Some tax experts question St. Louis ministry's spending

ST. LOUIS -- Joyce Meyer, a well-known preacher with an international ministry, says her wealth is a blessing from God, but some tax experts question whether the way she spends money violates the law, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in a Sunday copyright story.

Meyer heads one of the world's largest television ministries, and Her Life in the Word organization expects to take in $95 million this year.

"Here I am, an ex-housewife from Fenton with a 12th-grade education," she said. "How could anybody look at this and see anything other than God?"

Meyer, whose $20 million headquarters is in Jefferson County outside of St. Louis, flies in a $10 million corporate jet; her husband drives a Mercedes; and Meyer has a $2 million home and residences worth another $2 million for her four children.

Meyer, 60, runs the ministry with her husband, David, and the couple's four children. The family members, including the children's spouses, draw paychecks from the ministry.

The way Meyer spends her ministry's money on herself and her family may violate federal law, legal and tax experts told the Post-Dispatch. That law bars leaders of not-for-profits, including religious groups and other charities, from privately benefiting from the tax-free money they raise.

Wall Watchers, a watchdog group that monitors the finances of large Christian groups, called on the Internal Revenue Service last month to investigate whether the tax-exempt status of Meyer and six other TV preachers should be revoked.

Meyer and her lawyer, Tom Winters, say she scrupulously abides by all federal laws.

"This ministry is so darn compliant with the IRS. This thing's clean," Winters said.

Jefferson County assessor Randy Holman has wanted Meyer's complex and its $5.7 million in contents on the county's tax rolls for two years.

Meyer said the ministry clearly doesn't need to pay the taxes, and she is appealing her assessment to the State Tax Commission. "You're not going to, out of the kindness of your heart, pay over a half million dollars in taxes that you don't owe," she said. "If we're not tax-exempt, I don't know who would be."

From a 15-minute St. Louis-area radio show in 1983, Meyer's ministry has spread over the years through satellite, cable transmissions and the Internet.

Meyer had a gradual path to ministry. In books and conversation, she talks about abuse as a child, a difficult first marriage and how her life changed when she reached out to God for help.

An Arabic language translation of her program began airing six times a day on a network in the Middle East in September. Meyer hopes to use the network to bring the message of Christianity to 31 Islamic nations.

Meyer and her husband say the ministry has the potential to reach 2.5 billion people every weekday.

And today, her TV shows, regional conferences and fund raising from her Web site bring an average of $8 million a month to her ministry. Of that, the ministry says it spends about 10 percent, $880,000 a month, on charitable works around the globe.

"Dave and I feel almost like, 'Can this really be us?"' she said. "We feel like we're the most blessed and honored people on the face of the earth."