Prior to his conversion to the prosperity gospel in November, 1962, Copeland was a recording artist, having one Billboard Top 40 hit ("Pledge of Love", which charted in the Top 40 on April 20, 1957, stayed on the charts for eight weeks, and peaked at #12).

Following his religious conversion, Copeland turned the rest of his life over to prosperity gospel ministry work. In the 1960s, he was a pilot and chauffeur for Oral Roberts. In the fall of 1967, he enrolled in Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He was a member of the Oral Roberts University Board of Regents until it was replaced in 2008 with a new board that promised to hold to higher standards of financial accountability. In October 2007 a lawsuit against the university was presented for financial and political wrong doing. Copeland's oldest daughter, Terri, is married to pastor George Pearsons, who served until January 2008 as the ORU Board chairman.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries grew through the 1970s, and in 1979 "Believer's Voice of Victory" first appeared on television. Headquartered in Newark, Texas, Kenneth Copeland Ministries has international offices in Australia, Africa, Canada, United Kingdom and Ukraine. According to Kenneth Copeland Ministries, it is also actively involved in ministry to prison inmates in 23 countries.

Copeland has received criticism for his teaching about wealth in the "Word Faith Movement", his claims about faith healing, and his claim that Bible believers could receive a hundredfold return on their giving as found in Genesis 26:12, Mark 4:20, Mark 10:29-30, Luke 6:38, II Corinthians 9:6-12 and Galatians 3:13-14 of the Bible.

In 2006, Kenneth and Gloria were accused by former business associates of leaving tens of thousands of dollars of debt in their failed Affordable Homes Limited business partnership while spending money on other projects. However, the Copelands were limited partners of this company and as such were not obliged to pay its debts or explain the withdrawal of their financing.

In late November 2007, Mike Huckabee, a 2008 Republican presidential primary candidate, made six appearances on Copeland's daily television program Believer's Voice of Victory, discussing "Integrity of Character". Subsequently, in January 2008, the Huckabee campaign paid for use of Kenneth Copeland Ministries' facilities for a fundraiser. Copeland also claimed that he had had a phone call with Huckabee in which Huckabee allegedly vowed support despite a pending investigation by the U.S. Senate into Copeland's finances if he was elected. The fundraising at the church was criticized by the Trinity Foundation.

In September 2010, the Ten Network in Australia dropped the Believer's Voice of Victory program from their capital city stations after the network claimed that the 2 June 2010 broadcast contained material relating to homosexuals that breached the Australian Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice.

Airport and ministry jets

The Kenneth Copeland Airport is a private airport established by Kenneth Copeland Ministries to serve the area of Fort Worth, Texas.

In 2007 Copeland was accused of using his $20 million Cessna Citation X jet for personal vacations and friends. The Copelands' financial records are not publicly available, and a list of the Board of Directors is not accessible as these details are protected and known confidentially by the Internal Revenue Service. Responding to media questions, Copeland pointed to an accounting firm's declaration that all jet travel complies with federal tax laws.

In December 2008, Copeland's 1998 Cessna Bravo 550, his second jet, valued at $3.6 million, was denied tax exemption after Copeland refused to submit to disclosure laws for the state of Texas.

On November 6, 2007, United States Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, announced an investigation of Copeland's ministry by the United States Senate Committee on Finance. The Associated Press reported that Grassley said the investigation was a response to complaints from the public and news media. Grassley stated, "The allegations involve governing boards that aren't independent and allow generous salaries and housing allowances and amenities such as private jets and Rolls Royces." IRS guidelines require that pastors' compensation be "reasonable" and net earnings may not benefit any private individual.Grassley asked for the ministry to divulge financial information (Grassley's letter) to the committee to determine if Copeland made any personal profit from financial donations, and requested that Copeland's ministry make the information available by December 6, 2007. The Copelands responded with a "Financial report from Kenneth Copeland Ministries."KCM created a website to help explain their side of the inquiry.