Reverend Creflo Dollar Appeals for Donations to Buy a $65m Luxury Jet

The founder and leader of World Changers Church International, Reverend Creflo Dollar has appealed online for 200,000 people to each donate 'USD300 or more' so that he can buy a USD65 million private jet favored by high-flying billionaires.

Creflo Dollar, one of the most prominent African-American preachers in the United States, this week put a five-minute video up on his website pledging for donations for a Gulfstream G650, which claims to be the fastest plane ever built in civilian aviation, so that 'World Changers Church International can continue to blanket the globe with the Gospel of grace'.

According to the Creflo Dollar Ministry's website: 'The ministry's current airplane, was built in 1984, purchased by the ministry in 1999 and has since logged four million miles.

It added: "Recently on an overseas trip to a global conference, one of the engines failed. It’s by the grace of God, the expert pilot, who's flown with Creflo for almost 20 years, landed the plane safely without injury or harm to any passengers."

MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR HOMES

Some of the billionaires who own a Gulfstream G650 are Steve Jobs' wife Lauren Powell Jobs, Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn add Nike co-founder Phil Knight.

There is a long waiting list for the aircraft, with the next round of planes not due until 2017.

Dollar already owns two Rolls Royce's and multi-million dollar homes in Atlanta and New Jersey.

However, according to Financial Juneteenth, a Report of the Senate Finance Committee, Minority Staff Review of WCCI, found that Dollar's current jet had also been used for a variety of vacation flights, including stops in Las Vegas, Nevada, Miami, Florida and Hawaii, citing Federal Aviation Administration figures.

Dollar has refused over the years to disclose his salary, but has an estimated net worth of USD27 million.

By Irene Mbacha