Televangelist Kenneth Copeland is the wealthiest pastor in America. He is alleged to have a net worth of $760 million. Several years ago, the Houston Chronicle found out that he had been living in a $7 million mega-mansion tax-free. Copeland lives in an 18,000-square-foot home with six bedrooms and six bathrooms in an exclusive lake community outside Fort Worth.
This luxurious mansion, Copeland’s primary residence, is built on one acre of land and surrounded by a 24-acre lakefront tract. According to the Chronicle, it has an “extraordinarily low” value of $1250,000. Because of this low valuation, Copeland’s Eagle Mountain International Church—founded in 1967 and which technically owns the home—pays less than $3,000 a year in property taxes.
The extremely low value was agreed upon by the Tarrant Appraisal District in Fort Worth as part of a dispute resolution agreement with the church. However, real estate experts said that the waterfront property in an open market would actually sell for millions. Copeland has claimed the mansion as a “clergy residence,” and so the home qualified for a 100% tax break.
Under normal circumstances, Copeland would otherwise have an annual property tax exceeding $150,000. Kenneth Copeland, who’s been married three times and named his ministry after himself, has previously said that when people drive by his house, “they will know there is a God.” HE delivered this line in a speech he gave at his 2015 Southwest Believers’ Convention in Fort Worth.
At this convention, Copeland claimed that he began the process of building the palatial estate when God told him years earlier to build a dream home that his wife, Gloria, had described to him. “Minister this house to her,” he quoted. “It is part of your prosperity.” Gloria selected a three-story estate with long white columns in front. The massive home also features a tennis court, two garages, and a covered boat dock with three slips, all located on the shores of Eagle Lake.
The televangelist said “You may think that house is too big. You may think it’s too grand. I don’t care what you think. I heard from heaven. Glory to God, hallelujah!’” The property was built in 1999 and “has a sweeping spiral staircase and a bridge that spans across the living room and connects the two sides of the house,” according to a 2011 report by the US Senate Finance Committee.
The mansion “also has crystal chandeliers and, according to Gloria Copeland, doors that ‘came from a castle,’ along with a ‘huge drop-down ceiling projector and screen’ in the bedroom.” “I’m a very wealthy man,” Copeland said in a May 2019 interview, during which she questioned him over his “luxury” lifestyle and refusal to travel on commercial airplanes. He responded “It takes a lot of money to do what we do. We have brought over 122 million people to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Copeland’s beliefs are built on the idea that God wants everyone to be “financially successful.” Copeland has been at the center of controversy before. Pete Evans, president of the religious accountability organization Trinity Foundation, said “The law was never intended to give breaks to millionaires and multimillionaires,” he told the Chronicle. “You make a mockery of the law itself.”