Net Worth: $5 million As a civil rights activist, minister, and host of many television and radio shows, Al Sharpton cut a controversial path through American history. The Baptist minister was ordained in 1994 and went on to become an advisor to Barack Obama during his presidency. While Obama described Sharpton as “the voice of the voiceless and a champion for the downtrodden,” there’s no denying his multi-millionaire status puts him in a whole different league to the people he’s supposed to be the voice of.
This wouldn’t be such an issue if it wasn’t for the fact that Sharpton allegedly spent a good few years dodging his debts and avoiding paying taxes. Sharpton’s career has, in fact, been dogged by controversy with everything from slander and involvement in fake rape allegations, to being a spokesperson for a dodgy loan company. There were even allegations that he was an FBI informant, leaking information on fellow civil rights activists. While these are all rumors, it’s still a bit ironic that Sharpton hosts a radio show entitled Keepin’ It Real.
John Hagee
Net Worth: $5 million Did you know there was such a thing as megachurches? While the title sounds pretty boss, it simply describes a church with a regularly attending congregation of 2,000 or more people. Your boy, John Hagee, presides over just such a megachurch in San Antonio, Texas.
Hagee completed his theological education in the '70s and went on to lead San Antonio’s Trinity Church. He then created the Castle Hill Church, before moving on to his grand project: Cornerstone, which is the megachurch we spoke of just moments ago. Hagee is a Christian-Zionist whose sermons are television and broadcast over the radio.
Joseph Prince
Net Worth: $5 million Stepping outside of the states for a moment, allow us to introduce you to Joseph Prince, a pastor for Singapore’s New Creation Church. Like Hagee’s Cornerstone, New Creation is a megachurch. Prince also acts as the church’s executive chairman and he earns what many would call an obscene amount of money for his efforts. Hence his multi-millionaire status.
In the wake of receiving a $50,000 per month pay raise, Prince admitted to The Sunday Times that he was, indeed “well paid.”
Eddie Long
Net Worth: $5 million Coming from a background as a car salesman, Long started his ministry in a small church in Georgia. He worked his way up from there to the position he enjoys now as the senior pastor at yet another megachurch: the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.
Like most, Long’s controversies all center around sex and money. A long investigation took place looking into just how Long’s ministry made the millions of dollars it was bringing in and whether the distribution was fair. While no charges were ever laid, donations did drop after news of the inquiry spread. Long is also a proponent of programs purporting to “cure” homosexuality. He has also been the center of sexual allegation charges, though he denied these stringently and the lawsuits were settled out of court. Whatever the truth may be, Long’s secrets are now forever sealed as the charismatic preacher passed away in 2017. According to his church, Long was afflicted with an aggressive form of cancer.
Kay Arthur
Net Worth: $5 million Kay Arthur is both a multi-millionaire and an internationally acclaimed bible teacher. She has won multiple awards as an author and is the co-founder of Precept Ministries International. Before her success, Kay had a tumultuous life. Her first husband suffered from bipolar disorder and eventually committed suicide. However, as she was raised in a Christian family, Kay found that, no matter how far she strayed from the path she was taught as a child, she always felt the draw to return to it.
When Kay returned to what she feels is the calling of her life, she returned with gusto. She now regularly travels both nationally and internationally to teach from the bible. She also hosts a daily bible-teaching radio program called Precepts for Life.