Former Anchorage Baptist Temple head Jerry Prevo recorded saying he knows ‘how to work’ church tax-exempt statusJerry Prevo gives a sermon before retiring as pastor of the Anchorage Baptist Temple on May 5, 2019. Prevo is now the president of Liberty University, and he was secretly recorded telling a university official that he knew “how to work” the tax status of churches and that the school should wield more political influence.
Prevo, the founder and longtime pastor of one of Alaska’s largest, wealthiest and most influential churches, became president of Liberty University in Virginia in 2020 after former president Jerry Falwell Jr. became embroiled in scandal.Prevo was secretly recorded pushing for the evangelical university to wield more political influence with the goal of “getting people elected,” according to Politico.
“President Prevo knows the lines established by the IRS for political engagement by 501 organizations, even if Scott Lamb does not,” the university said in a statement. “The IRS recognizes that conservative 501 organizations can legally register and get out conservative voters in hopes of having a more conservative government. The same goes for liberal 501s.