$65 million fundraiser for Creflo Dollar jet disappears from ministry website
ATLANTA (Christian Examiner) -- Pastor and televangelist host Creflo Dollar drew national attention over the weekend with a new $65 million campaign launched to replace his ministry's 30-year-old private jet.
Dollar, who founded the non-denominational ministry World Changers Church International, announced Friday he was seeking "200,000 people committed to sow $300 or more (to) help achieve our goal to purchase the G650 airplane," according to CNN.
The campaign was reportedly launched on the Creflo Dollar Ministries website and featured a short video soliciting the financial support of "members, partners and supporters of this ministry" to assist in acquiring a Gulfstream G650.
The six-minute presentation included endorsements advocating for the jet plane from parishioners, a pilot, and the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, CNN reported.
By late Friday the video was removed from the website and Sunday evening the campaign was deleted altogether.
According to the Daily Beast, Dollar's website had stated, "the mission of Project G650 is to acquire a Gulfstream G650 airplane so that Pastors Creflo and Taffi (his wife) and World Changers Church International can continue to blanket the globe with the Gospel of grace"
The post went on to explain the danger and hardship flying in an aged plane provides. "Recently on an overseas trip to a global conference, one of the engines failed. 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," the site stated.
The campaign also reference a number of other life-threatening incidents, including one with his daughters on board the plane. These incidents led him to know "it was time to begin to believe God for a new airplane," the site read.
The Gulfstream G650 jet is powered two Rolls-Royce engines, seats up to 14 passengers and sleeps up to six. Amenities inlcude high-speed Internet and two multichannel satellites