Creflo Augustus Dollar, Jr. (born January 28, 1962) is an American televangelist, pastor, and the founder of the non-denominational World Changers Church International based in College Park, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Dollar also heads the Creflo Dollar Ministerial Association (formerly called International Covenant Ministries), Creflo Dollar Ministries, and Arrow Records.
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Biography
In 1984, Dollar received a Bachelor of Science degree in education from West Georgia College in Carrollton.
Dollar began developing World Changers Ministries Christian Center in 1986. He held the church's first worship service in the cafeteria of Kathleen Mitchell Elementary School in College Park, with eight people in attendance. He later renamed the ministry as World Changers Church International (WCCI), and the congregation moved from the cafeteria to a dedicated chapel. Four services were held each Sunday, and Creflo added a weekly radio broadcast. On December 24, 1995, WCCI moved into its present location, the 8,500-seat facility known as the World Dome. The church has said that the nearly $20 million World Dome was built without any bank financing. As of 2007, the congregation reported having around 30,000 members, and $70 million in revenue (gross cash collections) for 2006.
In June 2012, Dollar was arrested in an alleged attack on his daughter, according to the Fayette County, Georgia, Sheriff's Office. The charges were dropped in January 2013 after he attended anger management classes. The Fayette County Police Department released details of a 911 call.
In October 2012, Creflo Dollar Ministries leased Loews Paradise Theater in The Bronx for a new church location in New York.
Dollar also speaks at conferences and is an author, writing about his gospel of wealth and his involvement in televangelism.
Dollar and his wife, Taffi, have five children and live in Atlanta.
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Finances and Prosperity Gospel teachings
Dollar is known for his controversial teachings regarding prosperity theology. He has long been criticized for living a lavish lifestyle; he owns two Rolls-Royces, a private jet, and real estate such as a million-dollar home in Atlanta, a $2.5 million home in Demarest, New Jersey, and a $2.5 million home in Manhattan, which he sold for $3.75 million in 2012. Dollar has refused to disclose his salary. For failing to disclose any financial information, Creflo Dollar Ministries received a grade of "F" (failing) for financial transparency by the organization Ministry Watch.
Dollar was among six televangelists who were the subject of a 2007 investigation led by United States Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa as ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. Grassley asked for financial information to determine whether Dollar made any personal profit from financial donations and requested that Dollar's ministry make the information available by December 6, 2007. The investigation also asked for information from five other televangelists: Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Eddie L. Long, Joyce Meyer, and Paula White. Dollar contested the probe, arguing that the proper governmental entity to examine religious groups is the IRS, not the Committee on Finance. Dollar and three others were not cooperative, and the probe concluded in 2011 without any charges.
On November 24, 2014, Dollar's private Gulfstream III jet, N103CD, ran off the runway at Biggin Hill Airport, United Kingdom. There were no serious injuries. To replace the old jet, Dollar launched a fundraising campaign to get his followers to pay approximately $60,000,000 for a new Gulfstream G650 jet. He suggested his followers each commit to giving "$300 or more." The jet he wanted was the "fastest plane ever built in civilian aviation" at that time. After receiving immediate backlash, Dollar ended his fundraising campaign. The project was kept as an option on the donation page of the ministry's website. Several months later, the board of World Changers Church International announced that they were ready to acquire a Gulfstream G650.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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