Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer is one of the world's leading Bible teachers and speakers who has her own syndicated television and radio program called "Enjoying Everyday Life". She is the leader of Joyce Meyer Ministries worldwide. She is a New York Times bestselling author, and her books have helped millions of people find hope and restoration through Jesus Christ. She also has a magazine titled "Enjoying Everyday Life".

Family Life

Born Pauline Joyce Hutchison

Father went into the army to fight in World War II soon after she was born.

Born: June 4, 1943 (age 71), St. Louis, MO

Dave Meyer (m. 1967)

Meyer and her husband Dave have four grown children, and live outside St. Louis, Missouri.

Mistakes in Married Life

A graduate of O'Fallon Technical High School in St. Louis, she married a part-time car salesman shortly after her senior year of high school.

The marriage lasted for five years. She maintains that her husband frequently cheated on her.

After her divorce, Meyer frequented local bars before meeting Dave Meyer, an engineering draftsman.

Early Christian

Life

“...I didn't have any knowledge. I didn't go to church. And I had a lot of problems, and I needed somebody to kind of help me along. And I think sometimes even people who want to serve God, if they have got so many problems that they don't think right and they don't act right and they don't behave right, they almost need somebody to take them by the hand and help lead them through the early years...” Joyce Meyer quote in Wikipedia.com

Meyer was briefly a member of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in St. Louis, a congregation of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. She began leading an early-morning Bible class at a local cafeteria and became active in Life Christian Center, a charismatic church in Fenton.

From Pastor to Teacher

Within a few years, Meyer was the church's associate pastor. The church became one of the leading charismatic churches in the area, largely because of her popularity as a Bible teacher. She also began airing a daily 15-minute radio broadcast on a St. Louis radio station.

In 1985, Meyer resigned as associate pastor and founded her own ministry, initially called "Life in the Word." She began airing her radio show on six other stations from Chicago to Kansas City.

From Teacher to Television

In 1993, her husband Dave suggested that they start a television ministry. Initially airing on superstation WGN-TV in Chicago and Black Entertainment Television (BET), her program, now called Enjoying Everyday Life, is still on the air today.

In 2004 St. Louis Christian television station KNLC, operated by the Rev. Larry Rice of New Life Evangelistic Center, dropped Meyer's programming. According to Rice, a longstanding Meyer supporter, Meyer's "excessive lifestyle" and her teachings often going "beyond Scripture" were the impetus for canceling the program.

In 2005, Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America" ranked Meyer as 17th.

Criticism of Joyce Meyer

Meyer, who owns several homes and travels in a private jet (currently a Gulfstream G-IV), has been criticized by some of her peers for living an excessive lifestyle. She responded that she doesn't have to defend her spending habits because "...there's no need for us to apologize for being blessed." Meyer commented, "You can be a businessman here in St. Louis, and people think the more you have, the more wonderful it is...but if you’re a preacher, then all of a sudden it becomes a problem.“

In November 2003, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a four-part special report detailing Meyer's "$10 million corporate jet, her husband’s $107,000 silver-gray Mercedes sedan, her $2 million home and houses worth another $2 million for her four children," a $20 million headquarters, furnished with "$5.7 million worth of furniture, artwork, glassware, and the latest equipment and machinery," including a "$30,000 malachite round table, a $23,000 marble-topped antique commode, a $14,000 custom office bookcase, a $7,000 Stations of the Cross in Dresden porcelain, a $6,300 eagle sculpture on a pedestal, another eagle made of silver bought for $5,000, and numerous paintings purchased for $1,000 to $4,000 each," among many other expensive items – all paid for by the ministry.

The Solution?

Following the adverse publicity about her lifestyle and Ministry Watch's request for an IRS probe, Meyer announced in 2004 plans to take a salary reduction from the $900,000 per year she had been receiving from Joyce Meyer Ministries (in addition to the $450,000 her husband received) and instead personally keep more of the royalties from her outside book sales which Meyer had previously donated back to Joyce Meyer Ministries. She now retains royalties on books sold outside the ministry through retail outlets such as Walmart, Amazon.com, and bookstores, while continuing to donate to her ministry royalties from books sold through her conferences, catalogues, website, and television program. "The net effect of all of this," notes Ministry Watch, "was most likely a sizable increase in the personal compensation of Joyce Meyer and reduced revenues for JMM." In an article in the St. Louis Business Journal, Meyer's public relations director, Mark Sutherland, confirmed that her new income would be "way above" her previous levels. Joyce Meyer Ministries says it has made a commitment to maintain transparency in financial dealings, publish their annual reports, have a Board majority who are not Meyer relatives and submit to a voluntary annual audit. On December 18, 2008, this ministry received a "C" grade (71–80 score) for financial transparency from Ministry Watch.

In 2009, Joyce Meyer Ministries received accreditation from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). In an announcement on March 12, 2009, the ECFA said that Joyce Meyer Ministries and Oral Roberts University had met their requirements of "'responsible stewardship', which involves ministries' financial accountability, transparency, board governance and fund-raising practices."

Joyce Meyer Today

Joyce hosts a TV and radio show, Enjoying Everyday Life®, which broadcasts worldwide to a potential audience of 4.5 billion people. She has authored 100 books, which have been translated into more than 100 languages. More than 12 million of her books have been distributed free of charge around the world, and each year millions of copies are sold.

Joyce conducts close to a dozen domestic and international conferences every year, teaching people to enjoy their everyday lives. For 30 years, her annual women's conference has attracted more than 200,000 women from all over the world to St. Louis for specifically themed teachings by her and guest speakers.

Joyce Meyer in Politics

Through her ministry, Joyce Meyer Ministries, Joyce Meyer involves her followers in:

Praying for America or whatever country you belong to Providing shoes for children through Hand of Hope

organization Welcoming home veterans of Iraq conflicts

Through her ministry’s magazine, Enjoying Everyday Life, Joyce and her husband, Dave, publish many articles about how life in these United States is not what the founding forefathers intended for this beautiful country.

REFERENCES"About Joyce." Joyce Meyer – Board Member. July 17, 2009. Accessed October 20, 2014. https://www.joycemeyer.org/AboutUs/JoyceBio.aspx.

Joyce Meyer Ministries, and Enjoying Everyday Life. "All Articles." America Article Archive. Joyce Meyer Ministries, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://www.joycemeyer.org/Articles/AmericaArchive.aspx>.

"Joyce Meyer." Wikipedia. October 19, 2014. Accessed October 20, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Meyer