Televangelist Private Jets: The Pitch, the Paperwork and Who Pays

What reasons do preachers give for needing a jet?

You are watching a Christian channel late at night. A smiling preacher stands next to framed photographs of airplanes. He says he has been burning them up for the Lord, that the gospel must reach every creature, and that the Lord has spoken to him about the next one. Then he invites you to believe with him. Here is what the preachers in the public record have actually said.

"A long tube with a bunch of demons"

In a video from the last days of 2015, Kenneth Copeland and Jesse Duplantis talked about their planes. The Washington Post reported (4 June 2019) that Copeland recalled his mentor, the prosperity gospel preacher Oral Roberts, whose spirit was "agitated" by passengers asking for prayer on airliners. "You can't manage that today, in this dope-filled world, get in a long tube with a bunch of demons," Copeland said. "And it's deadly." The BBC (30 May 2018) also reported the clip.

In May 2019 Inside Edition's Lisa Guerrero asked Copeland whether he believed people were demons. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (29 May 2019), he answered: "No, I do not, and don't you ever say I did. We wrestle not with flesh and blood but principalities and powers." "It's a biblical thing. It's a spiritual thing. It doesn't have anything to do with people," he said. The Washington Post quoted his main reason: "If I flew commercial, I'd have to stop 65 percent of what I'm doing." Asked what he paid for his Gulfstream, he said, "that's really none of your business." He also said that not all of his wealth comes from donations, pointing to sales of books and DVDs and to natural gas on his property.

"He wouldn't be riding a donkey"

In the 21 May 2018 edition of his weekly video address, Jesse Duplantis asked supporters to join him in believing for a new Dassault Falcon 7X. CNN (30 May 2018) put the price at about $54 million. "I really believe that if Jesus was physically on the earth today, he wouldn't be riding a donkey," he said. The Associated Press (29 May 2018) reported that he said God told him, "I want you to believe in me for a Falcon 7X," and that he asked viewers to "pray about becoming a partner" to it. He said the plane would "touch people, it's going to reach people, it's going to change lives one soul at a time."

His practical case, reported by the BBC and The Guardian (1 June 2018), was range and cost: his older jet could not fly nonstop on long trips, so he paid "exorbitant" refuelling fees, while a longer-range plane could be flown "a lot cheaper, because I have my own fuel farm."

"Even Jesus was concerned about ports and airports"

The pitch is still being made. In March 2026, after a commercial flight to a conference in Boise was delayed by more than 10 hours, Hank Kunneman, senior pastor of Lord of Hosts Church in Omaha, Nebraska, asked his congregation and online viewers to give to a "travel the world fund" that could pay for charter flights and, if it became feasible, a jet (The Christian Post, 19 March 2026; The Roys Report, 23 March 2026). "I can't afford with my schedule and what I'm doing... to be stuck in an airport somewhere," he said. He cited Mark 3:9, where Jesus asks for a boat because of the crowd: "So even Jesus was concerned about going to certain ports and airports and things." His wife, Brenda Kunneman, told the congregation that Kenneth Copeland had once stood up at lunch and told them, "Your days of flying commercial are over."

How does a jet appeal turn into money?

The documented appeals follow the same steps. The preacher reports a word from God about a specific aircraft. He presents the plane as a tool for souls. He invites partners to "believe" or "stand" with him. Then gifts arrive, and the language of faith covers what is, in practice, a capital fundraising campaign.

The Duplantis appeal, and his answer

The BBC (30 May 2018) quoted Duplantis saying the Lord told him: "I didn't ask you to pay for it. I asked you to believe for it." In a follow-up video reported by The Christian Post (5 June 2018) he rejected the idea that he had asked for money:

"First things first, I never raised money for the plane. I put it in our magazine and said, 'Believe in God with me.' There is a vast difference between 'Believe in God' and asking for money... I am not asking you to pay for my plane. The Lord said, 'I didn't ask you to pay for it, I asked you to believe for it.' That is what I said. So I am believing and I want you to believe with me."

In the same video he said some people had called asking to "get involved in that new plane you are believing for," and that he told them, "Well, that is up to you." He said he had never "duped" anybody, that the coverage was not a scandal, and that he had done nothing wrong. He told Good Morning America, as The Guardian reported, that the plane was for "preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with luxurious," that he owned only one plane at the time, and that he would give his old jet away once the new one came.

That is his side, and you should weigh it. You should also notice the mechanics. The appeal named a model of aircraft, ran in the ministry's magazine and video, invited viewers, in the Associated Press's report of his words, to "pray about becoming a partner", and left the door open for gifts. A partner who sends money after hearing "believe with me" for a plane has, in practice, given toward the plane.

The Copeland Gulfstream and the "harvest"

In January 2018 Copeland announced that his ministry had bought a Gulfstream V from the filmmaker Tyler Perry. The Washington Post reported that the ministry's blog post, "Glory to God! It's Ours! The Gulfstream V is in our hands!", thanked donors and said there was more to do: about $2.5 million in upgrades, a new hangar, runway renovations and "special GV maintenance equipment." The post told partners, "The Copelands, the KCM staff, the leadership team and I are pressing for your harvest and our harvest as a team. Let's be aggressive in our faith, in our giving and in our harvesting!"

That word "harvest" is the hinge of the whole model. In seed-faith teaching a gift is a seed, and the giver is promised a harvest in return. Our page on the prosperity gospel explains where the idea comes from and why the Church rejects it. When a jet appeal speaks of "your harvest," the donor is being told that giving toward the plane will bring something back to him.

The appeal that was pulled

In 2015 Creflo Dollar asked his followers to help raise about $65 million for a Gulfstream G650 (The Washington Post, 4 June 2019), and, as The Roys Report put it, "quickly retreated in the face of criticism." Our page on Creflo Dollar covers that campaign and his response in full.

Who actually owns a televangelist's jet?

On paper, almost never the preacher. The jet belongs to the church, the ministry or a company set up to hold it. That is how Duplantis could say in 2018 that the Falcon would "belong to the ministry," as the BBC reported. Public records show what this looks like.

• Duplantis's Falcon 7X. The Federal Aviation Administration registry, checked in October 2026, lists a 2008 Dassault Falcon 7X, tail number N7JD, registered to Voice of the Covenant Church Inc of Destrehan, Louisiana, with Jesse Duplantis Ministries as another owner name. Its current registration certificate was issued on 27 November 2023. CNN described the 2018 appeal as being for a brand new Falcon 7X. The registered plane was built in 2008. The ministry has not published what it paid.
• Copeland's Gulfstream V. The Pastors and Planes list for September 2026 shows the Gulfstream G-V, tail number N1967J, registered to Eagle Mountain International Church, the church Copeland founded. The Trinity Foundation reported that Tarrant County appraised the jet at $10.3 million and that it is kept in a hangar at Fort Worth Alliance Airport. The same list shows a Pilatus PC-12 and a Beech E-55 under the church's name.
• Holding companies. Other aircraft on the same list are registered to companies with names such as Kingdom Heir Aviation LLC or JFM Air II LLC, linked by the list to individual preachers.

Registering a plane to a church is legal, and it has real consequences for you as a donor. The Star-Telegram put it plainly in 2019: Kenneth Copeland Ministries' "financial information is not public record because it is a church." If a ministry owns the plane, the ministry's donors paid for it, and the ministry's donors have no public document showing what it cost, who flew on it, or where it went.

Why can't donors see what the jet costs?

Because US tax law treats churches differently from every other charity. The Internal Revenue Service's Publication 1828, its Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations, lists churches first among organisations "not required to file Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N." Form 990 is the public return that shows what a charity earns, what it spends, and what it pays its leaders. A hospital, a food bank or a mission agency that is not a church files one. A ministry organised as a church does not.

The law still sets limits. The same IRS guide says churches are "prohibited from engaging in activities that result in inurement of the church's or organization's income or assets to insiders," that insiders "could include the minister", and that "the prohibition against inurement to insiders is absolute." MinistryWatch adds that personal use of a ministry aircraft is "not strictly prohibited by IRS regulations, but the use of the aircraft would have to be counted as income."

Enforcement is rare. The IRS guide explains that it may only start a church tax inquiry if "an appropriate high-level Treasury Department official reasonably believes," on a written statement of the facts, that the church may not qualify for exemption or may owe tax on business income. MinistryWatch reports that fewer than 10,000 of nearly 2 million tax-exempt organisations are audited in a typical year.

A Senate committee looked at this between 2007 and 2011. Senator Chuck Grassley's Finance Committee review of six televangelist ministries, opened in November 2007, raised questions about the personal use of church-owned airplanes and ended in January 2011 with no penalties and no definitive findings of wrongdoing (Associated Press via NBC News, 7 January 2011); our pages on Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Eddie Long and Creflo Dollar set out what each ministry said and did.

What do the watchdogs track?

Since nobody files public accounts, watchdogs follow the planes instead. The Trinity Foundation, a ministry watchdog in Dallas, logs flights by ministry aircraft. Its researcher Barry Bowen compiles the figures, and MinistryWatch publishes them each month as Pastors and Planes.

The list for September 2026, published on 23 October 2026, reported:

• 56 planes owned by more than 40 ministries were being tracked.
• They made 316 flights in September, the lowest since February, after 401 in August and 442 in July.
• Estimated operating costs were about $1.16 million for the month. That figure leaves out the price of the planes.
• Jesse Duplantis Ministries' Falcon 7X made 11 flights. Copeland's Gulfstream G-V made five.

Be fair with these numbers. The list includes Liberty University, the Assemblies of God and Samaritan's Purse alongside televangelists, and MinistryWatch says plainly that "some Christian ministries, especially disaster relief and missionary organizations, have legitimate uses for airplanes." It also warns that operating costs are estimates, that it cannot be sure "who is using these planes, or for what purpose," and that the list does not show whether a flight was for ministry or for personal use.

Its judgment is still clear: "MinistryWatch considers the use of private aircraft for the transportation of executives and staff to be excessive. It should be a significant red flag for donors."

Bowen gave practical advice when Hank Kunneman launched his travel fund in March 2026. He told The Roys Report that money given to such a fund should be treated as a restricted donation, that Kunneman should be transparent about what is raised and where it goes, and that spending it on anything other than travel could possibly be considered fraud. That standard works for any appeal: money given for a stated purpose should go to that purpose, and you should be able to confirm it did.

Is there an honest case for a ministry plane?

Yes, and you should hear it. Relief agencies fly doctors and supplies into disaster zones. A missionary in a remote region may have no other way in. Duplantis argued that a longer-range jet with its own fuel supply could cost less per trip than refuelling stops. Supporters of private travel, as The Roys Report noted in March 2026, say it lets leaders keep demanding schedules and reach wider audiences.

The test is what the plane is for and how openly it is run. An honest ministry with a plane can tell you what it cost, who decided to buy it, what it flies, and whether staff ever use it for private trips and pay the ministry back. It does not need a word from God about a particular model of aircraft, and it does not promise you a harvest for paying toward it.

What are the red flags in a jet appeal?

• A divine order for a brand. The preacher says God named a specific aircraft. A real need is described by the job to be done, and a board compares options.
• "Believe with me" plus a way to give. If the appeal says it is not asking for money, but runs next to a giving link, a partner offer or a magazine feature, it is asking for money.
• A harvest promised to you. Any suggestion that your gift toward the plane will come back to you as blessing, healing or money is seed-faith teaching. God's gifts are not for sale (Acts 8:20).
• No audited accounts. Ask for the ministry's audited financial statements. Churches are not required to publish them. Good ones do anyway.
• A board of relatives. If the people who approve the plane are the preacher's family and friends, no one independent is checking the spending.
• Vacation flights. Copeland told Inside Edition he used his jets to visit his vacation homes. Ask whether the ministry's aircraft are ever used for private travel, and whether that use is reported as income.
• "That's none of your business." If the cost of an asset you helped pay for is treated as a secret, give elsewhere.

How to check a ministry yourself

1. Search the ministry on MinistryWatch, which rates the transparency of large ministries.
2. Ask whether it is accredited by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, an independent accrediting group for churches and religious nonprofits.
3. Look up any tail number on the FAA registry at registry.faa.gov to see who owns the plane.
4. Ask the ministry in writing for its audited accounts and its aircraft use policy. Keep the reply, or note the silence.
5. If you gave toward a stated purpose and suspect the money went elsewhere, you can report it to the IRS on Form 13909, its complaint form for tax-exempt organisations, and to your state attorney general.

What does the Bible say about preachers and private jets?

Duplantis said that Jesus "wouldn't be riding a donkey" today. Matthew 21:4-5 tells us the donkey was a choice. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on it to fulfil Zechariah 9:9, which describes the king coming humble, mounted on a donkey. The humility was the message. The same Lord said, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head" (Luke 9:58).

Kunneman's verse, Mark 3:9, is real: Jesus asked for a boat to be ready "because of the crowd, lest they should crush him." Read on and you find him sitting in a boat to teach the crowd on the shore (Mark 4:1). The crowd was the people he came to serve. Nothing in the passage asks them to buy him a better boat.

Paul warns against those "imagining that godliness is a means of gain" (1 Timothy 6:5), and Peter tells shepherds to tend the flock "not for shameful gain but eagerly" (1 Peter 5:2). Jesus sent the Twelve out with the rule that what they had received for free, they must give for free (Matthew 10:8).

Catholics have no reason for smugness here. Catholic parishes are also churches under US tax law and are not required to file Form 990 either. Canon law asks more of them: every parish is to have a finance council (canon 537), and administrators are to render an account to the faithful of the goods they give to the Church (canon 1287 §2). Ask your own parish and diocese for their financial reports. The standard you apply to a television ministry should apply at home.

Then pray, for the preachers as well as for the people who give to them. Our pages on false prophets and wolves in sheep's clothing explain how to test a teacher. Wealth by itself proves nothing either way. What you can test is the pitch: a ministry that sells you a harvest in exchange for a plane is selling you something God never put on the market.

Sources

• CNN, "This televangelist is asking his followers to buy him a $54 million private jet", by AJ Willingham, 30 May 2018.
• Associated Press via KRCR, "Evangelist wants $54M jet: 'Jesus wouldn't be riding donkey'", 29 May 2018.
• BBC News, "US preacher asks followers to help buy fourth private jet", 30 May 2018.
• The Guardian, "Jet-set Jesus: televangelist to donate old private jet when he gets new $54m one", by Arwa Mahdawi, 1 June 2018.
• The Christian Post, "Jesse Duplantis Says He Didn't Ask Followers to Pay for $54M Jet, but 'Believe' It Into Existence", by Samuel Smith, 5 June 2018.
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "Kenneth Copeland defends use of 3 private planes in interview", by Kaley Johnson, 29 May 2019.
• The Washington Post via the Florida Times-Union, "Wealthy televangelist explains his fleet of private jets: 'It's a biblical thing'", by Michael Brice-Saddler, 4 June 2019.
• Associated Press via NBC News, "Televangelists escape penalty in Senate inquiry", by Rachel Zoll, 7 January 2011.
• The Christian Post, "Pastor Hank Kunneman starts travel fund to buy jet after commercial flight delay", by Leonardo Blair, 19 March 2026.
• The Roys Report, "Pastor and self-described prophet Hank Kunneman seeks 'travel fund' to buy ministry jet", by Mark A. Kellner, 23 March 2026.
• MinistryWatch and the Trinity Foundation, "Pastors and Planes: September", 23 October 2026.
• Federal Aviation Administration, Aircraft Registry, N-number inquiry for N7JD, accessed 29 October 2026.
• Internal Revenue Service, Publication 1828, Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations (revision of August 2015, current edition on irs.gov), accessed 29 October 2026.

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