| Joyce Meyer |
Article Index for Joyce |
Website Links For Joyce |
Information AboutJoyce Meyer |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT JOYCE MEYER | |
| 1943 births | |
| living people | |
| christian writers | |
| meyer, joyce | |
| television evangelists | |
| people from st. louis, missouri | |
| american pentecostals | |
Pauline Joyce Hutchison Meyer, usually known as '''Joyce Meyer''' (born on June 4 , 1943 ) is a Charismatic Christian Author and Speaker . Her Television and Radio programs air in 25 languages in 200 countries. She has written over 70 books on Christianity and Theology . Joyce and her husband, Dave, have four grown children, and live in St. Louis, Missouri . Her ministry is headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri . BIOGRAPHY Meyer was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1943. Her father went into the Army to fight in World War II soon after she was born. Meyer has said in interviews that he began molesting her upon his return. She often talks about her experience in her meetings.1 A graduate of O'Fallon Technical High School in St. Louis, she married a part-time car salesman shortly after her senior year of high school. The marriage lasted five years. She maintains that he frequently cheated on her and persuaded her to steal payroll checks from her employer. They used the money to go on a vacation to California , she claims to have returned the money years later. After her divorce, Meyer frequented local bars before meeting Dave Meyer, an engineering draftsman. They celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2007. Meyer also reports that she was praying intensely while driving to work one morning in 1976 when she said she heard God call her name. She had been Born-again at age nine, but her unhappiness drove her deeper into her faith. She says that she came home later that day from a beauty appointment "full of liquid love" and spoke in tongues that night while at the local bowling alley. She began leading an early-morning Bible class at a local cafeteria and became active in Life Christian Center, a charismatic church in Fenton. Within a few years, Meyer was the church's associate pastor. The church became one of the leading charismatic churches in the area, largely because of her popularity as a Bible teacher. She also began airing a daily 15-minute radio broadcast on a St. Louis radio station. In 1985 , Meyer resigned as associate pastor and founded her own ministry, initially called "Life in the Word". She began airing her radio show on six other stations from Chicago to Kansas City . In 1993 , her husband Dave suggested that they start a television ministry. Initially airing on Superstation WGN-TV in Chicago and BET , her program, now called "Enjoying Everyday Life," now reaches a potential audience of 3 billion people around the world. In 2004 a local St. Louis christian television station knlc - channel 24 operated by the Rev. Larry Rice of New Life Evangelistic Center who had close ties with Joyce Meyer notifed Joyce Meyer Ministries that they would no longer carry her program "Life in the word". Larry Rice is cited saying that the "excessive life style" and teachings which often "go beyond scripture" were the impetus for canceling her program.http://www.rickross.com/reference/meyer/meyer1.html In late 2000, she opened "St. Louis Dream Center", a social service outreach and ministry in the O'Fallon Park section of St. Louis. TEACHING Meyer's teaching style is not like that of the stereotypical charismatic Christian speaker. In style and delivery, she resembles a Southern Baptist . She frequently talks about overcoming obstacles and finding strength to deal with difficult circumstances. She shares her views on how to deal with everyday life situations, often drawing on her own experiences. Meyer speaks candidly and with a sense of humor, sharing with her audience her own shortcomings and taking playful jabs at stereotypical church behavior, delivered in her working-class St. Louis accent. CRITICISM Meyer is often criticized for living an opulent lifestyle. She claims that she doesn't have to defend her spending habits because "there’s no need for us to apologize for being blessed",2 that she makes much more than she spends on herself from book sale royalties alone and contributes much of it to the ministry.3 However, many of her spending habits could constitute Inurement under US federal laws and IRS regulations. According to a 2003 series in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch , her ministry spent $4 million from 1999 to 2003 on five homes for the Meyer family. The ministry pays for all utilities, maintenance and landscaping costs. Joyce and Dave live in a large, $2 million, 10,000 square-foot property with a large fountain, gazebo, private putting green, pool, poolhouse and an independently cooled garage. Meyer told the ''Post-Dispatch'' that with her being on the road most of the time, she doesn't have time to take care of maintenance issues herself. The Post-Dispatch retracted the statement that the ministries pay for all utilities and maintenance and landscaping costs. The Meyers bought several items in the early 21st century that are held by an irrevocable trust in order to guard against financial problems in the ministry. Among them are a $500,000 lakefront home on Lake Of The Ozarks , a $107,000 Mercedes for Dave Meyer, and a $130,000 house for Joyce's parents. In response to financial criticisms, Joyce Meyer Ministries have a commitment to transparency in financial dealings,4 {Link without Title} publish their annual reports,5 have a Board majority who are not relatives6 and submit to a voluntary annual audit.7 Currently this ministry is receiving a "C" rating (81-90) in financial transparency from Ministry Watch .8 In May 2001, Joyce Meyer Ministries hired a convicted child molestor named Richard Leroy Jones to work as a pastor in her youth ministry known as "The Dream Center". The ministry was reportedly aware of Jones' criminal record when he was hired, but believed that he was not a danger to the children because he was not allowed to be alone with them.910 POST-DISPATCH RETRACTION In 2005 , Joyce Meyer Ministries complained that two articles about the ministry--one in the paper's May 1st edition, the other in the April 18th edition--contained factual errors. Editors reviewed a transcript from a ministry press conference held by the ministry, records cited in the stories and Tuft's notes. They discovered what they claimed to be numerous errors, and issued a 577-word apology in the June 19 edition. The paper also reprimanded the stories' writer, Carolyn Tuft, and suspended her for five days without pay. However, the Post-Dispatch stands by its reporting in the 2003 series, much of which was written by Tuft.11 An arbirtrator later reversed the suspension, but found that Tuft's errors were serious enough to warrant a written reprimand. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/01-23-2007/0004511284&EDATE= BIBLIOGRAPHY/FURTHER READING
FOOTNOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|