Kriti Mehrotra
Born on July 11, 1961, in Contra Costa County, California, Ronald “Ron” Allan Luce was reportedly raised in a broken home as his parents divorced when he was merely 7-years-old. However, what followed was even worse – there was alleged abuse going on in his mother’s home, and then he got involved in alcohol and drug abuse after running away at age 15 to be with his father. According to his own accounts, that’s when a well-wisher guided him into the Evangelical Church, only for it to transform him and propel him down a path no one could have ever imagined.
How Did Ron Luce Earn His Money?
It was back when Ron was still a teenager that he became involved with local ministries in the hopes of helping his peers and pulling them out of the circumstances he allegedly came from. He was actually very open about this being his life’s sole mission, which is why he chose to attend Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a degree in psychology and theology after graduating from high school. Then, he chose to pursue further education and earn a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from the University of Tulsa, all the while becoming involved with Willie George Ministries.
Ron’s success in the church early on came from his charm as well as his style, which is how he even ended up becoming a part of the ‘Fire By Nite’ Christian variety show later on. However, by the time the mid-1980s rolled around, he started feeling as if he needed to do more, resulting in him launching the Teen Mania Ministries alongside his wife, Kathryn “Katie” Anne Luce. From what we can tell, his goal from the very beginning was to raise “up an army of young people who would change the world” and bring it back from the surge of pop and sensuality to Bible teachings.
Ron took on the role of president of this organization, which essentially consisted of three parts. He himself hosted the Acquire the Fire youth rallies and ministry clinics at several large-scale arenas in the country to encourage youngsters to go on missions across the world. He was also behind the ministry’s Honor Academy, which taught said youngsters about how to navigate their future in the industry and communicate their strategy properly, without any legal issues. Then, eventually, in 2005, he started the Battle Cry Campaign in order to have an impact on the socio-political environment.
By this point, Ron’s work was rather well known across the conservative community thanks to his weekly ‘Acquire the Fire’ show on Trinity Broadcasting Network. This exposure had even resulted in the secretive Arlington Group fininaing their efforts – the group is reportedly a conservative coalition. However, instead of treating and training the youths as the teenagers they were, Teen Mania allegedly subjected them to military practices and extreme situations on a daily basis. This much became evident throughout the intense Battle Cry Campaign as well as the eventual scandal around the mid-2010s when several alumni came forward to share their trauma and allegations of spiritual abuse against the ministry.
Many of these alums specifically named Ron in their complaints, reiterating that he is not only the brains behind the entire operation but that he also possibly benefited from it. After all, every teen sent on a mission, accepted into the academy, or hired as an intern to help form/develop the youth rallies had to actually pay the ministry for their involvement. If they ever failed to do so, they were reportedly forced to subject themselves to different tactics to fundraise the pending amounts, no matter how big or small. This much and more came to light in the 2010s, resulting in financial difficulties as turnover decreased, the ministry having to close down the academy due to bank foreclosure, and a lawsuit filed by Compassion International.
Ron Luce’s Earnings and Net Worth
Although Teen Mania filed for bankruptcy in December 2015, with it later being deemed the nation’s 5-most insolvent charity ever with a value of -$5.2 million, it seemingly didn’t personally affect Ron. That’s because, from what we can tell, the individual was careful about keeping his personal identity separate from the non-profit as an entity, meaning a clear distribution of funds. Whatever was paid to Teen Mania seemingly remained there, with him only taking his fair cut from the total as the ministry’s face, host, as well as president.
Coming to his separate income apart from his earnings directly through the youth organization, this primarily came from his work as a public figure, published author, and rising pastor. He has spoken globally, conducted faith-based training programs, and built a strong personal brand in the evangelical space. After all, Ron has long since earned a Doctorate in Strategic Foresight, embraced the role of a pastor to serve church leaders with Ministry Masterclasses, and penned over 30 books. Many of these writings continue to generate royalties and are used as spiritual guides in youth ministries.
He has always maintained that each of his written words is to help the youth and their parents figure out if the path they are leading will take them to “extraordinary growth” or not. We should mention that a warrant was issued for his arrest in 2015 for failure to appear in court for a breach of contract lawsuit against Teen Mania, and that the Compassion International lawsuit seeks nearly $175,000 from him. These legal setbacks certainly affected his reputation at the time, but did not appear to halt his professional trajectory.
Nevertheless, today, at the age of 64, Ron and his wife Katie are running a new international ministry called Generation Next, which appears to be gaining traction. So, taking all these aspects into account, along with the fact he has worked at over 100,000 churches across the globe, his lifestyle as a married father of 3 adult kids, possible assets, liabilities, and public appearances, we believe his net worth to be in the range of $2 million.
Read More: Mica Ringo: Where is the Teen Mania Survivor Now?
