Gospel of getting rich draws believers

By Laurie Goodstein - New York Times News Service

FORT WORTH, Texas — Onstage before thousands of believers weighed down by debt and economic insecurity, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and their all-star lineup of "prosperity gospel" preachers delighted the crowd with anecdotes about the luxurious lives they had attained by following the Word of God.

"God knows where the money is, and he knows how to get the money to you," Gloria Copeland preached.

Even in an economic downturn, preachers in the prosperity gospel movement are drawing sizable, adoring audiences. Their message — that if you have sufficient faith in God and the Bible and donate generously, God will multiply your offerings a hundredfold — is reassuring to many in hard times.

But the offering buckets came up emptier than in some previous years, said those who have attended before.

Many here do not trust banks, the news media or Washington, where the Senate Finance Committee is investigating whether the Copelands and other prosperity evangelists used donations to enrich themselves and abused their tax-exempt status. But they do trust the Copelands.

Stephen Biellier, a long-distance trucker from Mount Vernon, Mo., said he and his wife, Millie, came to the convention praying that this would be "the overcoming year." They are $102,000 in debt, and the bank has cut off their credit line, Millie Biellier said.

The Bielliers are among 386,000 people worldwide whom the Copelands call their "partners," most of whom send regular contributions and merit special prayers. The Copelands' broadcast reaches 134 countries, and the ministry's income is about $100 million annually, a publicist said.

The Bielliers were at the convention a few years ago when a supporter made a pitch for people to join an "Elite CX Team" to raise money to buy the ministry a Citation X airplane. At that moment, Millie Biellier said, she heard the voice of the Holy Spirit telling her, "You were born to support this man."

She gave $2,000 for the plane, and recently sent $1,800 for the team's latest project: buying high-definition television equipment to upgrade the ministry's international broadcasts.

Millie Biellier said some friends and relatives would say the preacher just wanted their money. She explained that the Copelands did not need the money for themselves; it is for their ministry.

"I remember Copeland had to once fly halfway around the world to talk to one person," Millie Biellier said some said. "Because we're partners with Kenneth Copeland, for every soul that gets saved, we get credit for that in heaven."