinions of others.”
The church has said it “is doing good all over the world,” and new aircraft was needed to carry thousands of pounds of food and other goods on global mission trips.
But an aviation expert told AJC PolitiFact writer Nancy Badertscher that cargo space on a business jet is measured in terms of golf bags, not tonnage. Her article found Rev. Dollar's claims "inaccurate and bordering on ridiculous," awarding him the heralded "Pants on Fire" rating.
The reverend has fired back against his critics, who are channelling, you guessed it — The Prince of Darkness.
“The devil tried to discredit my voice,” he said in a video circulating on the Internet. “If I want to believe God for a $65 million plane, you cannot stop me. You cannot stop me from dreaming. I’m gonna dream until Jesus comes.”
I called the Rev. Timothy McDonald, who laughed when asked about his College Park counterpart. “I have tried to be quiet on this, but the more he does stupid stuff and the arrogance and the non-spiritualness of his statements is just mind-boggling to me.”
McDonald, the longtime pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church and former president of the Concerned Black Clergy, is a vocal civil rights leader and sometimes a rabble rouser. He said members of his congregation in south Atlanta “are flabbergasted by this.” He did note that World Changers is tight-fisted when local charities come calling for help.
“I think Jesus wanted people to have health care, to have food, that there be no homelessness — not some egotistical preacher to have a $65 million-jet,” the preacher said. “It’s wasteful. What could you do with that $65 million?”
Rev. Dollar has already answered that question.
About the Author
