Senator Wants Evangelical Groups To Reconsider Stance on Records

Four evangelical groups have yet to turn over financial information to Sen. Charles E. Grassley as part of the Iowa Republican’s informal investigation into the groups’ spending and compensation practices.

But Mr. Grassley said today that he is holding out hope that the four groups will reconsider their stance.

“It’s a new year and the ministries that have chosen not to cooperate have a chance to see the inquiry in a new light,” Senator Grassley said today in a written statement. “This has nothing to do with church doctrine. It’s only about tax-exempt policy. The ministries are no different from any other tax-exempt group in terms of an obligation to cooperate with a Congressional oversight inquiry exploring tax policy.”

It has been more than a month since Mr. Grassley’s original deadline for six evangelical organizations to provide financial records as part of the inquiry.

Two of the groups — Kenneth Copeland Ministries, in Newark, Tex., and Joyce Meyer Ministries, in Fenton, Mo. — have complied with the request and turned over records to Mr. Grassley’s office in December.

Officials of a third group, World Healing Center Church, met with Mr. Grassley’s staff on December 7 and had said they would decide by December 12 whether the organization would comply. But Mr. Grassley’s office said today that it remains unclear whether the Grapevine, Tex., organization is planning to turn over documents as part of the inquiry.

Another organization, Without Walls International Church, has asked for more time to respond.

The two remaining groups included in the inquiry — World Changers Church International, in College Park, Ga., and New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, in Lithonia, Ga. — have said they do not plan to cooperate.

Marc Owens, a Washington lawyer who represents World Changers Church, said in a recent interview that he believes it is the Internal Revenue Service, not Mr. Grassley, that should be making the request.

“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 of Senator Grassley. “It’s dangerous ground. If there’s a real tax question, the IRS can investigate as it does in other situations.”