Page 1 of 7 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 64

Thread: John MacArthur's Millionaire Lifestyle Exposed

  1. #1

    John MacArthur's Millionaire Lifestyle Exposed

    WOW

  2. #2
    The Prosperous Lifestyle of America's Anti-Prosperity Gospel Preacher
    By Julie Roys
    For decades, John MacArthur has railed on prosperity preachers, likening them to "greed mongerers" who led First Century cults.

    Recently, he's also taken aim at scandal-plagued evangelical leaders, like the late apologist Ravi Zacharias and former Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz, saying these celebrities were in ministry only for the money. That's why "liars and frauds and false teachers" are in business, MacArthur said in a recent sermon. "False teachers always do it for the same reason—filthy lucre, money."

    Yet according to financial statements and tax forms obtained by The Roys Report, John MacArthur and his family preside over a religious media and educational empire that has over $130 million in assets and generates more than $70 million a year in tax-free revenue.

    MacArthur and his family and related companies have been paid more than $12.8 million from ministry and donor funds. And MacArthur owns three luxury homes worth millions.

    In one year alone, MacArthur made more than $402,000 for part-time work at his broadcast ministry, Grace to You (GTY), and another $103,000 from The Master's University and Seminary (TMUS). This was in addition to MacArthur's salary from the megachurch he pastors, Grace Community Church, as well as book royalties and speaking fees.

    Also, in a scenario very similar to Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), the board of GTY has been stacked for decades with MacArthur family members. Like RZIM, GTY also stopped filing IRS 990 tax forms in 2015, which enabled the ministry to keep executive salaries secret.

    Grace Community Church (GCC) refuses to release its financial statements in violation of a core standard of the Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability (ECFA) of which Grace was a member.

    When I contacted the ECFA about GCC, Compliance Team Lead Jake Lapp replied that the ECFA requires its members to provide a copy of their current financial statements upon written request. He added, "We have been in communication with the church regarding this requirement and expect you will hear a response soon."

    That was 10 months ago.

    To date, I have not heard back from GCC, even after emailing the church again to request financial statements. However, I recently learned that GCC resigned from the ECFA less than two weeks after Lapp contacted the church about complying with ECFA standards.*

    I also reached out to Grace Church elder and GTY executive director, Phil Johnson, inquiring about some of these matters. Johnson responded that some of the information I requested is "a matter of public record. A real journalist would know that." (The composition of GTY's board is publicly available; the answers to my other questions were not.)

    Johnson further stated that his email, dated March 23, 2020, would be "the last correspondence you will receive from me. Nor will anyone who speaks for our ministry ever answer questions for you regarding any story you intend to write."

    MacArthur's Millions in Homes
    MacArthur first came under fire for his money in 2014, when several bloggers published MacArthur's salaries, calling them "reprehensible" and noting that MacArthur "earns more than the president of the United States."

    In response, Phil Johnson posted a statement at the Sharper Iron website, defending his boss' salary (see "MacArthur's Salary" below).

    Johnson also argued that "(MacArthur's) lifestyle, not his income, is what biblically-minded people should look at if they want to evaluate his character."

    He added that MacArthur "has lived in the same house for the past 35+ years" and owns only one car.

    "(N)o one who actually sees how John lives has ever accused him of self-indulgence or even thought in their wildest dreams to describe him as a lover of money," Johnson stated.

    While it is true that MacArthur has lived in his home in Santa Clarita, California, since the 1980s, the property is worth 1.5 million, which is more than twice the median value of homes in the area.

    The five-bedroom, four-bath house sits on more than two acres and includes a tennis court and a swimming pool. The home also is not John MacArthur's only residence.

    John MacArthur House
    John MacArthur's $1.5 million Santa Clarita home
    Since 1996, MacArthur has also owned a $700,000 villa about an hour west of Santa Clarita, according to a document The Roys Report obtained from the Ventura County Tax Assessor's office.

    The three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom home is located next to a world class private club with a championship golf course, tennis courts, pool, and fine dining. The home also is just 11 miles from the beach.

    John MacArthur Golf Villa
    Golf Villas entrance where John MacArthur owns a second home in California
    MacArthur's third and largest home—a seven-bedroom, 7.5-bathroom ranch on five acres in Colorado Springs—was built in 2007, according to El Paso County records.

    The property was given to Circle M Ranch—a limited liability limited partnership (LLLP) owned by John and Patricia MacArthur—by David Wismer Sr.

    Wismer is a longtime member of TMUS' Board of Directors and has also served as TMUS Board secretary.

    I spoke with Wismer and he told me that in 2007, MacArthur approached him, expressing that he wanted to build a home in Colorado Springs. Wismer said he owns a 2,600-acre ranch in Colorado Springs and was happy to give five acres to MacArthur as a gift.

    Wismer said MacArthur then built a home (valued around $800,000) on the Colorado property using his own funds.

    John MacArthur Colorado Home
    John MacArthur's 7-bedroom, 7.5 bathroom home on 5 acres in Colorado.
    MacArthur's Salary
    From 2005—2015, MacArthur made about $3.4 million in compensation from GTY and TMUS, for an average of about $320,000/year.

    On top of that, MacArthur also took a salary from Grace Community Church that was "well within the upper-medium range" for California church employees, according to Johnson's 2014 statement.

    This puts MacArthur's annual combined salary at an estimated half-million dollars most years. And in 2012, when he was paid an especially high salary and benefits from GTY, MacArthur's salary likely pushed three-quarters of a million dollars.

    In Johnson's 2014 statement, he explained that MacArthur's "salary and benefits" topped $400,000 in the fiscal year ending in 2012 because the GTY Board gave MacArthur a "rare 1st-edition KJB" that year. The Bible, Johnson said, was a "one-time gift capping 40 years of faithful ministry."

    In addition, Johnson stated that "Grace to You paid John MacArthur zero salary or benefits for the first 30+ years of our ministry's existence."

    However, this statement does not match the facts.

    According to a GTY 990 from 2002—the earliest 990 The Roys Report was able to obtain—MacArthur made $88,336 that year. This was just 16 years after GTY was founded, not 30.

    According ECFA, GTY was founded in 1986. (The GTY website says GTY became a nonprofit in the early 1980s.)

    Phil Johnson
    GTY Executive Director Phil Johnson
    It's possible that Johnson was dating GTY's beginning to the first year MacArthur was pastor of Grace Community Church (1969). That's when a volunteer reportedly began recording MacArthur's messages and giving them to members of the congregation who were too ill to attend. But the ministry didn't even have a name back then and likely didn't require any extra hours of MacArthur.

    I reached out to Johnson to explain the apparent contradiction, but he did not respond.

    Also, in his 2014 statement, Johnson stated that sometime after 2000, the GTY board "made a deliberate decision to pay (MacArthur) a full salary rather than a diminished wage that was arbitrarily curtailed based on the fact that he has other income."

    While it's true that MacArthur received a huge increase in his GTY salary in 2003 (72%), MacArthur never worked full-time hours at GTY. MacArthur's GTY hours varied each year from 10 to 30 hours per week, according to the organization's own 990s.

    Yet the hours MacArthur claimed to work each year seem to bear little relation to the salary he received. For example, in 2007, MacArthur claimed to work 20 hours per week at GTY and received $174,191. In 2008, he reportedly worked 10 hours per week and received nearly as much—$177,083.

    Similarly, MacArthur's hours at TMUS varied from 10 hours to 40 hours per week from 2005—2015 and didn't necessarily correspond to the amount he was paid.

    MacArthur logged a tremendous number of hours for GTY and TMUS, especially considering that he also worked as pastor of GCC. In one year, 2012, MacArthur reportedly worked a combined 60 hours a week at GTY and TMUS. This was in addition to the time he spent pastoring GCC, a church with an average attendance of more than 8,000 people.

    Below is a chart compiled by The Roys Report, showing both the hours MacArthur claimed and the salaries he received for the years analyzed.

    (Though it is not documented below, Phil Johnson received between $160,000 and $238,927 per year between 2005—2015 for his role at GTY. He also received a no-interest loan of $50,000 from the ministry for the purchase of a home, which was fully forgiven over a five-year period.)

    John MacArthur SalaryA Family Affair
    On its website, the ECFA states, "When a ministry encounters failure—or even worse, scandal—its difficulties can almost always be traced to a breakdown in governance."

    A key characteristic of good governance, according to the ECFA, is maintaining "the reality, not just the appearance of independent board governance." The ECFA considers board members to be independent if they are not related by blood or employees of the organization.

    For decades, though, two of MacArthur's sons have served on GTY's board along with their father. Phil Johnson, a key GTY employee, has also served on the board for many years.

    Since 2002, the GTY board has ranged in size from eight to 12 members. So at times, as many as half of the board was either a MacArthur or an employee under John MacArthur.

    One of MacArthur's sons, Matthew MacArthur, remains on the board and has been listed on every 990 since 2002 as the treasurer of GTY.

    MacArthur's other son, Mark MacArthur, is also listed on every 990 since 2002 as a GTY board member.

    In February 2020, Mark MacArthur was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with defrauding clients in a $16 million investment scheme. As late as August 2020, Mark MacArthur was still listed on GTY's website as a board member. Mark MacArthur is not listed as a board member today.

    In his 2014 statement, Johnson stated that board members "with blood relationships or employment connections to John MacArthur recuse themselves from salary decisions."

    However, it's not just John MacArthur who is potentially benefitting from his sons' and Johnson's presence on the board. GTY has also paid MacArthur's son-in-law, Kory Welch, and companies Welch owns, millions over the years, as has TMUS.

    Millions to Kory Welch
    In 2008, Welch was an employee of GTY, making $83,677 as director of television broadcasting. Welch, who's married to MacArthur's daughter, Melinda Welch, also was enjoying a $20,000 no-interest home loan with total debt forgiveness from GTY.

    In 2008, there were no other contractors providing video production services for GTY, according to the organization's 990s.

    Kory Welch
    John MacArthur's son-in-law, Kory Welch
    The next year, however, Welch began working for GTY as a video production contractor through a company Welch had formed two years earlier, called The Welch Group. In 2009, GTY paid The Welch Group $741,000 for "post-production services"—nearly 10 times what GTY had paid Welch the year before.

    Since then, GTY has paid either The Welch Group or Dorma Productions (another small company Welch owns) between $659,000—$790,000 per year for a combined $8.3 million between 2009—2019.

    Another company owned by Welch, called WeKreative, has also received more than $1 million in contract work from TMUS. From 2016 through 2019, TMUS paid WeKreative nearly $1.1 million for "marketing, public relations, and video production services," according to TMUS audit reports and 990s.

    During this time (in 2018 and 2019), TMUS also employed Welch as its COO, and for a time as its chief marketing officer, for which Welch received more than $138,000 in salary and benefits.

    TMUS did not respond to requests for comment about Welch's contract work or the potential conflict of interest concerning his positions at TMUS.

    In addition to these jobs and positions, Welch is the CEO of The John MacArthur Charitable Trust (formerly The Master's Grace Fund). This is a California nonprofit created "to support various ministries of John MacArthur, according to GTY's 2019 financial statement."

    The sole member of The John MacArthur Charitable Trust is GTY and GTY elects a majority of the trust's board. The trust does not file 990s, so it is not known if it pays Welch a salary for his services.

    Money & Ministry
    "You show me a person who preaches the money gospel, the money message, the wealth message—I'll show you a person who has been corrupted by the love of money."

    So said John MacArthur in a 1987 sermon.

    MacArthur added that he "never ever wanted to be in a position to look at ministry with a price tag." That's why, MacArthur said, he never asks for money when he preaches at other churches. "That is just too overwhelming a problem for my flesh to deal with."

    Yet clearly, MacArthur takes plenty of money from his own ministries. And though MacArthur may have never preached the prosperity gospel—a gospel that promises health and wealth—his income and portfolio looks an awful lot like those who do.

    MacArthur may be America's anti-prosperity gospel preacher, but his life, and the life of his family members, appears to be quite prosperous—and he seemingly has his ministries to thank.

    :


  3. The Following User Says Thank You to LionHeart For This Useful Post:

    Ezekiel 33 (02-11-2021)

  4. #3
    Ha ha!
    John MacArthur's Millionaire Lifestyle Exposed-capture-jpg

    Guess they don't want you spreading this stuff. I think I've seen it before though.

    I couldn't easily find out how many books JMac has sold, but here's what he's said to have written, "In addition to more than 150 individual books and monographs, MacArthur has also contributed to more than 30 multi-author works. His publications have been translated into more than two dozen languages, including ten or more titles each in French, Spanish, Romanian, German, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, and Italian"

    So not only has he worked full time for over 40 years, and I think in a couple of roles at the same time, but he's found the time to write and publish 150+ books which have a very very wide readership.

    And after he's done all that work you seem to be begrudging the fact that he actually derived a good income out of it, and without asking people to send him money, without being WOF. Wow! How much are you worth by the way? Must be in the millions too. If not why not?

    An article from last month lists these people as the 10 Richest Pastors. Can we have a video on the lifestyle of each of them please? Just to show your lack of bias, OK?

    10. Joyce Meyer
    09. Franklin Graham
    08. T.D. Jakes
    07. Rick Warren
    06. Billy Graham
    05. Creflo Dollar
    04. Benny Hinn
    03. Joel Osteen
    02. Pat Robertson
    01. Kenneth Copeland


    The Shocking Net Worth of These 10 Richest Pastors Will Blow Your Mind (cheatsheet.com)

    P.S. Good thing you weren't around in King Solomon's day. How would you have handled him having a net worth of around $2 trillion?

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by FunFromOz View Post
    Ha ha!
    John MacArthur's Millionaire Lifestyle Exposed-capture-jpg

    Guess they don't want you spreading this stuff. I think I've seen it before though.

    I couldn't easily find out how many books JMac has sold, but here's what he's said to have written, "In addition to more than 150 individual books and monographs, MacArthur has also contributed to more than 30 multi-author works. His publications have been translated into more than two dozen languages, including ten or more titles each in French, Spanish, Romanian, German, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, and Italian"

    So not only has he worked full time for over 40 years, and I think in a couple of roles at the same time, but he's found the time to write and publish 150+ books which have a very very wide readership.

    And after he's done all that work you seem to be begrudging the fact that he actually derived a good income out of it, and without asking people to send him money, without being WOF. Wow! How much are you worth by the way? Must be in the millions too. If not why not?

    An article from last month lists these people as the 10 Richest Pastors. Can we have a video on the lifestyle of each of them please? Just to show your lack of bias, OK?

    10. Joyce Meyer
    09. Franklin Graham
    08. T.D. Jakes
    07. Rick Warren
    06. Billy Graham
    05. Creflo Dollar
    04. Benny Hinn
    03. Joel Osteen
    02. Pat Robertson
    01. Kenneth Copeland


    The Shocking Net Worth of These 10 Richest Pastors Will Blow Your Mind (cheatsheet.com)

    P.S. Good thing you weren't around in King Solomon's day. How would you have handled him having a net worth of around $2 trillion?
    Unbelievable hypocrisy by these Calvinists.

  6. The Following User Says Thank You to LionHeart For This Useful Post:

    Quest (03-22-2023)

  7. #5
    Oh so Johnny can have 3 luxury houses and a net worth in the millions but Joel and others cannot. Stinking hypocrisy of the very lowest kind !

  8. The Following User Says Thank You to LionHeart For This Useful Post:

    Valiant Woman (02-16-2021)

  9. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by LionHeart View Post
    Unbelievable hypocrisy by these Calvinists.
    ?

  10. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by FunFromOz View Post
    ?
    Oh so Johnny can have 3 luxury houses and a net worth in the millions but Joel and others cannot. Stinking hypocrisy of the very lowest kind !

  11. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by LionHeart View Post
    Oh so Johnny can have 3 luxury houses and a net worth in the millions but Joel and others cannot. Stinking hypocrisy of the very lowest kind !
    As you posted via cut & paste (maybe you'll write something original one day) "John MacArthur has railed on prosperity preachers".

    The Prosperity Gospel preacher preaches "that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one's material wealth". How appealing to the soul that is. How that appeals to the natural man.

    ===> REPEAT QUESTION. How many millions have you acquired as a result of Joel LH? You're WOF aren't you so my now it must be a lot. It's God's will you know.

    Meanwhile JMac provides expository teaching of the Bible, something that appeals to the spirit, something that builds up the inner man. Did you know that JMac has preached verse by verse through the whole NT?

    As expected each person's website has a donate page. Here's why they want you to donate:

    Olsen: With your ongoing faithful support, we can continue to reach millions of people through our uplifting and encouraging weekly television broadcast, podcast, and website.

    MacArthur: Thank you for your generosity and your willingness to support the ministry of "Unleashing God's Truth, One Verse at a Time." We are honored by the trust your gift demonstrates, and we are grateful for your commitment to God's Word and its teaching through books, CDs, radio, television, and the Internet.

    Just saying.

  12. #9
    Senior Member Cardinal TT's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    7,640
    Thanked: 5995
    Blog Entries
    2
    Not surprised that FFO is selective and partial when assessing ministries

  13. The Following User Says Thank You to Cardinal TT For This Useful Post:

    LionHeart (02-10-2021)

  14. #10
    Senior Member Pentecali's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Posts
    3,973
    Thanked: 2541
    Blog Entries
    2
    I can just about pinpoint where his beach house is. Only the super rich live in that area. Mega stars.

  15. The Following User Says Thank You to Pentecali For This Useful Post:

    Ezekiel 33 (02-11-2021)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
You can forget about unexpected and expensive with an extended service plan for your Audi. Many vehicle repairs can cost thousands of dollars in unexpected expense, now may be the time to consider an extended service plan for your vehicle.