Net Worth: $26.5 million Another of the more famous preachers on our list, Kenneth Copeland has also been at the center of a fair amount of controversy over the course of his career. The televangelist falls under the banner of the Charismatic Movement and preaches the infamous prosperity gospel, also known as seed faith, which we described before (aka: send us your money and the Lord will send you abundance, we promise). Unsurprisingly, this lucrative form of ministry cops a fair amount of heat from all walks of society, brought into question by atheists as much as other Christians.
Copeland has also been criticized for encouraging an anti-vaccination mentality among his followers and for raising funds for charitable actions that were never actually followed through on. For example, Copeland fundraised for “Angel Flight 44,” a mission that was supposed to deliver aid to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. However the mission was never even attempted, let alone completed. Meanwhile, Copeland had, just the year before, attempted to claim tax exempt status for his $3.6 million dollar private jet.
Ernest Angley
Net Worth: $15 million Buckle up for another figure, so epic its contentious- Ernest Angley. While this American evangelist ostensibly spreads the word of the lord through his books, sermons and in broadcasts on the television station he owns, he is perhaps best known for the scandals that keep piling up against his name.
Angley has been taken to court and forced to pay damages and back paid wages to people who were treated as “unpaid volunteers” at his restaurant. A restaurant that was making a profit for the church. A profit that contributed to Angley’s own wealth. At the same contentious restaurant, in 1999, one of Angley’s staff members murdered a 15-year-old volunteer. Angley has also come under fire for claiming that Jesus heals AIDS through him since he’s failed to offer anything by way of proof. Finally, and most alarmingly, the man has been at the center of a number of sexual abuse allegations. Yikes.
T.D. Jakes
Net Worth: $18 million Here’s another pastor in charge of a megachurch: Thomas Dexter Jakes. This American preacher is also an accomplished musician, filmmaker and author who has won numerous awards for his works, and has been granted honorary degrees and even doctorates. His megachurch, The Potter’s House, has an astounding 30,000 members and, while it is non-denominational, Jakes holds the position of Bishop. He commenced his ministry in 1980 at the tender age of 23.
Jakes makes regular television appearances and you may recognize him from such shows as Dr. Phil and Good Morning America. He is a firm advocate for abstinence and, from what we can tell, it seems he is one pastor who practices what he preaches.
Creflo Dollar
Net Worth: $27 million With a name like Creflo Dollar, you surely won’t be surprised to learn that this televangelist is also a fan of Copeland’s favorite kind of ministry: seed faith. He is a non-denominational pastor who founded Georgia’s World Changers Church International. While the results of ascribing to the prosperity gospel are, at best, questionable for the followers who send money, there’s no doubt this form of ministry makes the pastors who espouse it monumentally wealthy. With a $27 million net worth, Dollar is the proud owner of a private jet, two shiny Rolls-Royce's, and a fat real estate portfolio which includes two multi-million dollar homes, one in Atlanta and one in New Jersey. Not to mention his inner Manhattan home which he put on the market for a cool $3.75 million.
The things Dollar requests his followers to send him money for are truly astounding. While Copeland at least gives the premise of wanting to help out people in need (whether he follows through on it or not is a different matter), Dollar genuinely called for his followers to donate funds to pay for a new private jet when his own Gulfstream III crashed at Biggin Hill Airport in the UK. That’s $60 million total he was asking everyday Americans for, so he could have a shiny new Gulfstream G650. And he eventually got what he wanted.
John Danforth
Net Worth: $30 million Isn’t it interesting that politics and religion seem so often to go hand in hand? As with many of the pastors on this list, John Danforth’s career took him as far into the realm of politics as it did into the world of religion. Danforth served as Missouri’s Attorney General for seven years, his tenure spanning from 1969 to 1976. From there, he went on to serve for 19 years in the US senate. Danforth, in fact, had a remarkably illustrious political career, having also headed up the investigation of the 1993 Waco siege, and later working as Ambassador to the United Nations for the US from 2004 to 2005.
It wasn’t until he retired from politics that Danforth really started dedicating energy and time to serving as an Episcopal priest. Though, during his tenure as Ambassador to the UN, he did officiate the funeral of former US president, Ronald Reagan.