Eddie Lee Long was born on the 12th May 1953, in Huntersville, North Carolina USA, and was a Baptist clergyman serving in the post of senior pastor in the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a position he occupied from 1987. Moreover, he was a businessman as well as author of books. Long was a winner of the Trumpet Award for outstanding accomplishments by Blacks against the odds. He passed away in January 2017.
So just how much was the wealth of the senior pastor? It has been estimated by authoritative sources that the overall size of Bishop Eddie Long’s net worth was over $5 million.
Bishop Eddie Long Net Worth $5 Million
Long graduated from North Carolina Central University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Afterwards, he briefly worked in the private sector as a car salesman for the Ford Motor Corporation, before studying theology and attaining a Master of Divinity degree at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia; the organization is not recognized by any of the institutions responsible for educational accreditation. Despite this, Long managed to build an outstanding career, which later added millions to the size of his net worth.
In 1987, he became the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church located in Lithonia, Georgia. Over the years, Long increased the church membership of this parish exponentially through his sermons, from 300 to a reported 25,000.
Eddie Long wrote several books during his time as pastor; the most popular are “I Don’t Want Delilah, I Need You”, “Power of a Wise Woman; What a Man Wants, What a Woman Needs”, “Gladiator: The Strength of a Man”, “The Blessing in Giving” and others, which also helped raise his wealth..
Long’s most important career events included hosting the funeral of Coretta Scott King, the widow of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, attended by famous and respected celebrities including Presidents of the US Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.
On the other hand, Long was involved in a number of controversies. In 2005, he was accused of personally using revenues from his charity – more than $3 million. In 2007, he was accused of being one of the most homophobic leaders of a religious organisation. Later, he came into international media coverage after four criminal complaints against him by youths for sexual abuse in 2010; the pastor denied all the accusations, and in 2011 they were settled out of court, although the terms were not reported. The same year he was the subject of an episode in the television series “Sex Scandals in Religion”, broadcast on Vision TV.
Finally, in the personal life of the pastor, Long was married to Dabara S. Houston from 1981 to 89, and they had one child together. He married Vanessa Griffin in 1990, and they had three children. In 2011, Griffin announced that she had filed for divorce after the aforementioned allegations surfaced, but then withdrew the application, citing religious beliefs and an attempt to rehabilitate her husband.
Bishop Eddie Long died on 15 January 2017, apparently from an aggressive form of cancer.
