Pastor yanks webpage asking churchgoers for $85m private jet

A US televangelist who solicited US$65 million ($85 million) from his congregation so he can buy himself a new private jet has pulled his online appeal after a massive backlash.

Reverend Creflo Dollar, 53, head of the Atlanta-based World Changers Church International, had asked churchgoers to donate at least $300 a head towards a Gulfstream G650 which, he said, would allow him to preach his version of the gospel around the world.

The appeal inspired snide headlines such as Jesus Wants Me to Have This Jet.

As of yesterday afternoon, the webpage was no longer active, reports WXIA-TV.

Dollar earlier had made his case for donations on the ministry's website.

"The ministry's current airplane was built in 1984, purchased by the ministry in 1999 and has since logged four million miles," he said.

"Recently on an overseas trip to a global conference, one of the engines failed. By the grace of God, the expert pilot, who's flown with Creflo for almost 20 years, landed the plane safely without injury or harm to any passengers.

"We need your help to continue reaching a lost and dying world for the Lord Jesus Christ."

Dollar, who is known to own luxury cars and multi-million dollar homes, mainly works out of a 8500-seat amphitheatre in Atlanta, sending the sermons to churches all over the country via satellite.

There is a long waiting list for the Gulfstream G650, whose makers claim it is the fasted plane ever built in civil aviation, with the next round of planes not due until 2017.