re: Pastor Tony Spell has a change of heart

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A sane and rational person would use some of the millions in donations from probably elderly Church goers to get a tent so said elderly Church goers don’t get infected. Regardless of what the government is telling you to do that seems like the responsible thing to do.

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wonder how this board would react if this was a Muslim cleric preaching at a mosque wanting to touch everyone?

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I support his constitutional rights.

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Spell draws many congregants from low-income communities of color, and he says he turns no one away - even if they're gay, something he inveighs against. But he also reserves contempt for church regulars who don't share at least 10% of their income. Such a person is ''a thief,'' whether the person has a job or survives on food stamps. Spell warns attendees: ''You're not going to come up in here and suck up our air conditioning for free without paying for it.''

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How far do offerings go? It's not cheap for Spell to hold services every Sunday and Tuesday, to feed hundreds of attendees, to maintain dozens of buses and a 34-acre campus. Life Tabernacle does it through ''tithings and offerings,'' according to Spell. Life Tabernacle has also dabbled in real estate over decades. Primarily under Bervick Spell, the church bought and sold property, at times offering owner financing. Often, Bervick Spell would buy property and flip it, though the profits were rarely spectacular. Before becoming a fulltime minister, he had operated a Piggly Wiggly in Eunice; later, he ran Lifeway bookstores. ''Bishop Spell was a very astute businessman,'' said Edwin Wildman, a former church board member. Zachary City Court Judge Lonny Myles said Bervick Spell, an old friend, completed the church's capstone deal in 2004. He sold Life Tabernacle's Plank Road property - built up with houses of worship and book warehouses - to another church for $4.6 million. ''He probably got twice what anyone else would have paid for it,'' Myles said. ''He did a great job.'' The property's current owners, who declined to comment, are still making $24,582 monthly payments to Life Tabernacle. Around the same time, the church took out a multimilliondollar mortgage on its new property to finance the new church's construction. Tony Spell lives there, in a modest house with a swimming pool owned by the church. He shares a Nissan Rogue with his wife. Tony Spell estimated the church's properties are worth $12 million, but he declined to disclose the value of all of its assets.

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Spell said Life Tabernacle has also loaned money to hundreds of aspiring pastors. ''The borrower is serving to the lender; that's biblical,'' he said. ''If I don't make a profit, I'm a fool. What do I make a profit for? To in turn subsidize other people.'' Unlike other nonprofits, churches are not required to disclose where their money comes from, what they spend it on and how much they pay top employees. Spell says he draws an annual salary of just $48,000 from the church, and he is its only employee. But, he also said however he spends the church's money is between him and God, and that pastors should not apologize for driving luxury cars and owning private jets - though he has no plans to do either.

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Philip Hackney, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh who used to oversee tax-exempt organizations at the Internal Revenue Service, said nonprofits generally pay no income taxes. In Louisiana, churches are also exempt from property taxes. Johnson, the California history professor, said pastors of independent churches like Spell's typically need a secondary source of income. Real estate is a common option. ''If you amass a lot of money from real estate, then what do you do with that cash is the question,'' Johnson said. Offering loans through the church, she said, could be a way to create a new income stream without running afoul of tax law.

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He’s married and doesn’t wear a ring

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