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Angel Flight 44, The Money

(Last updated 02/05/2010)

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In this post, we will analyze the evidence and use some inductive reasoning to see what types of AF-44-related funds likely came into KCM as a result of these promises made by Kenneth Copeland (which was probably $1.24 million at a minimum). You can then compare my figures with those KCM is trying to publish now, and consider which might be more realistic given the evidence.

And let me add that as we journey through “the money,” I will also share a few facts known to me along the way…
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Follow the Money:

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In the famous book (and resulting movie) about President Nixon’s Watergate fiasco called, All The President’s Men, the mysterious informant tells reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward to “follow the money” to get to the root of the scandal. Let us take a moment and do the same here, investigating two different but related revenues for Kenneth Copeland Ministries:

• Money donated that was specifically designated for the Angel Flight 44 ministry
• New “partners” recruited, and money acquired in general offerings, as a result of the promises made about the new Angel Flight 44 ministry

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AF44-Designated Money:

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As will be discussed more specifically within the next post AF44’s Status in 2010, the official Angel Flight 44 website (www.angelflight44.com) has been up since the first quarter of 2007. This website is actually owned separately from KCM by Mr. Glen Hyde.

On the “Donate” page, AngelFlight44.com says the following:

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We truly appreciate your interest in becoming a partner with Angel Flight 44.

Angel Flight 44 is an auxiliary ministry of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit ministry, headquartered in Texas. Therefore, your gifts are tax-deductible under IRS tax code in the United States. Moreover, any seed you sow specifically towards Angel Flight 44 will be designated for Angel Flight 44 operations and projects. (KCM and Angel Flight 44 do reserve the right to redirect funds toward other humanitarian relief efforts as needed.)

What is even more exciting: God Himself will multiply your contributions and create a future harvest for you…and for those your gift will ultimately impact:

“Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness…the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God…” (1Corinthians 9:10,12)

Online Giving Coming Soon.

All contributions being forwarded by mail can be directed to:

Angel Flight 44

C/O Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Fort Worth, Texas, 76192

USA

Please be sure to make your check payable to KCM, and write “Angel Flight 44” in the memo field.

God bless you, and thank you for supporting the ministry of Angel Flight 44.

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If for some reason that website gets taken down sometime after this article, Angel Flight 44, The Money, gets posted, then here is a PDF of the entire AngelFlight44.com website which was created January 23, 2010. It even includes images the two web pages that do not function at present (click to download):

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Note: Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader 7.0 or higher is recommended to view the PDF .

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Some Questions:

• Is it possible that people who read the book, or heard Copeland speaking at one of the aforementioned recorded services, or read one of the three BVOV magazines, came to AngelFlight44.com? Yes, I know many did. When the book was first released to the partners, the website had very strong traffic (and I monitored the stats regularly back then).

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• Is it possible that some of the visitors to that website decided to send in a donation to KCM as AngelFlight44.com’s Donate page instructed them? Yes, again, I know that some people did, for I heard of testimonies of people who were moved to send in a donation, or who said they planned to (and I am sure there were more people than those I knew about).

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• How much money was sent in in total, and what ever happened to it? I have no idea. I am not sure that Glen Hyde ever had any idea either. I am very sure KCM can determine it exactly, because of their advanced computer processing capabilities. So it seems to me that an answer from KCM should be given publicly, and that very soon.

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In addition to the data above, it is a common thing for believers to put a specific designation in the memo section of their check when donating to a ministry. Thus, I am personally quite sure the actual numbers of people who sent in money to KCM designated specifically for Angel Flight 44 exceeded the number of those who first visited the AngelFlight44.com website.

Nevertheless, regardless of whether one agrees with me on that last point, the other facts above are sufficient to determine that SOMEBODY sent in money to KCM specifically for AF44…now where is it?

And the Christian public—and especially KCM partners (including the former partners who gave towards AF44, like ourselves)—CERTAINLY deserve to see verifiable documentation of their explanation…and NOT just “take our word for it” excuses, such as those within their recent claims.

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New Partners/General Offerings:

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In the KennethCopelandBlog.com post The AF44 Miracle and Kenneth Copeland’s Promises we reviewed three videos and three KCM Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine editions. When you watch these videos and read these magazines, you can clearly see that their descriptions of the new Angel Flight 44 ministry were tied to offerings and donor recruitment. (We will discuss only two of the videos here for brevity’s sake.)

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More questions:

• The first video on that post took place during the KCM donor recruitment service, known back in 2006 as “Increase Day” (though other outreaches of KCM were also featured within that same service).
  • Is it possible that some of those who answered the “call” to become partners with KCM—or even members of their “Elite-CX Team” preferred partner group—did so at least in-part because of what they saw with regard to the Angel Flight 44 ministry that Copeland detailed?

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• The second video on that post took place during the Friday evening service, wherein a special Angel Flight 44 presentation was made with standing ovations from the audience. Kenneth Copeland immediately began his offertory teaching thereafter, and mentioned the AF44 missions and new ministry again before instructing the ushers to receive the offering.
  • Is it possible that some people were motivated to give—or to give more than they might otherwise have—because of the stirring Angel Flight 44 presentation they had just witnessed?

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• ALL three of the BVOV magazines had the Angel Flight 44 ministry tied in some way to partnership with KCM, and the April, 2007 edition was even called the “Special Partnership Issue.” Kenneth Copeland was even so bold as to say in that issue, “You need several million dollars to build an airplane hangar and buy helicopters, airplanes, food and supplies for Angel Flight 44, your international aviation outreach that helps the needy in times of disaster… Those aren’t just outreaches of Kenneth Copeland Ministries. If you’re a Partner, they’re your outreaches too.” (Page 9)

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The very nature of the two services above and the three BVOV magazines clearly indicate that partner recruitment and the solicitation of offerings were tied to presentations about Angel Flight 44 in some way and to some degree.

Consequently, it is a reasonable use of inductive logic to assume: KCM’s overall increase in partners and donor contributions might have been at least partly due to the presentations given about the previous Angel Flight 44 missions and the promises Kenneth Copeland made about the new ministry that he said had “already” been formed.

Like Bernstein and Woodward, we have been simply following the money trail to see where it leads us. However…we have not talked about the BOOK giveaway yet, have we? Let us look at some real numbers for just a moment before we discuss conclusions…

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The Angel Flight 44 Book Giveaway:

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In the Angel Flight 44, The Book post, we reviewed extensive excerpts from the ORIGINAL edition attributed to (and approved by) Kenneth Copeland. We also discussed how about 77,700 copies of Angel Flight 44: The True Story of Two Dedicated Pilots, a 60-Year-Old Airplane, and the Amazing Hurricane Katrina Mission That Birthed a New Aviation Ministry were given to the partners of KCM and ministers attending the 2007 KCM Minister’s Conference.

Again, the “Partner Letter” give away of the Angel Flight 44 book was directly tied to donations—the check box for requesting the book being right above the contribution amount blank on the donation form.

Moreover, let me explain to you some numbers:

• KCM paid the publisher only $2.30 per copy of the 75,000 ordered (but since 76,400 were delivered and no additional cost charged, their net price per book was actually about $2.26). They were given a ridiculously good deal (about 91% off the retail price) because the publisher actually allowed them to name their own price.
• KCM staff told me that they typically get MORE offerings back when they give away products “for free” in their partner letters. I was told it varied, but typically $20 per product given was the minimum offering they received back from those requesting the “free” products. (They particularly like to give away DVDs and CDs because their total cost per product shipped is less than $1).
• When we add postage, the envelope, and other direct expenses, KCM’s direct expenditure was still less that $4 per book requested.
• Thus, a minimum of about FIVE times what they spent on the books came in to KCM with the donor cards checked to receive a copy of the book: That is likely a minimum of about $1.24 million return on investment (i.e. profit) JUST ON the upwards to 77,700 books they “gave away.”
• If KCM’s average rate of returned offering was higher than their normal $20 minimum, then those figures could climb quickly into multiplied millions of dollars received by KCM into their GENERAL FUND that can be attributed to their broken AF44 promises. For example: At $30/book, $2.02 million; at $40/book, $2.8 million; and at $50/book, about $3.6 million.

And again, as we already noted on our previous post, Angel Flight 44, The Book, we need to pay special attention to the following scanned image. Notice how the “gift” request check box was located DIRECTLY ON the KCM donation card mailed to KCM’s partners?:

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(Click image to enlarge)

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So now add to the above book “give away” figures those funds that likely came into KCM’s general fund through AF44-related partner recruitment and general offerings, and you can readily understand why KCM’s published figure of only $7,788.43 is an absurd insult to the intelegence of Christian believers everywhere.

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Conclusions:

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It appears to me that KCM’s overall general budget almost assuredly increased as a result of their “Angel Flight 44 book give away” (to the tune of potentially millions of dollars). That book promised a new ministry, and KCM’s overall budget likely increased as a result of “giving” that book to KCM’s partners. Yet, the ministry does not exist today, and there has been no explanation why it does not.

Since Kenneth Copeland promised the new Angel Flight 44 ministry, and since KCM has likely benefited financially from those promises, then it is the biblical and ethical thing to do to explain to the partners and Body of Christ WHY that ministry does not exist today—and they CERTAINLY need to explain where the AF44-designated money has gone.

To date, neither KCM nor Kenneth Copeland himself, have offered any explanation for their failure to carry through on their promises, nor have they made an honest public accounting of the money that was taken in. (And I have been trying for nearly three years to get them to come clean, first privately, and now publicly.)

Consequently, KennethCopelandBlog.com is calling the Copelands to account publicly—and should what seems to be fraud prove to be actually what has occurred, then we are also calling on them in advance to simply repent.

Let me also state again that a generic “Disaster Relief Fund” is no substitute for a fully-functional aviation support ministry. The earthquake victims in Haiti right now, for example, would have preferred Copeland’s promised aircraft landing with food and water than KCM’s non-transparent distribution of their alleged “Disaster Relief Fund” (i.e. nobody really knows what money goes where, or if at all, for KCM is not certified by ANY third party financial accountability entity such as the Evangelical Counsel for Financial Accountability; and Wall Watchers’ MinistryWatch.com has given them a financial transparency grade of “F” for their lack of openness.)

I do not doubt that KCM has “partners” on the ground helping in Haiti—Operation Blessing International being one of them. I really do not doubt that they give money to their partners to help in such disasters. What I doubt is how MUCH of those funds donated by other people to KCM’s Disaster Relief Fund are properly used in this way…especially since it was not a “fund” but an aviation support ministry for humanitarian relief that they originally promised.

Lastly, it appears that this is NOT the first time KCM has conducted an apparent “bait and switch” campaign with donor funds, as one of our following articles will discuss more fully…

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