| Pauline Joyce Hutchison Meyer | |
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 Meyer teaching at the Hillsong Conference in Kiev on October 4, 2007 |
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| Born | June 4, 1943 St. Louis, Missouri U.S. |
| Pen name | Joyce Meyer |
| Occupation | Author Speaker Televangelist |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Spouse(s) | Dave Meyer |
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Influences
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| Official website | |
Pauline Joyce Hutchison Meyer, more commonly 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, and she has written over 70 books on Christianity. Joyce and her husband Dave have been married since January 7, 1967, have four grown children, and live near St. Louis, Missouri. Her ministry is headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri.
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Joyce Meyer formerly was a member of a congregation of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.[1]
Meyer 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 converted to Christianity 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 was "drunk with the Spirit of God" (and spoke in tongues) that night while at the local bowling alley.
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," reaches a large audience.{fact}}
In 2004 St. Louis Christian television station KNLC, operated by the Rev. Larry Rice of New Life Evangelistic Center, dropped Meyer's programming. Rice had been a longstanding Meyer supporter, but claimed that her "excessive lifestyle" and teachings which often go "beyond Scripture" were the impetus for canceling her program.{fact}}
In 2005, Time magazine's 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America ranked Joyce Meyer as 17th.[3]
Meyer 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.[citation needed]
According to Joyce Meyer Ministries, Meyer earned her doctorate degree from Life Christian University in Tampa, Florida.[4] LCU is not accredited by a governmental agency recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Education.[5] Meyer has been given an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity by an accredited institution, Oral Roberts University, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[4]Critics question the legitimacy of Meyer's theological education.[6][7]
In 2005, Joyce Meyer Ministries complained that two articles about the ministry—one in the St. Louis Post Dispatch's May 1 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. An arbitrator later reversed the suspension, but found that Tuft's errors were serious enough to warrant a written reprimand. [8]
Meyer, who owns several homes and travels in a private jet (currently a Gulfstream IV),[9][10] has been criticized by some of her peers for living an excessive 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."[9] Meyer commented, "You can be a businessman here in St. Louis, and people think the more you have, the more wonderful it is...but if you’re a preacher, then all of a sudden it becomes a problem."[9]
In January 2004, Meyer announced plans to take a reduced salary in 2004 and personally use more of the income derived from her outside book sales. Until January 2004, Meyer received a salary from her organization and donated all her book royalties back to Joyce Meyer Ministries. She now retains royalties on books sold outside the ministry through retail outlets such as Wal-Mart, amazon.com, and Christian bookstores, while continuing to donate to her ministry royalties from books sold through her conferences, catalogues, website, and television program.[11][12]
Joyce Meyer Ministries has made a commitment to maintain transparency in financial dealings,[13] publish their annual reports,[14] have a Board majority who are not Meyer relatives[15] and submit to a voluntary annual audit.[13][16] Currently this ministry is receiving a "C" rating (81-90) in financial transparency from Ministry Watch.[17]
On November 6, 2007, United States senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa announced an investigation of Meyer's ministry by the United States Senate Committee on Finance.[18] Grassley asked for the ministry to divulge financial information[19][20] to the committee to determine if Meyer made any personal profit from financial donations, citing such expenses as a $23,000 commode, a $30,000 conference table and requested that Meyer's ministry make the information available by December 6, 2007. The investigation also aimed to scrutinize five other televangelists: Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Eddie L. Long, Paula White, and Creflo Dollar.[18]
The ministry website explains that the $23,000 commode was a chest of drawers purchased at $230.00 among 68 pieces of furniture that were purchased for their offices. Their website states, "The $23,000 purchase price of this chest of drawers was actually an errant value assigned by the selling agent after the transaction was complete for the entire sixty-eight piece lot. Joyce Meyer Ministries humbly regrets not paying closer attention to specific 'assigned values' placed on those pieces that have now led to gross misrepresentations." [21]
Joyce Meyer Ministries responded with a newsletter to its e-mail list subscribers on November 9, 2007. The organization referred to its annual financial reports, asserting that, in 2006, the ministry spent 82 percent of its total expenses "for outreach and program services toward reaching people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as attested by independent accounting firm Stanfield & O'Dell, LLP." The message also quoted an October 10, 2007 letter from the Internal Revenue Service which stated, "We determined that you [Joyce Meyer Ministries] continue to qualify as an organization exempt from Federal income tax under IRC section 501(c)(3)." The same information was also posted to the ministry website.
In 2009, Joyce Meyer Ministries received accreditation from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). In an announcement on 12 March 2009, the ECFA said that Joyce Meyer Ministries and Oral Roberts University had met its requirements of "'responsible stewardship,' which involves ministries' financial accountability, transparency, board governance and fund-raising practices."[22]
In May 2001, Joyce Meyer Ministries hired a convicted child molester named Richard Leroy Jones to work as a pastor in its "Dream Center" youth ministry. The ministry was reportedly aware of Jones's 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. Jones left the ministry in 2003, shortly after his criminal history was reported in local news outlets.[23][24]
   | Ministry Watch - Joyce Meyer/ JMM/ Enjoying Every Day Life/ Life in the Word |
| | Meyer traces her fervor to early abuse, alcohol - Meyer traces her fervor to early abuse, alcohol |
| | "To our readers, an apology" - "To our readers, an apology" |
| | Joyce Meyer Responds to Critics, Shifts Income Source - Joyce Meyer Responds to Critics, Shifts Income Source - Christianity Today magazine - ChristianityTodayLibrary.com |
| | Child sex abuser quits Meyer ministry - Child sex abuser quits Meyer ministry - STLtoday.com |
| | Meyer's ministry withdraws program from Channel 24. - Meyer's ministry withdraws program from Channel 24 |
| | Joyce Meyer Biography - Joyce Meyer Books and Ministry |
| | Televangelists Living Like Kings? - Televangelists Living Like Kings? - CBS News |
| | Senator Probes Megachurches' Finances by Kathy Lohr - Senator Probes Megachurches' Finances : NPR |
| | Christianity Today - Joyce Meyer Responds to Critics, Shifts Income Source | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction |
| | Everyday Life Broadcast with Joyce Meyer online - Joyce Meyer Ministries, Enjoying Everyday Life, Christian Video Online, Television Ministry |
| | inurement - Inurement/Private Benefit - Charitable Organizations |
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