What is Creflo Dollar's Net Worth?
Creflo Dollar is a pastor and televangelist who has a net worth of $30 million. Creflo Dollar founded the Christian non-denominational Georgia-based ministry World Changers Church International. He also heads a number of other organizations, including the Creflo Dollar Ministerial Association and Arrow Records. Dollar is highly controversial for his promotion of prosperity theology, and has been widely criticized for his exorbitant lifestyle and refusal to disclose his financial information.
Early Life and Education
Creflo Dollar Jr. was born on January 28, 1962 in College Park, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. For his higher education, he went to West Georgia College, now the University of West Georgia. Dollar graduated with his bachelor's degree in education, and went on to earn master's and doctoral degrees in counseling.
Ministerial Career
In 1986, Dollar began developing World Changers Ministries Christian Center, and held its first worship service in the cafeteria of Kathleen Mitchell Elementary School in his hometown of College Park. Eight people were in attendance at the time. Dollar eventually renamed the ministry World Changers Church International and moved his congregation to a chapel. In addition to holding four services every Sunday, he ran a weekly radio broadcast. In 1990, Dollar launched the syndicated television show "Changing Your World" to go along with his ministry. Five years later, on Christmas Eve, World Changers Church International moved into an 8,500-seat facility called the World Dome, which was built for close to $20 million, allegedly without any bank financing. The congregation was reported to have around 30,000 members by 2007. Later, in 2012, Dollar leased Loews Paradise Theater in New York City's Bronx borough for a new church location. He also has a slew of satellite churches in such cities as Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Dallas, and Indianapolis.
(Photo By Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Controversies
Dollar is highly controversial for his teachings of prosperity theology, which posits that material wealth and physical wellbeing are determined by God, and as such can be improved via faith and monetary donations. Leaders from several Christian denominations have denounced prosperity theology for being irresponsible, exploitative, and contrary to the teachings of the Bible. Like other pastors who espouse the ideology, Dollar has used his ministerial earnings to fund a lavish lifestyle. In addition to multiple million-dollar homes in Atlanta, New Jersey, and Manhattan, he owns a private jet and two Rolls-Royces. Dollar has also been widely criticized for refusing to disclose his salary or any financial information pertaining to his ministries. Consequently, he received an "F" grade for financial transparency from the evangelical Christian organization Ministry Watch.
In 2007, Dollar was among six televangelists to be listed in the United States Senate inquiry into the tax-exempt status of religious organizations, an investigation led by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Grassley requested financial information to determine whether Dollar had made any personal profit from financial donations to his ministries, but Dollar refused to turn the information over. He argued that it was the IRS's job to investigate the finances of religious groups, not the Senate Finance Committee's. Three other televangelists under investigation were similarly uncooperative, and the probe ended in 2011 without any charges made. Later, in the summer of 2022, Dollar elicited more controversy when he publicly retracted his views that Christians should be obligated to pay tithe in church, saying that he had misled people with his teachings.
Project G650 Campaign
In March 2014 Creflo earned significant negative headlines after it was revealed that he had launched a fundraiser called "Project G650 Campaign" with the goal of raising money so he could buy one of the most expensive private jets in the world, with a new sticker price of $65 million.
Personal Life
With his wife Taffi, Dollar has five children and resides in Atlanta, Georgia. In mid-2012, he was arrested for allegedly choking and punching one of his daughters, who was 15 at the time. The charges were dropped in early 2013 after Dollar attended classes for anger management.
