St. Matthew's Churches

St. Matthew's Churches is an evangelical Christian ministry. It is primarily a mail-based ministry with an address in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with churches in New York and Houston.cite news|url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=070513_238_A1_hWatc18175|publisher=Tulsa World|date=2007-05-13|title=Prayers, cash flow into Tulsa|author=Bransetter, Zita] The ministry has been accused of preying on the very low income and the elderly by using census records to target their mailings. Initial mailings often only speak of the "power of prayer"; once a recipient responds and is placed on the church mailing list, they are targeted with letters saying that monetary donations are required for their prayers to be answered [Rip-off Report. [http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/030/ripoff0030548.htm Saint Matthew's Churches aka. Prayer By Letters] ] .

Although for several years the ministry operated without a church building and conducted its direct mail donation operation through the Tulsa address, a physical location to hold services — a then-78-year-old Baptist church in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhoodcite news|url=http://www.houstonpress.com/2007-03-22/news/saint-matthew-s-churches-inc/|title=|publisher=Houston Press|date=2007-03-22|author=Malisow, Craig|title=Christians send in money for prayer requests which may just go up in smoke] — was purchased in Houston in 2004. St. Matthew's Churches' lawyer says weekly services draw about 1,000 people. According to the Trinity Foundation, an evangelical watchdog group, the physical church are only associated with the mail-based ministry as a cover that allows the lucrative operation to retain tax-exempt church status. [Trinity Foundation. [http://www.trinityfi.org/press/ewing02.html Prayer rug to riches] ] The status was granted by the Internal Revenue Service in 2000 after a 17-year court battle.

One of their mailings consisted of a paper "prayer rug", on which recipients were encouraged to kneel and pray. This mailing, along with others, have been mentioned by the Attorney General of the State of Arkansas, among others, as not providing information about their financial and fundraising practices. [cite news|url=http://ag.arkansas.gov/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&news_id=111|publishser=State of Arkansas|date=2007-05-25|title=Prayer Rug Pitch Wears Thin|author=McDaniel, Dustin] The South Carolina Fraud Alert Task Force identifies the ministry as a possible mail fraud. [State of South Carolina. [http://www.scconsumer.gov/publications/fraud_alert/fraud_alert1.pdf Fraud Alert Task Force] . Published March 21, 2005.] While the ministry does hold tax exemption status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, it has been the subject of numerous complaints to the Better Business Bureau, whose evaluation conclusion was that the organization did not meet two standards for Charity Accountability. [Better Business Bureau [http://web.archive.org/web/20050507030140/http://www.give.org/reports/care2_dyn.asp?584 Wise Giving Guide - St. Matthew's Churches] . Published April 2004.]

The ministry is led by its founder James Eugene Ewing, a former tent minister, who, according to the Trinity Foundation, lives in Beverly Hills, California. Ewing, a native of Kaufman, Texas, was born in 1933 and has written fundraising letters for other evangelists, including Oral Roberts.

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