- Feb 18, 2008 The Associated Press.
Financial Woes Force Church To Sell Private Jet
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (AP) ”• Dwindling donations to the Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park have prompted its high-profile pastor, Mac Hammond, to put his private business jet on the market.
Church spokesman the Rev. Brian Sullivan says Living Word has also cut its hourlong Sunday morning television broadcast to 30 minutes to save money.
He says the church has fallen $40,000 to $70,000 short of its weekly budget in recent weeks. Sullivan says the church is adjusting its budget accordingly.
Sullivan says the church’s problems could be a combination of the recession and the recent bad publicity about churches preaching the “Prosperity Gospel.”
The prosperity churches are based on the idea that success in business or personal life is evidence of God’s love.
Late last year, the U.S. Senate asked six churches to submit financial documents because of complaints about the lavish lifestyles of their ministers. Hammond was not among them.
Sullivan says the church is aggressively marketing the jet, and that the money raised from the sale would be reinvested in the ministry.