The Kingdom and Power of Mac Hammond

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The Kingdom and Power of Mac Hammond

The leader of a Brooklyn Park megachurch sees no conflict among his faith, wealth and politics. Others believe he crosses lines that should be more sharply drawn.

By Jon Tevlin, Star Tribune (Minneapolis), February 10, 2007

In the early days, Mac Hammond's church was a hotel room. His congregation was his family and a handful of supporters. He had studied English, not theology, and taken a few Dale Carnegie and self-help courses.

He was also struggling to pay debts and about $100,000 in back taxes. His air cargo business was for sale. A decade later, he said he still didn't own a home or car, or have any savings.

Yet Hammond felt called to spread the word. "My biggest insecurity was that I had no formal training for the ministry," he said. "So I'd stand for hours before a full-length mirror, and preach my message to myself."

Today, 25 years later, James McBryde (Mac) Hammond presides over an expansive spiritual empire based in Brooklyn Park that's attracting legions of devoted followers -- but also drawing a new chorus of complaints about his fiery style, pulpit politics and financial dealings.

Last week, a Washington watchdog group filed a formal complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against Hammond's Living Word Christian Center, which now has nearly 10,000 members, broadcasts weekly services to local and national television audience, and runs an array of businesses.

The group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, says the church gave loans to Hammond at favorable rates and created a sweetheart deal on a plane lease, possibly violating federal tax law that forbids insiders from benefiting from a charitable organization. But church officials said they are confident that they are complying with tax laws.

Meanwhile, some religious leaders and fellow evangelical ministers are criticizing Hammond's unapologetic embrace of wealth -- from his two planes to his luxury cars and high-end condos. In recent weeks, Hammond also has angered Muslims for controversial remarks about Islam.

Amid the controversies, Hammond continues to expand his reach. His church already has a Christian junior and senior high, a Bible college, a bookstore, a drug-treatment facility and even the largest nightclub in downtown Minneapolis, Club 3 Degrees.

Now he's buying up adjacent houses near his Brooklyn Park headquarters for more than $1 million for parking, and he is raising $30 million with dreams of a 15,000-seat sanctuary -- nearly the size of the Target Center -- and a sprawling campus in a business park.

The church already owns millions of dollars of property in the Twin Cities and 560 acres in northern Minnesota that includes a $500,000 cabin "retreat." Hammond's sale of another 90 suburban acres netted about $8 million and allowed the church to pay off debts, documents show.

"I have heard recounted to me, 'Well, you couldn't make it in business, so you decided to give it a shot in the ministry,' " Hammond, 63, said in an interview in December. "That's just not fair."

His church's creed, often called the "prosperity Gospel," is that following God's word will lead not only to spiritual salvation but also earthly wealth.

"I think it's important that I not be embarrassed about the increase the Lord does bring me," Hammond said. "One of the things I think has kept Christianity from being as effective as it could be is the idea that the clergy has to be poor. The Bible doesn't say that."

Public figure, private man

Living Word's sanctuary, painted in muted tones with theater seating, is the kind of place you might watch the ballet, except that it has television cameras, giant screens and a control booth that looks like it belongs on the Starship Enterprise.

A racially mixed, well-dressed congregation crowds Sunday services, which start with a raucous live band. A choir kicks into a rousing hymn, then the camera lands squarely on Hammond, dressed in an impeccable suit worthy of Wall Street.

"Noah was the first investment banker," he said at the start of one recent sermon, which was filled with folksy charm, biblical references and business jargon. "He was buying stock when the rest of the world was liquidating."

Then, stalking the stage as he raised his voice and poked the air with his finger, Hammond launched into a sermon on Islam in which he warned of hundreds of thousands of "Islamo-fascists" who could some day set off nuclear devices across America. Right now, Hammond told the crowd, some U.S. mosques are recruiting terrorists; he went on to advocate unyielding support for Israel.

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