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This article is republished with permission from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
©2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Trinity Foundation did not help investigate the findings for this article.


Joyce Meyer ministry is selling posh homes




The homes where two of televangelist Joyce Meyer's grown children have been
living free of charge are up for sale: The price for both together - $2.55
million.

The homes are two of the five homes that Joyce Meyer Ministries bought for
Meyer and her four married children and their families. The two for sale are
situated on either side of the house where Joyce Meyer and her husband, Dave,
live.

The Meyer family members have been living in the homes, but the ministry pays
the bills - property taxes, utilities and landscaping and renovations made to
family members' personal preferences.

The ministry also pays the salaries of Meyer, her husband, the four children
and their four spouses, who all work for the ministry. Joyce Meyer, her
husband, and their four children all serve on the board of directors that makes
financial decisions for the ministry.

Mark Sutherland, spokesman for the ministry, said that an increase in property
values in the area of south St. Louis County where the homes are led Meyer and
the ministry to put them on the market.

The other three may also be sold, he said.

"The increase in property values makes it hard not to sell," Sutherland said.
"One of the reasons the ministry bought them were for investments for the
ministry. We thought it was time to sell them to raise money to help bolster
the work the ministry is doing around the world."

In November 2003, Meyer told the Post-Dispatch that the ministry bought the
homes, clustered near Gravois Road and Interstate 270, for her protection. The
homes where the children live surround Meyer's home and served as buffers
against stalkers, Meyer said at the time.

The arrangement was one of the reasons a watchdog group called on the Internal
Revenue Service to investigate Meyer and her family. Federal law prohibits
ministry founders and their families from unreasonably benefiting from proceeds
raised by a tax-exempt ministry. All compensation - salaries and perks - must
be considered "reasonable."

Wall Watchers, the North Carolina-based watchdog group that called on the IRS
to investigate, is watching the sales.

"The sale of those houses is an indication that either the IRS is breathing
down Joyce Meyer's neck or her lawyers are telling her to do something before
the IRS does," said Rusty Leonard, founder of Wall Watchers. "The fact that
they have huge homes owned by the ministry is very questionable."

Kris Moore, spokeswoman for the IRS regional office, said she could not comment
on any specific case.



After the ministry bought Joyce Meyer a home on Gravois for $795,000 in 1999,
Meyer gutted it and made at least $1.1 million in improvements. While Meyer and
her husband, Dave, ordered the work to their personal specifications, the bills
went to the ministry.

In June 2001, the ministry paid $725,000 for the home next door on the west
side. Meyer's son, David, and his wife, Joy, moved in and began ordering
improvements to the 4,087-square-foot home.

They also billed the work to the ministry. The couple lived there free, and the
property taxes, power, sewer, water and landscaping were paid by the ministry.

In February 2002, the ministry paid $400,000 for a house on the other side of
the home where Joyce Meyer lives. Meyer's daughter, Sandra McCollom, and her
husband, Steve, had the home torn down and built a Victorian-style,
3,557-square-foot house in its place. The ministry was billed for the house,
which the coupled moved into in 2003.

The ministry bought two other homes located behind Joyce Meyer's house for her
other two children and their spouses. The ministry paid all of those bills,
too. Meyer has said her family was too busy working for the ministry to keep up
with home maintenance.

About three weeks ago, the ministry put the home where Dave and Joy Meyer live
up for sale at $1.25 million. The listing boasts an "awesome" kitchen,
breakfast and hearth room addition. The walls in one of the four bedrooms
features a mural of Busch Stadium and the Arch.

The ministry is also selling the home where Sandra and Steve McCollom live for
$1.3 million. The listing describes an 11-room home with three sets of glass
French doors, cherry wood floors, 10-foot ceilings and countertops made from
DuPont's Corian.

Sutherland said the ministry would not provide the two couples with houses, but
would not say if the ministry will give them a housing allowance in addition to
their salaries and benefits.

Federal law requires that the proceeds from the sale of the homes be returned
to the ministry.

Rod Pitzer, Wall Watchers' tax expert, says that the move to sell the homes is
"a step in the right direction." However, he said since the ministry's board is
mostly family members and it won't open its books, it will be hard to make sure
the money returns to the ministry.

"They need to separate the family from the ministry board so it doesn't
continue to look like a family-run business," Pitzer said.

Reporter Carolyn Tuft
E-mail: ctuft@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8105

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