‘Word from the Lord’: Televangelist’s ministry buys Tyler Perry’s Gulfstream jet

Texas televangelist Kenneth Copeland once called flying in a commercial airplane “getting in a long tube with a bunch of demons.”

His answer to a prayer arrived last week in the form of a sleek Gulfstream V private jet that Kenneth Copeland Ministries bought — for cash — from actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry.

The ministry did not disclose the purchase price. But AV Buyer says it has the “lowest-priced Gulfstream V on the market” listed at $5.9 million, while other used ones are listed on various websites for up to $12 million and more.

The jet, one church member said, is “the plane the Lord had set aside” for the ministry, based in Newark, Texas.

Now the ministry is lifting more prayers for $2.5 million worth of upgrades to the plane, and $17 million for a hangar.

Copeland, who is 81, joins the high-flying ranks of celebrities including Jim Carrey, John Travolta and rapper Soulja Boy, all of whom are said to own or have owned one of the highest performance private jets in the world, according to the Daily Mail.

The travel blog Worldation estimates Carrey’s plane to be worth about $60 million. Billionaire Mark Cuban bought a Gulfstream V, his first jet, in 1999 for $40 million.

The business jet, known as one of the most comfortable in the world, can typically accommodate 14 passengers and four crew members, according to Gulfstream.

The website Beliefnet lists Copeland as the richest pastor in the country, with a net worth of $760 million.

The leader of the “Believer’s Voice of Victory” TV show and network is described as a giant within the Word of Faith branch of Pentecostalism.

The ministry operates on a 1,500-acre campus in the Forth Worth area with a church, private airstrip and hangar for its assorted aircraft. Copeland and his wife, Gloria, live in a $6 million lakefront mansion owned by the church, according to Beliefnet.

The Gulfstream arrived on Jan. 12. Copeland, wearing a flight jacket and a smile, watched it glide down the runway. Video of the arrival is posted on the ministry’s website.

Copeland tweeted about it, too, announcing, “Mission Accomplished.”