Английская Википедия:Donald Lee Stewart (preacher)

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Donald Lee Stewart (October 25, 1939 – January 24, 2024) was an American Pentecostal minister and purported faith healer. He was a televangelist who hosted Power and Mercy on Black Entertainment Television, The Word Network, and other television channels. He was the successor to the late A. A. Allen's organization.

Origins and early ministry

According to his official biography, Stewart was the youngest of six children, and at age 13, Don had developed a severe bone disease. After four major surgeries when he was 15 years old, Stewart recovered from his bone disease. Шаблон:Asof, he lived in a $2.5 million home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, owned by his church, and Stewart's family received income from his church. The Arizona Republic reports that "his ministry, the Don Stewart Association, operates out of a nondescript warehouse in an industrial park near Interstate 17." Stewart's son, Brendon Stewart, conducts his own "Miracle Crusades."

Stewart first worked with Allen, starting with "pounding tent stakes at Allen's revivals to driving a truck to preaching". One of Allen's rising young evangelistic proteges during the early 1960s, along with the likes of R. W. Schambach and Leroy Jenkins, Stewart served as evangelist and secretary-treasurer of Allen's organization, and "was hit with allegations of embezzlement by Allen's brother-in-law, of pocketing offerings from the revivals" in the wake of Allen's death. After Allen's death, Stewart became president of Allen's organization, including his Miracle Valley, Arizona headquarters property, and soon renamed the A. A. Allen Revivals, Inc. organization to Don Stewart Evangelistic Association (and later the Don Stewart Association).

Later work and controversy

Within a few years of taking the reigns of Allen's organization, Stewart moved the operations to Phoenix, Arizona and the Central Latin American District of the Assemblies of God made an arrangement with him to use the Miracle Valley Training Center property as a Bible college. In 1982, the main administration building and vast warehouse were set on fire by supposed arson, which resulted in the total destruction of the building. The main building was valued at $2 million. Stewart sent multiple donation requests to some people on his 100,000-person mailing list "even though his ministry is not associated with the college and the fire damage was insured." According to the press, one of his letters "gave the impression ... the fire had crippled Stewart's ministry" and another purported to include the building's ashes with a request for $200 donations. Stewart faced allegations of arson from some sources. His own church had issues over Stewart's financing and "questioned Stewart's fundraising techniques" before.

The Don Stewart Association controlled "Feed My People," the "Southwest Indian Children's Fund", and "Miracle Life Fellowship International" (with offices in the Philippines). Additionally, Stewart also started the Northern Arizona Food Bank, operated by his association and directed by Kerry Ketcum. The expenditures of Stewart's organizations in the early 1990s and beyond were subject to criticism for a lack of transparency. In 1992, USA Today cited Feed My People/Don Stewart Association among a group of organizations that "did not reply to BBB disclosure requests." In 1993, The Washington Post reported, "Feed My People International, an arm of the Don Stewart Association (a church)," sends "Prospective donors get heart-rending letters on behalf of starving children, with virtually no facts about where and how the money is distributed. Three watchdog groups have asked for details and been turned down." In 2008, the Better Business Bureau reported that the Don Stewart Association "did not provide requested information. As a result, the Better Business Bureau cannot determine if it meets standards."

Then, in 1997, The Business Journal reported that the Internal Revenue Service was investigating Stewart's organization for mail fraud concerning high salaries and an $8 million annual income. After an investigation, the IRS "revoked the tax exemption of the Phoenix-based Don Stewart Association." Among the reasons for the IRS revoking the tax exemption were "impermissible benefits" to the Stewart family. As of 2008, according to the IRS, it was tax-exempted.

In 1998, the Washington Post reported that Don Stewart's "followings all but disappeared after investigations," but he had "joined dozens of other preachers to become fixtures on BET." Consequently, Stewart, along with Peter Popoff and Robert Tilton, received "criticism from those who say that preachers with a long trail of disillusioned followers have no place on a network that holds itself out as a model of entrepreneurship for the black community."

G. Richard Fisher, of The Quarterly Journal, expressed concerns about Stewart's teachings on prosperity theology and healing miracles. The national U.S. television program Inside Edition with the Trinity Foundation investigated Stewart's wealth and fundraising practices. In 1996, The Dallas Morning News noted that some of Stewart's fundraising letters were written by Gene Ewing, who heads a multimillion-dollar marketing empire and writes donation letters for other evangelicals like WV Grant, Robert Tilton, Rex Humbard, and Oral Roberts. Included in some of Stewart's fundraising letters was Stewart's green "prayer cloth," with claims that it had supernatural healing power. Stewart's television programs and website currently offer the "Green Prosperity Prayer Handkerchief" which claims people can use "to receive abundant blessings of financial prosperity". In a 2009 Skeptic article, Marc Carrier wrote about Stewart's handkerchief and his financial earnings, explaining the handkerchief is a "mere 17x17 cm" and came with a letter requesting a "seed faith" in the amount of "$500, $100, $50, or $30". Carrier's "seed faith" request included anonymous letters linking donations to new personal wealth, which was a way for Stewart to increase the donations his organization receives.

Stewart produces many DVDs and "healing packages" in addition to his three books. His book from 2007, titled Healing: The Brain-Soul Connection with Daniel Amen being the latest. In the book, Stewart shared that he had ADD and was interested in helping those who experience mental and emotional difficulties. He also wrote Only Believe, a history of the early Latter Rain Movement which includes Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, A. A. Allen, and Benny Hinn. Stewart's faith healing services included live video streaming, live email testimonies and prayer requests, and cell phone prayer.

In May 2009, The Arizona Republic examined 22 charities tied to the Don Stewart Association, which claimed to be independent but with links via association employees, pastors and their wives, parents, children, and in-laws operated 16 of the 22 charities from tax years 2003 to 2005. The paper revealed Stewart's association spent the bulk of its money on salaries and expenses such as a Hummer H2 and $80,000 for a tract of farmland in Montana, purchased from the family of a hunger charity's president. Later that month, Arizona's attorney general's office began reviewing its practices to decide whether any action should be taken. Following the report in September 2009, The Arizona Republic reported St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance in Phoenix broke contact with Northern Arizona Food Bank and the Stewart Association was being investigated by the federal government. The Don Stewart Association would no longer comment to The Republic.

Books by Stewart

• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book

External links

• Шаблон:Official website

Operated by Don Stewart Association

• Southwest Indian Children's Fund
• Northern Arizona Food Bank
• Feed My People International