“Mark and Bev Tindall” <> wrote in message news:<>…

ATLANTA CONSTITUTION: The Rev. Creflo Dollar Jr. has unabashedly embraced his name by building a religious empire on the message that his brand of piety leads to prosperity. He drives a black Rolls-Royce,

flies to speaking engagements across the nation and Europe in a $5 million private jet and lives in a $1 million home behind iron gates in an upscale Atlanta neighborhood.

Dollar seems to have it all and says his followers can, too – riches on earth as well as in heaven.

“We settle for being broke, for being poor, for being in debt,” the 38-year-old pastor of World Changers Church International in College Park said in a recent sermon. “I’ve heard people in church say, ‘I may

not have this, I may not have that, but praise the Lord when I get to heaven on the other side.’ Well, honey, God wants you to get it on this side.”

The World Changers campus sits on a slight hill, its gleaming dome rising over the area like a golden spaceship. The parking lot looks as

large as a stadium’s. Other buildings ring the church, from a day care

center to a large former strip shopping center that has been renovated

into office space for World Changers.

Inside the church is a lobby befitting a five-star hotel. Chairs are scattered about on baby blue carpet thick enough to muffle the sound of the stadium-size crowd arriving for a Sunday service.

The congregation is metro Atlanta’s second-largest, with 20,000 members. In the sanctuary, rows of cushioned seats, enough for 8,000 people, face a stage big enough to hold an orchestra.

At the end of each row rests a white plastic container, as big as a mop bucket, for offerings. There are no visible traditional Christian symbols – no cross, no image of Jesus, no stained-glass windows. Once the faithful sit down, they hear gospel music by a large choir, dressed in baby blue robes and backed by a full musical combo, including drums, keyboards and bass.

Then come the videotaped testimonials in which church members talk about how they received unexpected financial blessings after following

Dollar’s advice. The testimonials flash on the arena-sized screen over

the stage and at least a dozen small overhead television monitors scattered about. In one, a couple hugs and the man talks about how they didn’t have enough money for their wedding until they began following Dollar’s ministry.

Then Dollar’s wife, Taffi, introduces her husband as one who talks “face to face with God, like Moses.” She warns that “every tongue that

rises up against” her husband will “be struck down.”

Dollar enters from the back of the sanctuary like a rock star. His video image dwarfs him despite his linebacker’s build. He wears a handsome three-piece charcoal pinstriped suit, exudes confidence and speaks with a forceful baritone.

About a half-hour into the service, an assistant pastor booms to the congregation: “It’s opportunity for prosperity time!” The congregants wave money-filled envelopes in the air and yell in joy as ushers pass the white buckets down the row to collect the envelopes. After more singing, Dollar preaches. His style mixes Pentecostal fervor, motivational aphorisms and humor. Sometimes he’s easygoing, even conversational. But when he gets worked up, he peppers his speech with

words like “Negro” and its pejorative cousin.

He relentlessly attacks the idea that Christians should limit material

possessions. Christians have for too long let the “devil’s crowd” get all the money, power and real estate, he says.

Then he tells congregants to say, “I want my stuff.”

“I want my stuff,” they repeat, laughing.

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