Pastor raised $1.4 million in donations, ex-elder says

Target of FBI inquiry got $71,000 average pay from Mequon church

Journal Sentinel/December 13, 1997
By Tom Vanden Brook

Mequon -- Chuckie Burris, the television evangelist under investigation by the FBI, raised more than $1.4 million in the last three years, according to information obtained Friday by the Journal Sentinel.

The information was compiled by a former church elder who said she would be forwarding it to the FBI.

The congregation at the Rhema Worship Center also paid Burris a salary averaging more than $71,000 from 1994 through 1996, according to the information.

The median income for all of the country's full-time members of the clergy in 1996 was about $27,000, a U.S. Labor Department economist said Friday.

"He always had told us that he was not on a salary," a former church member said Friday, asking that her name not be disclosed. "But he did let us know that whatever he got was not enough. He told us that we owed him over $95,000."

The church also provided Burris with fringe benefits, the church member said. Those included monthly house and auto payments. Burris had registered to either his family or the church a 1992 Rolls-Royce, a 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo and a 1996 Land Rover.

She said the fund-raising totals do not include loose offerings handed directly to Burris after worship services.

Burris has not responded to repeated attempts for comment.

However, the Journal Sentinel reviewed a videotaped worship service from 1995 in which Burris explains his ministry.

The tape is also being turned over to the FBI, a church member said.

Burris, and his wife, Alethea, tell viewers that the church is non-denominational.

He stated: "There is not a religious bone in my body. I hate religion."

Rather, Burris added, his purpose was to minister the word of God outside the strictures of traditional religion. He urged viewers not listen to those who criticized his teaching.

Burris said he planned to build a new church, a "many-faith dome." Throughout most of his talk, a phone number appeared on the screen.

Burris contended that he did "not get any benefits" from the fund raising.

At the conclusion of his televised service, Burris offered his customary farewell: "You're on top. All things are under your feet."

The FBI in Milwaukee announced Thursday that it was investigating Burris and Rhema Worship Center Inc., of which he was president. The probe follows stories in the Journal Sentinel that described Burris' opulent lifestyle and fund-raising efforts.

Burris entrusted senior church members with recording the donations, some of which came from viewers of his televised services, a church member said.

Burris closed the church, at 2415 W. Mequon Road, in September. He sold his Brown Deer home in October for $160,000 and moved to a $500,000 house in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Last week, Firstar Bank, which gave Burris the mortgage for the church, began foreclosure proceedings against Rhema Worship Center.

About 20 of his followers from Milwaukee have joined him in Arizona, former church members say.