Dray Barksdale found a shady spot under a crape myrtle close to the intersection of Flat Shoals Road and Old National Highway in College Park. There, he held his sign advertising a local mobile phone and computer-repair shop. It is, he agreed, hot work — except when it’s cold.
But a guy has to make a dollar, and so Barksdale waved his sign, greeting motorists who recognized the man in the porkpie hat and shades. He’s been doing this for four years.
Not everyone, Barksdale said, is as well-off as the Rev. Creflo Dollar, whose World Changers Church International is just down the road.
The church, whose dome is a College Park landmark, has been in the news recently because its pastor wants a new jet. The request for donations, critics say, epitomizes a gospel that emphasizes giving generously to the church and expecting the Lord to bless the giver in return.
Barksdale is not a member of that flock.
“Creflo?” Barksdale said. “He preaches on wealth, and all that.”
In March, Dollar asked church members to buy a Gulfstream G650 jet to replace an older, damaged airplane. To call the Gulfstream a winged Cadillac would not do the aircraft justice; it's more of an airborne Bentley, perhaps the best 18-seater jet on the planet. It sells for about $65 million.
The request had hardly left Dollar's mouth before critics began stacking up like jets over Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Too expensive, said some. Too luxurious, others said. Inappropriate, they all said.
Facing such a public backlash, Dollar backed down. A couple of months later, the church's board of directors released a statement.
‘We wholeheartedly reject the notion that the ministry’s airplane project is an imposition on our community or that it somehow takes advantage of our people,” the statement said, in part. “… We believe that if our efforts are focused on building the Kingdom of God around the world, then it is His desire for us to see the desires of our hearts.”
Translation: Give to the Lord, and the Almighty will give back.
‘So many blessings’
Dollar is not the only minister to preach prosperity. Lithonia's Bishop Eddie Long, as well as Oral Roberts, T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen and others have embraced scripture to build wealthy churches, said Anthea Butler, a professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania.
One passage, from the Bible’s Book of Malachi, is a prosperity-preacher favorite: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse … and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
Just how much blessing? Last year, Osteen announced that someone had broken into the safe at his Houston church. The take, from two days’ worth of donations: checks and cash totaling $600,000.
Dollar’s church has prospered, too. Founded in 1986, World Changers held its first service in a school cafeteria. Today its main campus features an 8,500-seat dome, ringed by other church buildings. World Changers has locations across Georgia, the nation and world.
Annually, Dollar’s church takes in reputed tens of millions in donations. Because it is a house of worship, World Changers is tax-exempt. It does not have to file a publicly available tax return, as other nonprofits do.
Dollar, its lead pastor, is an author. His messages are broadcast here and overseas. Various reports place his wealth at $27 million, but church officials have disputed that.
World Changers’ reach is local as well as global. Its ministries includes programs aimed at children, young adults and people needing a boost in their self-esteem. Its Because We Care Campaign families needing school supplies and holiday gifts. In the past, the church has donated food to feed 3,000 metro-area families at Thanksgiving.
Butler is not impressed. She has studied prosperity ministers. Several years ago, she attended a service at World Changers.
Her reaction? “There’s a reason his name is Dollar,” she said. “If he cared about his congregation, he wouldn’t ask them … for a $65 million jet.”
Others support Dollar’s campaign for a new jet. When he renewed the quest for a new jet, Dollar explained his philosophy from the pulpit.
“If I want to believe God for a $65 million plane, you cannot stop me,” Dollar said. “You can’t stop me from dreaming!”
The recorded message depicts a cheering congregation.
Vic Bolton, a spokesman for the church, said news reports created “a lot of noise” about Dollar’s plans. The church, he said, needs a new jet. “There’s nothing new to say,” he said. “It’s an ongoing project.”
‘Don’t have a car’
College Park is not wealthy. The south Fulton city's per capita income in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, was $17,126; the state's overall rate was $25,182. Home ownership? The census determined College Park's rate was nearly 27 percent. Georgia's was 65 percent. Persons below poverty level: College Park, 38.5 percent; statewide, 18.2 percent.
Randy Moss knows about his city’s hard times. The owner of a College Park tool-rental and repair shop, he once employed seven. That was before the recession. Today, he works alone.
Like others in College Park, he’s discussed Dollar’s aviation plans with a mixture of indignation and bemusement.
“You know, Delta is ready when you are,” Moss said, repeating one of the airline’s famed ad slogans. “With $65 million, you could do a lot for the community, as far as missions go,” Moss said.
Tyrone Reddit would like to see College Park’s prospects improve, too. He owns a barber shop a quarter-mile from Dollar’s church. Some of the pastor’s flock sit in his chair for shaves and trims.
They rarely discuss religion, but people have talked about that jet, Reddit said.
“People who don’t go there? They think he (Dollar) has got some nerve,” Reddit said. “People who go there? Some of them, they don’t have a car.”
James Arqutt, whose home on Lantern Lane faces an edge of World Changer’s campus, has watched the church grow. He’s trying to accomplish the same for his church, Heatherwood Baptist in Riverdale.
“We need a bus,” said Arquitt. “We’re shopping around for that.”
Something used, he said, with not too many miles, would be OK.
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