Rod Parsley is the pastor of World Harvest Church in Canal Winchester, Ohio, and the author of God’s Answer to Insufficient Funds (Harrison House, 1992). He has said people have “sinned” by trying to make others ashamed of the wealth in their lives.

David G. Myers is a professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland, Mich. He has written about the pursuit of happiness and consumerism.

Alan Branch is a professor of Christian ethics at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. He wrote an article for The Baptist Messenger about prosperity gospel and Joel Osteen’s relation to it.

Nasir Siddiki is the founder of Wisdom Ministries in Tulsa, Okla. He is the author of Kingdom Principles of Financial Increase (Wisdom Ministries, 1998) and speaks frequently to businesspeople.

Joerg Rieger is a professor of constructive theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He is an expert on mainline Protestant denominations and says some of those churches, while they do not teach a prosperity gospel, share a “prosperity mentality” when they preach that “good things happen to good people.”

Anthony B. Pinn is a professor of humanities and religious studies at Rice University in Houston. He has been critical of the prosperity gospel preached in some Black megachurches for its lack of emphasis on community service and charity. He is the author of Why, Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology and editor of Redemptive Suffering: a […]

Frederick Haynes III is the senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas. He helped organize a conference for African American pastors concerned about the spread and use of the prosperity gospel, especially among African Americans.

Shayne Lee is an assistant professor of sociology at Tulane University in New Orleans. He is the author of T.D. Jakes: America’s New Preacher (New York University Press, 2005).

Forrest Harris is director of the Kelly Miller Smith Institute on African-American Church Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn., as well as an associate professor of the practice of ministry. He teaches courses on the theology of ministry in the black church tradition and can discuss liberation theology and social justice.