Evangelist Cole-Whittaker Will End Her TV Show, Quit Church

SAN DIEGO — The Rev. Terry Cole-Whittaker, who preaches a message that prosperity is a divine right, has announced that she is ending her weekly television sermons and will pull out of her La Jolla-based church after an Easter Sunday service.

Cole-Whittaker told her congregation on Sunday that it is time “to go within myself, to be in nature and to be happy and to do what I want to do. I have always done what I wanted to do.”

The Rev. Terry, as the evangelist calls herself, said she would probably move to Hawaii or to the mountains.

Supporters and observers attributed Cole-Whittaker’s withdrawl to “burnout.” But the San Diego Tribune on Monday quoted ministry spokesman R. J. Davis as saying that the organization was $400,000 in debt. Cole-Whittaker has said that she raised more than $6 million last year, but spent more.

In addition to Sunday preaching, Cole-Whittaker has given a variety of courses including “Mastery in Wealth” and “Dress to Win.” Her book, “How to Have More in a Have-Not World,” sells for $50 for an autographed copy.

Although Cole-Whittaker’s theme was one of prosperity, a close friend of the minister said she had developed “a dissatisfaction with materialism” during a recent trip to India.

“One thing she saw in India was that people can be happy without Rolls-Royces,” said the friend, who asked not to be named.