When a pastor lives extravagantly, it is appropriate to ask, “How does the pastor finance his luxurious lifestyle?”
Historically, America’s richest pastors obtained their wealth by authoring bestselling books.
However, an increasing number of pastors are generating wealth through life coaching.
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Keith Craft
One of America’s wealthiest pastors is Keith Craft who leads Elevate Life Church in Frisco, Texas. Craft charges clients $84,000 annually to participate in his Life Mastery Mastermind.
Craft owns two houses in Texas, two vacation homes in Destin, Florida, a mountain home in Colorado, a yacht, and a Cessna 650 jet.
Trinity Foundation estimates Craft’s property holdings to be worth at least $13 million.
Before becoming a pastor and life coach, Craft recorded a Christian rock album and joined Power Team, a group of Christian bodybuilders that shared their testimonies on TV and to church audiences across the United States.
Craft is an entrepreneurial pastor having started businesses that include Servant Leadership, LLC operating Craft Yacht Charters and Kingdom Heir Aviation LLC which owns Craft’s jet. The Cessna 650 is available for charter through Trinity Private Jet Charter.
Nicole Crank
Author Nicole Crank charges $16,999 for her Inner Circle Mastermind, and that doesn’t include all the travel expenses.
Nicole Crank’s husband, David Crank, is pastor of Faith Church with campuses in Florida, Illinois and Missouri. The Cranks own a beach house mansion (over 11,000-square feet) in Ocean Ridge, Florida, worth $5.6 million, according to real estate website Zillow.
Hope Carpenter
While Craft holds expensive in-person coaching sessions at a beach house or his mountain home and Crank utilizes a 15-acre retreat in Tennessee, other life coaches provide lower priced coaching online.
Hope Carpenter, wife of televangelist Ron Carpenter, charges $29 per month and the first month is free. Hope is married to televangelist Ron Carpenter who pastors Redemption Fellowship in San Jose, California, and Greenville, South Carolina.
Ron Carpenter’s personal website reports that he is a mentor to CEOs, but the website does not disclose a fee for mentoring or life coaching.
John Maxwell
John Maxwell serves as teaching pastor at Christ Fellowship Church which has 11 campuses in Florida.
Maxwell is a popular speaker at leadership conferences due to having sold more than 25 million books on the topic. The John Maxwell Company specializes in executive or business coaching, which overlaps with life coaching because communications skills are critical in both areas.
The John Maxwell Company provides a certification program for executive coaches, speakers and trainers. According to ThePricer, “The core tuition fee for the John Maxwell Certification is $2,495 when paid upfront.” When coaching, textbook and travel expenses are added, the total can reach $4,000.
What is a Mastermind?
Many life coaches refer to their coaching sessions as Mastermind events. Self help author Napoleon Hill popularized the concept with his book, Think and Grow Rich.
Hill recommended that his readers create groups of likeminded people which he called a “master mind” to pursue personal and intellectual growth.
Hills writings, which popularized the law of attraction, have been embraced by both televangelists and occult practitioners.
The financially extravagant lifestyle
Is God glorified in pastors obtaining wealth from their congregations?
The lifestyle of prosperity gospel preachers and megachurch pastors are often in conflict with Bible verses teaching Christians to pursue humility.
Micah 6:8 says: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Originally published at the Trinity Foundation
