Evangelist Group Meets With Senate Aides Over Financial Records

Lawyers representing the World Healing Center Church met this morning with members of Sen. Charles Grassley’s staff to discuss a Senate request for the church to turn over its internal financial documents.

The Grapevine, Tex., church, which oversees the affiliated Benny Hinn Ministries, is one of six evangelical groups that Mr. Grassley has asked for information as part of an informal investigation into the groups’ spending and compensation practices.

Two other groups, Joyce Meyer Ministries in Fenton, Mo., and Kenneth Copeland Ministries, in Newark, Tex., have sent financial information to Mr. Grassley’s staff in response to the request.

The World Healing Center Church has been given until Wednesday to file its forms with Senator Grassley, though it was uncertain today whether the organization will comply with that request.

The six groups had been given until Thursday, December 6, to comply with Mr. Grassley’s request, which comes in response to news coverage and complaints from the public about the ministries’ spending habits.

At least one of the organizations, World Changers Church International in College Park, Ga., is refusing to turn over its documents, saying that Mr. Grassley’s request oversteps federal tax rules that allow churches to operate without fear of “unwarranted government interference.”

Marc Owens, a Washington lawyer representing the church, said the law stipulates that it is the Internal Revenue Service — not a member of the Senate Finance Committee — that should be making such requests.

“Congress has wisely determined that religious organizations should not be subject to the same public filing requirements as other charitable organizations and, likewise, we believe that the religious doctrine and practices of a church should not be held out for the world to evaluate as a result of responding to Congressional inquiries,” Mr. Owens wrote in a November 27 letter to Mr. Grassley.

In an interview, Mr. Owens said the request — if unchecked — could have “profound First Amendment implications”.

“He’s doing so apparently because he doesn’t like the way the six churches have organized themselves, their compensation practices, the way their members support the institution,” Mr. Owens said. “It’s dangerous ground. If there’s a real tax question, the IRS can investigate as it does in other situations.”