PREACHERS GOT "BEEF" TOO???

Senate Probe of ‘Prosperity Preachers’ Reports Progress
April 1st, 2008 ·

UNDATED (AP) — Another deadline has passed in a Senate committee’s investigation into a half-dozen Christian ministries that preach a gospel of prosperity, with one group signaling a new willingness to cooperate, another promising information and two more remaining defiant.

Jill Gerber, an aide to Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, says the lawmaker will continue communicating with the two holdouts — Texas televangelist Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar, a Copeland protege from suburban Atlanta — and considers subpoenas a last resort..

Dollar, however, responded by comparing Grassley’s inquiries into church governance with questioning churchgoers about their prayers and confessions. Dollar’s lawyer, Marcus Owens, asked the Senate Finance Committee –quote– “to evaluate, on the record, whether to issue a subpoena to the church.”

Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, sent letters to six Christian ministries in November giving them a month to provide answers about spending on private planes, oceanside mansions, board oversight and involvement in for-profit businesses. The ministries have denied wrongdoing.

One group, headed by Joyce Meyer of suburban St. Louis, almost immediately agreed to cooperate. Another, headed by faith healer Benny Hinn, said it will answer all of Grassley’s questions and delivered 618 pages of documentation last week.

The remaining four received another round of letters in mid-March giving Monday as a new deadline to turn over information. The letters were signed not just by Grassley, but also by Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the Democratic chairman of the Finance Committee, sending the message that this was not a one-man or one-party operation.

Grassley’s office reported progress today on two fronts: Representatives of Bishop Eddie Long of suburban Atlanta pledged to provide information on April 15, and a lawyer for Paula and Randy White of Tampa said a first batch of answers was to arrive at Grassley’s office today.

It wasn’t clear, however, whether Long or the Whites would fully answer the questions. Dan Rene, a Long spokesman, says that talks were ongoing, but he would not characterize them. A spokeswoman for the Whites did not respond to requests for comment.