Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell provided ex-Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo with a not-unexpected glowing sendoff this weekend, but buried within his column was this eye-opening treasure: Spagnuolo and his wife are big-time admirers of the controversial Joyce Meyer Ministries.
So as not to appear too gleefully Satanic here, it must be noted that the context was divinely benign: “His wife spent all her free time working at the [ministry’s] Dream Center” in north St. Louis. There should be no doubting the Spagnuolos' good intentions.
But when Burwell notes that this charitable work “allowed the Spagnuolos to meet and spend time with Joyce and Dave Meyer and so many others who are a part of the Meyer Ministries,” it’s hard not to ask one small question: Why hasn’t this association ever been made public before?
For that matter, if it’s worth mentioning in a farewell tribute, shouldn’t this proud relationship have been shared with Rams Nation as part of Spagnuolo’s oft-promoted commitment to his Four Pillars of character and other public pronouncements of evangelical Christianity?
You see, Joyce Meyer Ministries has made quite a bit of news over the years that hasn’t been limited to the subject of ministering. Spagnuolo’s friendship with the Meyers might have uplifted their public image—or stained his—but it’s hard to see it as lacking newsworthiness, no matter how one slices it.
This would seem to be especially true in the Post-Dispatch, which has, after all, been the main source of critical coverage of the Meyers. In 2003, the paper published a scathing (and acclaimed) series that was less than adulating about the lavish material rewards that the Meyers have reaped in the name of serving a higher power. The Meyer family has reaped millions from spreading the Good Word, and it unapologetically has multimillion-dollar homes and corporate jets and the like to show for it.
The ministries’ finances have been investigated since by the IRS and the U.S. Senate, although it should be noted that there have been no findings of legal wrongdoing. The organization’s tax-exempt status has long been challenged by Jefferson County.
More recently, Post-Dispatch coverage of the ministries has been dominated by coverage of its association—fair or not—with the infamous Christopher Coleman, a former bodyguard who was convicted of murdering his wife and two sons in 2009 in Columbia, Ill.
Even today, though, the ministries’ practices are viewed dimly by watchdog groups. Ministrywatch.com gives the ministries a “C” grade for transparency and continues to criticize the Meyer family’s rewards: “Many, however, see no connection between the abundance amassed by her family-run ministry and that promised by Christ.”
But at least the Meyers have a connection with football through Spagnuolo. And as many of Tim Tebow’s faithful followers can tell you—just like they once said of Rams legend Kurt Warner—that can be downright heavenly.
SLM co-owner Ray Hartmann is a panelist on KETC Channel 9’s Donnybrook, which airs Thursdays at 7 p.m.
Commentary by Ray Hartmann
