Since October 2022, the Ministerial Jet of the DayStar television network has made 24 round trip flights from Fort Worth to Colorado Springs and 13 round trip flights from Fort Worth to destination at an estimated cost of $ 769,220.
The purpose of Colorado Springs flights was a mystery until the president of Daystar, Joni Lamb, announced his commitment to the psychologist and author of Colorado Springs, Doug Weiss, in March 2023.
The next screen capture shows Daystar Jet flying to Colorado Springs and returning to Texas two days after Lamb’s surprise commitment. Is it appropriate for a church leader to use the Ministry’s plane to visit a fiance?
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If the couple used commercial airplanes instead of the Ministry’s plane for personal flights, they could have saved more than $ 700,000 in travel expenses.
Relationship timeline
Lamb and his late Marcus died on November 30, 2021.
Lamb described the death of her husband in her new book, Through the storm: “The news shot the world that Marcus died from Covid. He did not. He was hospitalized by Covid, he was recovering and died of heart failure. “
Two months later, Weiss requested the divorce of his wife, Lisa Weiss. The divorce was granted in May 2022.
Lamb and Weiss began to leave in August 2022. “That was when the opportunity arose to go to New York City, accompanied, of course,” Lamb reports in his book.
The couple married 10 months later.
In September 2023, Lamb and Weiss bought a beach condominium near Destin for $ 2.9 million, which explains why the couple began flying to Panhandle in Florida.
Flight tracking
The Trinity Foundation Pastor Project uses ADSB Exchange to track televangelist aircraft. DayStar Gulfstream Gvst’s jet is identified by the N279PH tail number.
The Daystar Jet frequently leaves Colorado Springs and destination less than an hour after arriving.
In normal circumstances for a weekend trip, a generic ministry jet would land on its destination on Friday and stay on land until the return flight on Sunday. Instead, Daystar’s jet regularly returns to Fort Worth after reaching its destination and a few days later returns to Colorado Springs or Destin. This practice doubles the number of flights involved, so it seems that the plane works as a taxi service that quickly goes or collects passengers.
Springs Colorado flight dates
2022: October 28 and December 29
2023: January 2, February 3, March 4 (West of Chicago), March 10, March 12, March 24, March 26, March 31, April 2, April 28, 30 of April, May 19, May 21, June 2, June 4, July 5, July 9, August 30, September 2, October 18 and October 22
2024: February 2 and February 4.
Destin’s flight dates
2023: July 29, August 5, September 29, October 13, October 16, December 26 and December 31
2024: February 24, February 28, March 13, March 17, April 9 and April 13.
Estimating the cost of private aircraft
Because the Word of God scholarship claims to be a church, the organization is exempt from the requirements of non -profit financial reports and does not present a 990 form that reveals travel costs.
However, the creation of travel expenses estimates is possible due to public flight data.
According to Libertyjet, the average cost per mile for a Jet Gulfstream GV flying 200 hours per year is $ 19.58 per mile.
The airport distance calculator informs that the distance from Fort Worth Meacham airport to Colorado Springs municipal airport is 507 aeronautical miles.
If the Jet of Daystar average 200 hours of flight per year, the cost of a springs colorado flight is $ 9,927.06. Therefore, a round trip could cost $ 19,854.12.
Therefore, an approximate estimate of Daystar flights to and from Colorado Springs since October 2022 would be $ 476,499.
Meanwhile, Lamb has other options:
Lamb’s home in Colleyville, Texas, is approximately 10 minutes from Terminal A at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Meanwhile, the trip to Fort Worth Meacham airport, where the ministry plane remains on a hanger, is approximately 23 minutes.
Colorado Springs commercial flights from local airports are available through American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. The cost of a round trip travel ticket of American Airlines bought three weeks in advance varies from almost $ 200 to almost $ 525, depending on factors such as flight departure time or proximity to a vacation.
The tickets for the round trip trainer of American Airlines bought the flight week, although more expensive, it can still cost less than $ 1,000 even with an additional luggage rate.
A flight from Fort Worth Meacham airport to Destin Executive Airport is 575 aeronautical miles, according to the airport distance calculator. Travel costs for 13 round trip flights are an estimated $ 292,721.
Southwest also offers flights from Dallas Love Field to Destin, Florida, a round trip for less than $ 400 if you reserve a couple of weeks in advance.
Springs Colorado Flights
24 round trip trips = 1,014 miles x 24 x 19.58 = $ 476,499
Destination flights
13 round trip trips = 1,150 x 9 x 19.58 = $ 292,721
Personal flight cost
Springs Colorado Flights + Destination Flights = Total
$ 476,499+$ 292,721 = $ 769,220
Estimation for the cost of commercial flying
When using commercial airplanes, Lamb and Weiss would have reduced the number of flights involved. In addition, this estimate does not include a Springs Colorado Chicago trip.
Springs Colorado Flights
(ticket price x 2 people (lamb and weiss) x number of round trip flights = total)
$ 400 x 2 x 13 = $ 10,400
Flights to destin
(ticket price x 2 people (lamb and weiss) x number of round trip flights = total)
$ 600 x 2 x 7 = $ 8,400
Total Cost of Tickets for Colorado Springs and Destin
$ 10,400 + $ 8,400 = $ 18,800
Savings estimated by commercial airplanes
Cost of Colorado Springs/Destin
$ 769,220 – $ 18,800 = $ 750,420
*This does not consider other family members (the son or daughters of Lamb and their extended families) accompany the lamb or other employees and members of the Daystar Board.
Is it legal to use a ministry jet for personal use?
Yeah, Yeah A special IRS tax is paid. The tax, the level of the standard industry rate strangely called, is based on the aeronautical miles of a trip.
The Flight Tax from July 1 to December 31, 2022 is determined by multiplying aeronautical miles for $ .1843 and adding a terminal charge of $ 44.18.
The personal flight tax taken from January 1 to June 30, 2023 is determined by multiplying aeronautical miles for $ .2183 and adding a terminal charge of $ 52.35.
The tax on a personal round trip from Fort Worth to Colorado Springs during the first six months of 2023 would be $ 273.71, if they are paid.
(1,014 x $ .2183 +52.35 = Total)
2020 ‘Inside Edition’ exhibition, buying the plane after obtaining a government loan
In 2020, Word of God Felowship bought the plane two weeks after its loan application for the Pague Protection Program (PPP) was approved by $ 3.9 million. The government loan program was created to help small non-profit companies and organizations retain employees during COVID-19 blocks.
“Inside Edition”, with the assistance of the Trinity Foundation, investigated the personal use of the Lamb family of the ministry’s JET and the possible misuse of the PPP Print program.
Lisa Guerrero’s research reporter with “Inside Edition” caught Marcus Lamb when she approached a field club for the DayStar golf tournament.
Warrior: Then, his church received millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money and then two weeks later bought a private jet for millions of dollars. Can you explain that? Did you use the taxpayer’s money to buy a private jet?
Lamb: No, we didn’t. We have our own money.
Warrior: So why are you using that private plane? Only Church business?
Lamb: Absolutely.
Warrior: So why did you take two vacations with that church plane, even Florida last week, where you played golf? His wife posted on the social networks on vacation.
Lamb: We had vacations, but we also did several meetings with ministers while we were there.
Marcus quickly closed Guerrero’s door.
Before the exhibition of the “internal edition” was issued, Daytar paid the PPP loan.
Increased financial responsibility
The parent organizations of Daysar and Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) claim that they are churches, but only TBN presents a 990 form with the IRS.
In screen capture below, TBN reveals its use of private airplanes.
Texas Trinity transmission spent $ 1,991,580 on travel expenses in 2022. Again, Daystar does not disclose this information or how much money the network spent on fund collection.
The beneficial organization qualifies thousands of beneficial organizations. One of its main reference points is the percentage of a non -profit organization that spends on the programs services that is determined by subtracting the fund collection expenses and total expenses management.
Charity Navigator hopes that beneficial organizations will spend 70% or more in the mission of organizations.
This percentage is easy to calculate for organizations that present form 990.
However, there is no way to effectively evaluate Daystar’s finances since the Ministry no longer publishes an annual report and is not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Responsibility (ECFA).
There is a political solution to this lack of financial responsibility: Congress has the power to amend the Tax Code and requires large churches and media ministries to complete form 990.
(Tagstotranslate) Daytar
