50 Largest Media Ministries In The Country

Below is a list of the largest media ministries in the country.

These days, almost all ministries have some media component, Pastors write books. Journalists have podcasts. However, the list below is a list of those ministries whose work is primarily media-driven. They include media organizations — such as television and radio networks — as well as “teaching and preaching ministries” whose presence is primarily on radio and television. For those of you who are fluent in the MinistryWatch 1000 database, this list includes the “Educational Media” and the “Radio/TV Stations” categories.

It is important to note that this list does NOT include a number of for-profit organizations, including the Salem Radio Network and the Bott Radio Network.

This is the third year we have produced this list, and we have seen some significant movement among media organizations. Eight ministries on this year’s list were not on the list last year. In some cases the reason was the expansion of our database from 500 to 1000 ministries over the past two years. We simply discovered new organizations that we had previously inadvertently omitted. Amazing Facts, #16 on the list, is an example.

But in some cases, the new additions were the result of significant growth.

The “biggest mover” on the list is Family Radio (#10). Many readers will remember Family Radio because of its controversial founder Harold Camping, who unsuccessfully predicted the return of Jesus. However, the new leaders of the station have done much work to leave the Camping era behind, and evangelical listeners and donors have been responding. The organization has seen growth in the past few years, but its big move this year was primarily due to the sale of assets.

In at least one case – Ravi Zacharias International Ministries – the ministry is out of business. However, we have left them on the list in order to provide an accurate snapshot of the ministry’s finances when it disbanded.

Also, MinistryWatch has identified a growing trend among Christian ministries to identify as churches and thereby withhold their Form 990s. Many of these organizations have a significant media presence. Indeed, some of them are primarily media organizations. They include: Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, and Kenneth Copeland. They should likely be on this list, but we have no way of accurately evaluating them.

A word about timing: This information comes from the most recent Form 990 available. For most ministries on this list, the most recent year available was 2020. For a few ministries, the most recent year is 2019 or older. As we have previously reported, the IRS has a significant backlog of Form 990s they have yet to process. That problem is getting better, but it is not fully solved. To read the complete profile of the ministries, which will identify the most recent year we have financial information available, click on the name of the ministry. That link will take you to the ministry’s profile in the MinistryWatch database.