

Adjacent to and listed at the same address as the Copeland mansion property is a 35-acre plot of land zoned for agricultural use.

#Pastor robert morris salary series#
The December Houston Chronicle series reported that Texas law restricts the parsonage tax exemption to one acre properties.Ĭopeland’s lakefront “one acre” parsonage sits in the midst of almost 25 acres of land while receiving a religious exemption, according to the Tarrant County Appraisal District. A year later the appraisal dropped to $7 million. tax-exempt mansion was appraised at $10,825,462. Texas Televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s parsonage has probably received the most critical news coverage of all church parsonages in America. (Photo: Copeland parsonage with boathouse in view.) In 2009, World Magazine reported, “Osteen’s first book, 2005’s Your Best Life Now, has sold an estimated 10 million copies-enough to get a $13 million advance from his publisher for his second book, Become a Better You.” Osteen could afford them because he receives book royalties. Neither of Osteen’s homes would be classified as parsonages because they are not owned by his church and are not tax-exempt. The home, located near the Pacific Ocean, is registered to a limited liability company registered in Delaware. In 2017, Osteen acquired the home in Newport Coast, CA which Trulia estimates is worth almost $7.4 million. After an extensive investigation, we located the home in 2021 with the help of an informant. In 2019, Trinity Foundation learned that Osteen purchased a home in California. (Photo: Google Satellite view of Joel Osteen’s Houston home) mansion to be worth more than $14 million. Real estate website Trulia estimates the 15,700 ft. Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, owns a home in Houston appraised for almost $12 million.

Texas Televangelist Joel Osteen lives in the most expensive home we identified. Texas Church Parsonages and Pastor Owned Homes It’s time to present some of our findings. Trinity Foundation also investigated pastor and ministry housing in other states, discovering multi-million dollar homes of several televangelists and pastors who have received little media scrutiny. If you are keeping track, that is at least 24 parsonages in Texas worth more than $1 million. At least two dozen were worth over $1 million even using the artificially low values that exempt properties typically carry.” Root’s thorough investigation uncovered startling evidence of pastors living extravagantly: “A months-long Houston Chronicle investigation of ministers’ tax-free residences found no shortage of extravagant homes in high-dollar locales.
#Pastor robert morris salary code#
Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle examined the state tax code and filed open records requests with county appraisal districts seeking lists of parsonages. Trinity Foundation compiled a list of megachurches and large media ministries in the state and then searched for parsonages and homes of pastors and ministry leaders. In April 2021 the Houston Chronicle’s Jay Root asked Trinity Foundation for assistance on an article series about church parsonages in Texas. That is one of the lessons Trinity Foundation has learned from investigating religious fraud and excess for more than 30 years. When a televangelist’s ministry or pastor’s church owns a private jet, you can almost be certain the leader lives in a mansion. (Photo: Former home of faith healer David Turner, from ) By Barry Bowen and Pete Evans, Trinity Foundation
