Ep. 601: The Pope and AI, Ministry Brands, and More
Christina
Hello, everyone, I’m Christina Darnell, the managing editor of MinistryWatch. Welcome to the MinistryWatch podcast.
In today’s extra episode, I talk with Warren Smith about some news items that are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.”
So, Warren, what’s up first?
Warren
Ministry Brands, the leading provider of church management software and online giving solutions, has opened a new corporate headquarters in a suburb of Atlanta.
Christina
Warren, it’s not like you to be taken in by a corporate press release. What caught your attention about this move?
Warren
A statement announcing the opening said the company has “upwards of 700 employees across the United States and Ireland, including 54 in the Atlanta area.” Ministry Brands says it has more than 90,000 churches and non-profit organization customers and facilitates more than $6.45 billion in charitable giving annually. That’s a huge business, focused just on churches and ministries. I’ve asked the president for an interview, and – to their credit – they’re going to give me one. So stay tuned for more information about this organization.
Christina
If you cover religion, like we do here at MinistryWatch, one of the big events of the year is coming up, and that’s the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Orlando.
Warren
Stay tuned to MinistryWatch for our coverage of the event. The annual meeting is often an opportunity for other meetings to happen, and one that caught my attention was one hosted by the Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention (ECAP).
Stand Up: Standing for Vulnerable Adults Against Abuse and Exploitation” is a ticketed luncheon on Tuesday, June 9, during the annual meeting. The event is sponsored by the SBC Executive Committee’s Abuse Prevention & Response Department, led by Jeff Dalrymple.
Christina
The luncheon will convene ministry leaders, disability advocates, and abuse-prevention experts to address a crisis the Church can no longer afford to overlook.
Warren
To learn more about this important topic, check out this article by Dalrymple, whose daughter has autism. It highlights important issues all churches – not just those in the SBC – need to face.
Christina
We normally don’t report about ourselves, but our MinistryWatch database has hit a milestone.
Warren
We’ll soon be looking for another name for the MinistryWatch 1000 database, because just passed the 1500 mark, representing $55 billion in annual revenue. We hope to have 2000 ministries in the database by the end of the year. If you don’t use “The Database,” as we call it, check it out here.
Christina
We have a story that is adjacent to our database.
Warren
MinistryWatch rates a ministry’s efficiency and transparency, but rating a ministry’s effectiveness has been an elusive measure for us and for others. We can measure how much a ministry spends on fundraising, but how can you really measure whether a discipleship ministry causes people to grow spiritually? Or whether an evangelism ministry who claims people made “decisions” for Christ are following up, and that those people are still following Christ a year or a decade later? Coming up with ways to measure ministry effectiveness is sort of the “Holy Grail” for people in my business.
Christina
I’m guessing that’s why you were fascinated by news from World Vision that they were making the attempt to create such a measurement.
Warren
They are calling it the “Hope and Love Measure,” and they claim it is the first “validated tool to quantify how children experience God’s love.” I must confess that I remain apprehensive, but fascinated. You can read more about that new tool here. And stay tuned: I’m interviewing World Vision President Edgar Sandoval later this week, and we’ll take a deeper dive into this tool in a future episode of the MinistryWatch podcast.
Christina
Among the bigger news stories of the week was Pope Leo’s new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas last week.
Warren
He made the announcement surrounded by AI experts, including Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah.
My friends at AXIS, who I often turn to for succinct translations of cultural events through a biblical lens, said, “The pope spoke of the need to ‘disarm’ artificial intelligence so it might become a tool to promote the common good. He insisted that, although the Church won’t always have ‘technical answers,’ it does bring the wisdom that ‘every person is unique and irreplaceable, a free and intelligent subject with a conscience, capable of seeking God, serving one another, caring for our common home.’ His call was for AI to be developed in such a way that these human realities are served, instead of being displaced. And yes, at one point, he did quote Gandalf.” For the full (42,000-word) text, click here.
Christina
Warren, we need to wrap things up here. Any final thoughts before we go?
Warren
I was in Knoxville last week attending an event hosted by my former colleagues and good friends at The Colson Center for Christian Worldview. I was able to connect with MinistryWatch readers and listeners. I’ll be in Denver and Colorado Springs in next week. Let me know if you would like to join me for lunch. My email is [email protected].
Christina
That brings to a close this EXTRA episode of the podcast. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh.
Until next time, may God bless you.
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