EDITOR’S NOTE: “Signs and Wonders” is a column that shares thoughts on news items that either do not rise to the level of a news story for MinistryWatch or are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” My goal is to be punchy, opinionated, and not to worry much about being slightly off brand. If that is not for you, no hard feelings. But if it is…read on.
Trial of the Archbishop. The trial of Anglican Archbishop Steve Wood concluded last Friday, Sept. 11. The trial included five days of testimony from 38 witnesses. Acting Archbishop Julian Dobbs released a statement asking for “patience and prayer as we wait on an opinion from the Court.” By church law, the court has up to 101 days to issue its decision. My sources tell me that even if he is acquitted, he will have a hard time leading the denomination given the serious “hit” his credibility has taken by this process.
Upholding Human Dignity. Missy Hanks of the ELM Foundation in Huntsville, Ala., and Misty Kelso of Watered Gardens Ministries in Joplin, Mo., recently testified before the U.S. House of Representatives at a hearing on federal welfare programs. I’ve become a fan of both these organizations. We’ve written about Watered Gardens here at MinistryWatch. They are both a part of the True Charity Network, which we’ve also written about here.
Hanks described an “effort-based” model in which participants work, set goals and build education and job skills. She said assistance should be a bridge, not a source of dependency, and argued that work provides more than income. It builds confidence, skills, social connections and dignity.
Kelso, who works with women experiencing homelessness, addiction and poverty, drew on her own recovery. She said people need more than immediate material assistance; they need relationships, redemption, hope and human dignity. She described work as something that eventually gave her purpose rather than merely a paycheck. Both women argued that effective assistance should address individual barriers while helping people move toward stability and independence.
Watch their testimony here. Missy begins at 22:00 and Misty begins at 33:05.
It’s Not Magic. It’s Math. One of the most common complaints we get here at MinistryWatch is about our low rating for Samaritan’s Purse. The ministry has earned a “Withhold Giving” rating from MinistryWatch. I get emails regularly from people telling me what great work the ministry does, asking why the low rating.
The answer I often give: “It’s not magic. It’s math.” In other words, a close look at Samaritan’s Purse reveals that it spent nearly $100 million on fundraising alone last year. It now has more than $2.4 billion in assets, with nearly $1.4 billion of that in cash. Samaritan’s Purse is remarkable in many ways. It is large enough to be able to do things that no other ministry can do. But it is sitting on mountains of cash while still spending another mountain of cash trying to get people to give them more. I think their behavior is questionable, at best, and I think they well deserve the low rating we give them. (Though it grieves me to say so.)
I should also add that the organization just withdrew from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, after being a member for decades. This action should be another “red flag” for donors.
Finally, I would note that when Samaritan’s Purse turned down $300 million from the federal government, Franklin Graham, Samaritan’s Purse president, said the organization “always relied on God, not government, for funding.” It’s a laudable statement. It is also simply not true. They’ve been taking government money for years, including $75 million in 2024. I think Samaritan’s Purse did the right thing by turning down that money. I just wish Graham had told the truth about why.
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Voice of the Martyrs Campaign. Another common email we get here at MinistryWatch regards Voice of the Martyrs. The emails we get are nearly identical, leading me to believe they are part of a campaign. The emails complain about VOM’s $28 million expenditure on a headquarters campus, expenditures that took place 15 years ago. Also, in 2012, then-president of VOM, Tom White, was credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor girl. When the charges became public, he committed suicide.
Let me take the Tom White story first. It’s a horrible story, and it does raise some concerns about how a man could have become president of a major Christian organization with such a character, but I investigated this case pretty hard around 2013 and 2014. I interviewed the chief of the police department in Bartlesville and reporters who had covered the story, in addition to some of those accusing White and VOM of wrongdoing.
I could find nothing that led me to believe there was anything systemically wrong at VOM. To be clear: The fact that I found no wrongdoing doesn’t mean there WAS no wrongdoing (other than Tom White’s obvious wrongdoing), but I looked hard and couldn’t find it.
Regarding the headquarters building: I don’t have an opinion about the new building. It is certainly nice, and it did cost a lot of money. But I would also note that according to VOM audits, the property is now worth as much as $50 million — nearly twice what they paid for it. Whether or not it was extravagant is not for me to decide. It does, however, seem to have been a pretty good investment. Besides, what I think is beside the point. That decision was made by the board and it appears to have been fully disclosed to donors. None of this was done in secret. I found nothing inappropriate about the way the organization communicated with donors or the public about its headquarters building.
You can read our profile of Voice of the Martyrs. It shows an organization that is not perfect in terms of financial management, but pretty good — certainly above average when compared to its peers.
Again, I am reluctant to endorse or condemn a ministry. We try to find information and make it available to donors and to the public and let them decide. So, while I would not give VOM a completely clean bill-of-health, I can say that we looked hard at the accusations and couldn’t find anything we thought rose to the level of wrongdoing.
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