Kenneth Max Copeland (born December 6, 1936) is an American televangelist associated with the charismatic movement. He is the founder of Eagle Mountain International Church Inc. (EMIC), which is based in Tarrant County, Texas. Copeland has also written several books and other resources, and is known for his broadcast The Believer's Voice of Victory.
Copeland preaches prosperity theology and is part of the Word of Faith movement, which teaches that divine favor is expressed in material and financial blessing, and that giving to ministries unlocks this favor.
Kenneth Max Copeland was born on December 6, 1936, and raised in West Texas, near a United States Army Air Forces airfield. This inspired him to become a pilot.
Copeland was a recording artist on the Imperial Records label during the 1950s, recording a number of singles including "Pledge of Love", which charted in the Billboard Top 40 on April 20, 1957, staying on the charts for 15 weeks and peaking at No. 17.
In the fall of 1967, he enrolled in Oral Roberts University, where he soon became pilot and chauffeur to Oral Roberts.
In 1967, after attending Kenneth E. Hagin's Pastor Seminars, Copeland and his wife Gloria founded Kenneth Copeland Ministries (KCM) in Fort Worth, Texas. The ministry's motto is "Jesus is Lord". Kenneth Copeland Ministries has six international offices in Canada, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Ukraine. He preaches prosperity theology and is part of the Word of Faith movement, which teaches that financial blessing and physical well-being are the will of God for believers, and that material and financial success are a sign of divine favor. This may be unlocked through giving to ministry, and Copeland has written that parishioners will get a "hundredfold" return on their investment through "giving to God" by offering to his ministry.
Television and other programming
Since 1967, Copeland's ministry has held three-to-six-day conventions across the United States. KCM still holds an annual Southwest Believer's Convention in his hometown of Fort Worth during the first week of August. Kenneth and Gloria Copeland also preach and minister at other conventions and conferences throughout the world.
On May 27, 1971, KCM began a one-hour television program called The Word of Faith. In 1972, a television program called The Prayer Group was launched. This was a half-hour television program aired across the United States.
In 1989, the weekly show The Word of Faith was replaced by a daily series called Believer's Voice of Victory. Mike Huckabee, a 2008 Republican presidential primary candidate, made six appearances on the program.
In 2015, KCM launched the Believer's Voice of Victory Network on channel 265 on Dish Network. Believer's Voice of Victory Network was renamed Victory Channel in 2019 and is available over-the-air and on some cable providers. On October 2, 2020, the Believer's Voice of Victory (BVOV) stopped broadcasting on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). At the start of 2022, it was added on several national cable systems under a new channel lease with Olympusat, which had previously offered Hillsong Channel and Living Faith Network, then Bulldog Shopping Network, on the channel space until the fall of 2025, when the ministry ended those agreements to focus on free streaming venues and satellite.
Pastor Gene Bailey hosts the Victory Channel's popular FlashPoint current-events prophecy program and reaches approximately 11,000 households. FlashPoint commonly features nationally known ministry leaders such as Lance Wallnau and Hank Kunneman; other guests have included Donald Trump, Charlie Kirk, Marjorie Taylor Greene and former Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries is located in Fort Worth, Texas, on a 33-acre (13 ha) property that was once Marine Corps Air Station Eagle Mountain Lake (MCAS Eagle Mountain Lake), a United States Marine Corps air base, valued in 2008 at $554,160 (equivalent to $828,670 in 2025) by Tarrant Appraisal District. The site includes the Eagle Mountain International Church, television and radio production facilities, warehouse and distribution facilities, residences for the Copeland family, and Kenneth Copeland Airport. In 2008, approximately 500 people were employed by KCM. Copeland's son John Copeland was the ministry's chief operating officer until his divorce from Marty Copeland in 2018. He remains a consultant to the ministry.
Mike Huckabee rented KCM's facilities for a fundraiser, an action that was criticized by the Trinity Foundation. As a result of the Huckabee appearances, KCM was one of six ministries investigated in the United States Senate inquiry into the tax-exempt status of religious organizations. KCM was one of four that did not co-operate or volunteer to make reforms. The investigation did not conclude the Copelands had done anything wrong.
KCM owns several business jets, including a 1998 Cessna 550 Citation Bravo, which it received from a donor in October 2007 and is used for domestic flights, and a 2005 Cessna 750 Citation X, which it uses for international flights. In 2018, KCM acquired a Gulfstream V that was formerly owned by Tyler Perry, and was restoring a 1962 Beech H-18 Twin, which the ministry plans to use for disaster relief efforts.
KCM has been criticized for its use of private aircraft. KCM promised from 2006 to 2010 to create an aviation relief assistance program called Angel Flight 44, to help Haiti. A spokesperson responded "This was not a specific promise with a timeline attached", and said that the money was spent on airplane repairs. In 2008, the ministry owned five airplanes and continued to purchase more. In February 2007, Copeland was accused of using KCM's Citation X for personal vacations. The Copelands' financial records and a list of KCM's board of directors are not publicly available; the information is held in confidence by the Internal Revenue Service. Responding to media questions, Copeland pointed to an accounting firm's declaration that his jet travel complied with federal tax laws.
In December 2008, KCM's Citation Bravo was denied tax exemption after KCM refused to submit a standardized Texas Comptroller form that some county appraisal districts use to make determinations, which would have required making public the salary of all ministry staff. KCM subsequently filed suit with the Tarrant Appraisal District in January 2009 and its petition to have the aircraft's tax-exempt status restored was granted in March 2010.
KCM has utilized an FAA program that blocks enrolled aircraft on flight tracking websites; in 2010, the flights of five of the ministry's aircraft were kept private, including the Citation X and a North American T-28 Trojan. United States Senator Chuck Grassley has questioned some of the flights taken by these aircraft, including layovers in Maui, Fiji, and Honolulu. The ministries say that the stopovers were for preaching or for allowing pilot rest.