By Alex Eliseev
The stress of living in Johannesburg has seen Pastor Ray McCauley pack his bags, put his Sandton mansion under the hammer and head for Durban - at least for part of each week.
This weekend his five-bedroom palace will go on auction and is expected to fetch up to R10-million. But McCauley said he was not leaving behind his 38 000-strong Rhema Church congregation and would commute between Durban and Johannesburg and preach in Randburg on Sundays.
"My wife, Zelda, and I have decided to live part of the time in Durban in order to lead a less stressful life," he told The Mercury.
"I am not relocating, but may do so in the years to come. The pastoral and administrative team is quite capable of running the day-to-day affairs of the church."
The public auction of McCauley's home will take place on Sunday. The house, in Majubo Lane, Riverclub, is 800m2 of luxury.
McCauley is a bodybuilder-turned-pastor who has been running the Rhema Church for 27 years.
He is no stranger to controversy. After his divorce from co-founder Lyndie, he got married to former model Zelda Ireland, who was entering her third marriage.
McCauley's empire, called the fast-food of spirituality, has been growing steadily and in the last four years attracted 10 000 new members to Randburg alone.
National membership exceeds 70 000.