Louisiana pastor Tony Spell defied stay-at-home orders to hold in-person services. Now, he wants congregants to donate their stimulus checks to churches.

• Louisiana pastor Tony Spell first garnered widespread media attention for continuing to host in-person church services with hundreds of people in defiance of state stay-at-home orders.
• Now, the pastor has come under fire for his #PastorSpellStimulusChallenge asking congregants to donate their coronavirus stimulus checks to churches.
• He told CNN that pastors do not get stimulus checks, even though any taxpayer with a social security number is eligible for a payment.
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Tony Spell — a Louisiana pastor who has defiantly held in-person worship services with hundreds of people despite public health advice and state stay-at-home orders — has asked his congregants to participate in the #PastorSpellStimulusChallenge.

The pastor has asked congregants to donate their $1,200 stimulus checks from the federal government to North American Christian leaders and ministers who he claimed have not been paid in weeks.

"Donate it to North American evangelists who haven't had an offering in a month — missionaries who haven't had an offering in a month," Spell said in an online video, adding that they should donate it to North American pastors, music ministers, and more faith leaders.

"If you don't have a church, give through my website," Spell, who runs the Life Tabernacle Church, added, directing people to his website.

Several congregants who are known to have attended Spell's services tested positive for the novel virus, and at least one congregant has died due to COVID-19, the Advocate reported. Spell acknowledged that all of those who had tested positive for the novel virus did, in fact, attend his services, but told CNN Sunday that holding them is the right thing to do anyway.

"The rights endowed to us by our creator are inalienable. I may be defying our governing body's orders, but we are to obey God," Spell said.

Spell says his congregation was founded to help the needy

The social media challenge quickly came under criticism. CNN's Victor Blackwell questioned him about the much-maligned social media challenge on Sunday, asking the pastor why he didn't give them to his congregants in need. Spell previously defended his decision to keep his church doors open by saying live-streaming services would "discriminate against my poorer congregants who do not have internet and do not have a phone."

"You're asking people who you know in your church, who don't have much, who can't even get to you without you going to pick them up, to hand over their $1,200 stimulus check. Why?" Blackwell asked.

Spell noted that Life Tabernacle Church was dedicated to serving his congregants in need, even chartering 27 buses to pick them up around Louisiana and take them to worship services.

However, Spell claimed that North American evangelists and foreign missionaries were the "most needy," claiming that they don't qualify for stimulus checks.

"We are giving to those who do not have. One, I said this is a challenge — we're challenging you – if you can – give your stimulus package to missionaries and evangelists who don't get stimulus packages," Spell told Blackwell on CNN, adding that his church would use the donations to dole out cash payments to church leaders and missionaries

"We are giving to those people that are the most needy," he added.

But pastors are eligible to receive their own stimulus payments and can apply for loans

However, the $2 trillion stimulus package provides relief to both churches and pastors. Like other taxpayers, both practicing and retiring pastors with social security numbers with an adjusted gross income under $75,000 are eligible to receive a rebate up to $1,200 from the federal government.

Churches and ministry organizations that are are 501c3 tax-exempt can also apply to the Paycheck Protection Loan as long as they have fewer than 500 employees at one location, according to the Southern Baptist Convention, an organization that partners with Church Alliance who advocated for faith ministries to be included in the CARES relief bill.

Blackwell questioned Spell about why he was asking congregants for donations when the church had the option to apply for a Paycheck Protection Loan. Spell retorted that Life Tabernacle chose not to apply for this money because they simply did not want to.

"We don't want a [small business] loans — we don't want the government to give us a dime. We are happy to provide for ourselves," Spell said. "Never will our federal or state government put one penny into our church. Because the second they do, they control us."

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