Clarence McClendon is a preacher whose show Take It by Force appears on TBN and CET. He is based in Gardena, Calif.

Joyce Meyer heads Joyce Meyer Ministries based in Missouri and was selected by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America. Her program Enjoying Everyday Life is carried on television and radio stations around the world. 1-800-727-9673  Media inquiries are handled via the website.

Bishop Eddie Long is pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in suburban Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Long received more than $3 million in salary, benefits and perks – including the use of a $350,000 Bentley – between 1997 and 2000 from a charity he founded. In response, Long told the newspaper that “Jesus wasn’t poor.” […]

Benny Hinn is the leader of Benny Hinn Ministries in Grapevine, Texas. His “This Is Your Day” program is seen throughout the United States and in nearly 200 foreign countries. His ministry took in $60 million in 2001 and now exceeds $90 million annually, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. Contact through the form on his website.

Creflo Dollar is the founder and president of Creflo Dollar Ministries and pastor of World Changers Church International in College Park, Ga., which claims 25,000 members. His television show, Changing Your World, reaches 1 billion people, according to the WCCI website.

Paul and Jan Crouch are based in Costa Mesa, Calif. Their Trinity Broadcasting Network collects more than $120 million a year from viewers of its Christian programming — more than any other TV ministry. Crouch calls his version of the prosperity gospel “God’s economy of giving.”

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland are based in Fort Worth, Texas. Their television show, Believer’s Voice of Victory, reaches at least 76 million households in the United States and airs on 135 international stations.

Bart D. Ehrman wrote Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code : A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine and teaches religious studies at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Ehrman can place Mary of Nazareth in her historical and modern-day context.

Prayer services and talk of religious values are common on some teams. Read a Sept. 18, 2005, Washington Post story about a ministry called Baseball Chapel and the practice of players praying before games.