Diversity of Operations

Looking through the various publications put out by W. V. Grant and seeing the many mailing addresses he uses and lists in his television show credits, I noticed their variety and geographical separation. There is a mailing address at a post office box in Cincinnati. Then there are mailing addresses for W. V. Grant located in Dallas, Texas, both at a post office box and on Grant Street. His Bible course is attributed to five different sources: 21st Century Christ Ministry, Kingsway Bible College, International Deliverance Churches, TVD Bible College, and Faith Clinic Bible Correspondence Course. His television show is prepared and distributed by one or more of these entities: All-American Video, QC Advertising, QCM, QCI, QC Inc., and QC Video. These are organizations listed for Grant:Eagle’s Nest Cathedral Soul’s Harbor Church World Headquarters Grant’s Faith Clinic Faith Clinic School The Cathedral of Compassion (in Cincinnati) W. V. Grant, Jr., Evangelical Association Health & Healing, Inc. Voice of Healing Voice of Deliverance

Evidently deciding that consolidation of these enterprises would be a wise move, the reverend announced that as of January 1, 1986, all of them would be receiving mail (and offerings) at a single Dallas address, known officially as the Eagle’s Nest Cathedral. One might wonder where Grant gets his imagery for this new name for his church, though the heights of Berchtesgaden spring to mind. At his services, he pushes the “eagle” theme strongly. In the process, he mangles zoology by preaching that “Eagles are part of the Dove family, while Ravens are of the Buzzard family.” He further reinforces mythology for his flock by declaring that eagles are known to carry off sheep and goats weighing over 200 pounds at speeds of 200 miles per hour, and he encourages his followers to “be part of the Eagle family, not the Buzzards” As he frequently does, W. V. Grant tends to lose me somewhere about halfway into such a discourse.

The Elusive Truth

This Man of God, in common with his colleagues, tends to exaggerate somewhat, making statements that the most cursory examination will prove impossible, or at least very highly unlikely. For example, he claims that he flies 400,000 miles a year fulfilling his ministry, so a lot of his time must be spent close to heaven. A rough calculation, allowing for the fastest jet speeds, reveals that W. V. Grant claims he spends more than one month every year—24 hours each day of that month!—aloft in an airplane. Were he to fly a maximum of eight hours a day, he’d be flying a full three months a year! His claim of flying the equivalent of 160 coast-to-coast trips per year, while officiating every Sunday at the Eagle’s Nest, should be hard for even the most devoted believer to accept. The faithful who hear him deliver his message every Sunday apparently never trouble to even wonder about such fanciful figures. It would be difficult to imagine how the Reverend Grant can explain the rather large discrepancies between his TV coverage claims and the facts as recorded by Arbitron, the New York-based company which since 1949 has been the nation’s leading broadcast audience measurement organization. Its latest in-depth survey of the religious TV programs shows that in yet another respect Grant has not given us the right figures. He claimed in 1985 to appear on “more than 300” TV stations. Grant says he was seen at that time in more homes than Oral Roberts; the Arbitron report says that Grant covered 198,000 households, while Roberts appeared in 1,046,000, and Roberts was actually seen on 201 TV stations compared with Grant’s 93.