Franklin Graham's Annual Income Is Getting Closer To $1 Million

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Franklin Graham started taking a salary from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association two years after giving up pay from the Charlotte ministry founded by his father.

The Charlotte Observer reports that Graham is getting just over $250,000 from the association, on top of the more than $620,000 he makes from leading the international relief agency Samaritan’s Purse.

Graham stopped getting a salary from his father’s ministry association in 2009 because the Great Recession caused a sip in revenues and the organization let staffers go. A spokesman for Graham says the ministry’s board told Graham in 2011 it thought he should be paid again, and Graham agreed.

Graham spokesman Mark DeMoss says since the economic downturn ended, both the ministry and Samaritan’s Purse have continued to grow under Graham’s leadership.

JEFFREY DAUGHERTY (www.jeffreydaugherty.com) submits this item.