Walter Vinson Grant, Jr., who goes by W. V. Grant, (born May 1945) is an American televangelist whose ministry has been based in the Dallas, Texas, area. He was convicted in 1996 of tax evasion,[1] and since his release from prison he has restarted his ministry.[2]
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Grant began his early pastoral career in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the mid-1970s with the "Cathedral of Compassion" in the poor Over-the-Rhine area of Cincinnati before relocating to the suburbs of St Bernard until the early 1980s. The son of minister Walter Vinson Grant, Sr., in 1983 Grant took over Soul's Harbor Church (located in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas) and expanded its ministry, later renaming the church as "Eagles Nest Cathedral".[3] In 1987, Grant purchased 28 acres (11 hectares) in the southwest section of Dallas (near Dallas Baptist University) and built the "Eagle's Nest Family Church", and continued pastoring the 5000-seat church until 1996.[3]
He is married to Brenda Gayle Hayes, and has three adult children, Misty, Barry and Mark.[3] Brenda is the daughter of Alton Hayes (1929–2002) and his wife, Maxine; they were ministers affiliated with The Voice of Healing.
As of August 2011, Grant's website said about the minister's education and honorary degrees:
After attending Southwestern Assemblies of God Bible University, he started in the full-time ministry. He received his undergraduate degrees in English Literature and Religion, as well as his Master's Degree in History from Dallas Baptist University. He has two honorary degrees from Kingsway Bible University (Des Moines, Iowa) and the Colonial Academy (Chicago).[4]
Paranormal investigator James Randi examined Grant's practices in his 1987 book, The Faith Healers. About Grant's degrees, Randi wrote:
. . . even Grant's college degree is phony. He claims that he obtained it from "Midstates Bible College" in Des Moines in 1972. He displays the diploma on his office wall. But Midstates wasn't then and isn't now accredited with the Iowa Department of Public Instruction, as all parochial and public schools are required to be. It wasn't recorded with the secretary of state's office in Iowa as a corporation; nor was it listed in the county recorder's office. It didn't even show up in the telephone directory.[5]
Grant told a reporter in 1986 that he did not graduate from a seminary but, in Grant's words, had "more or less an honorary D.D. (doctor of divinity) degree" from Mid-States Bible College in Des Moines, Iowa, which later changed its name to Kingsway Christian College. "They take a formula of how many books you've written, how long you've been in the ministry, maybe how many times you've been on radio and TV," he said.[6]
Grant has denied being a faith healer. Whatever healing there is, he told a reporter in 1986, is "a gift from God", and for which he is merely "a mortal conduit". He said: "I couldn't heal a fly with a headache. Jesus is the healer."[6]
Scientific skeptic and professional stage magician James Randi reported that Grant had been supplied with notes concerning the ailments of audience members before the show, that he used a "sleight of hand" trick to make a person's leg appear to grow, and that he had members of the audience who walked into the event placed into wheelchairs beforehand, then, during the service, he asked them to stand and walk.[7][8] Randi also claimed that Grant's wife first gathered information about members of the audience, which she relayed to her husband via slips of paper in a Bible he displayed during his presentations.[5] "They're agnostics," Grant said of his critics in 1986, "Or even atheists."[6]
In 1996, an Internal Revenue Service investigation into Grant's ministry resulted in Grant's imprisonment for tax evasion.[9] He was found guilty of failing to report $375,000 in taxable income in the purchase of two homes, including his $1 million residence.[10] An undercover video tape was alleged to show Grant admitting that he used $100,000 in 1988 from church members as a down payment on a $1.2 million home overlooking a Desoto, Texas, country club and not reporting it as income. Judge Joe Kendall criticized Grant for attempting to withdraw his plea, asking Grant, "Did you watch the same videotape I watched?" He continued, "He's all over it admitting he's guilty. He swore to God under oath he is guilty". The judge sentenced Grant to 16 months in prison and a $30,000 fine, to be paid after his release, when he would also serve an additional year of probation. Kendall also ordered Grant to "perform 100 hours of community service, publish details of his arrest and sentence for everyone on his mailing list and provide complete, continuing financial reports to the court."[11]
His wife was indicted on charges of blocking the IRS and evading taxes.[12] [13] Though she initially pleaded guilty,[14] the judge allowed her to withdraw the plea and she was later acquitted.[15] Following the conviction, Grant transferred the Eagles Nest Cathedral facility to T. D. Jakes, also a televangelist, who renamed it "The Potter's House".[16]
Grant was released from prison on September 18, 1997, and has since restarted his ministry, again under the name Eagles Nest Cathedral, in the eastern part of Dallas on Interstate 30.
1987: Grant was investigated by ABC News and Trinity Foundation for an exposé report on Primetime Live (with Larry Lea and Robert Tilton).[17][18] Trinity discovered naked photos of Grant in a trashcan outside his home and published one.[19] It was also reported that one of Grant's fundraising letters was apparently written by Gene Ewing, who heads a multi-million dollar marketing empire, writing donation letters for other evangelicals like Don Stewart and Robert Tilton.[20]
Members of the Trinity Foundation investigating team later admitted to a personal vendetta.[18] Additionally, court documents examined deceptive journalistic techniques utilized by ABC News, stating that key elements of the televised report were "bogus".[18]
2003: Atlanta television station WAGA-TV conducted an investigation on Grant and found that
Rev. Grant liked to arrive at his revivals early, hours before they were supposed to begin. So we showed up early, too, with hidden cameras, and watched the preacher talk to several people already in the church. As it turned out, many of them were people W.V. Grant would later pick out of the crowd and "miraculously" announce their name and their disease."[21]
The report concluded that of three people Grant claimed to heal, two were in worse condition after, and one assisted Grant with the setup with no sign of the condition he claimed during the service.[21] In addition, "healing the short leg" was a magic trick demonstrated on a reporter by magician James Randi.[21]
2010: Free Inquiry, the magazine of the Council for Secular Humanism, discussed how Grant's act had changed little in the preceding twenty years and detailed his "miracles" at a venue.[22]
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