Indebted Andrew Wommack Ministry Wants Out Of Taxable Student Housing Agreement
TV preacher Andrew Wommack’s ministry ranks No. 1 on MinistryWatch’s list of ministries with negative net worth since racking up $25.9 million in debt building the $99 million campus of Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, up in the mountains west of Colorado Springs.
Wommack, the prosperity teacher who has said going into debt was a mistake, now wants to tear up an agreement he made with the city a decade ago to build campus student housing as a taxable private enterprise, according to an article by Debbie Kelley for The Gazette in Colorado Springs.
Charis filed paperwork requesting a change in the 2012 agreement on March 22, weeks before construction was to begin on housing scheduled to open for students in 2023.
Wommack doesn’t pay property tax on the 500-acre campus that houses Charis, Wommack’s broadcast ministry and nearly a dozen affiliated organizations and businesses, including Truth & Liberty Coalition, the 501(c)4 political organization he founded in 2017.
Wommack’s operations generate revenue for local governments and businesses, but the local fire district — whose annual budget is funded from property tax revenue — had opposed the plan for his campus development because of the strain it would put on extra services in this community of about 8,000 people. Charis has 837 full-time students, and Wommack says his operation will employ 1,453 people by 2030.
Founded in 1978, Andrew Wommack Ministries raised less than $2 million a year over radio through much of the ‘90s. TV propelled rapid growth, and Wommack’s activities generated more than $100 million in revenue in 2021, according to ministry CEO Billy Epperhart in an earlier story by Debbie Kelley.
The ministry has declined to release an audited financial report since 2019, when revenue was $68 million. That’s the same year the ministry underwent a corporate reorganization into a new parent company named New Life Association Inc. and Affiliates.
Charis’ March 24 paperwork blames the construction supervisor for the 2012 agreement, which it now calls “invalid and unenforceable.”
Charis also argued that “partnering with a for-profit entity would endanger Andrew Wommack Ministries Inc.’s tax exempt status under the Internal Revenue Service Code.”
Wommack’s request to revise the 2012 deal will be addressed at a June city council meeting. If construction begins before the issue is resolved, the student housing will be taxed.
This piece is republished with permission from MinistryWatch. Steve Rabey is a veteran author and journalist who has published more than 50 books and 2,000 articles about religion, spirituality, and culture. He was an instructor at Fuller and Denver seminaries and the U.S. Air Force Academy. He and his wife Lois live in Colorado.