Almost half, they say, paid television production costs, including the purchase of equipment, and bought air time for the broadcasts seen around the world. Officials of Swaggart’s ministry insist they can account for the spending of every penny of the $150 million. The rest represented proceeds from the sales of gospel records and tapes, Bibles, books and T-shirts by the largest mail-order business in Louisiana and one of the biggest in the country. Of Swaggart’s $150 million in 1987 revenues, fully $135 million came from voluntary contributions generated both by his television ministry-which appears on 200 stations in the United States and is beamed to 145 countries in English and 15 foreign languages-and by fund-raising letters that are mailed at a rate of 7 million pieces a day. The organization said it would hold a telethon in an effort to revive donations. Officials said Friday that because of a sudden drop-off in contributions, more than 100 employees had been laid off and construction of new ministry buildings had been halted. But ministry officials have enough taped broadcasts to keep his weekly show on the air for months to come-if local stations still want it. Swaggart’s temporary suspension from preaching as of last month, a result of his self-confessed “moral lapse” with a prostitute, may have a devastating effect on his ministry’s income.
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