Asheville Christian Academy, International Cooperating Ministries Drop Into Bottom 20% for Financial Efficiency And other notable ministry happenings from this week.

Christina Darnell

5 months ago

Here at MinistryWatch, one of our goals is to equip donors with the information they need to make wise decisions with their giving. That’s why we manage our database, which rates more than 1,000 of the country’s largest ministries based on their financial efficiency, financial transparency, and their donor confidence. Each week, we highlight ministries in our database that have had rating changes, plus a brief explanation about why it matters.

A few notable changes in the database this week:

Standing Stone Ministry and UnfoldingWord both jumped into the top 60% for financial efficiency in their respective sectors, also raising their Donor Confidence Scores by 20 points—both ministries now have Donor Confidence Scores of 100.
We added more than 15 new ministries into the MinistryWatch database, including Deaf Pathway Global and HopeHouse International.
A number of ministries dropped from A to C Transparency Grades after choosing not to make audited financial statements available on their websites, including Springs Rescue Mission and The Kaleo Foundation. This change also dropped their Donor Confidence Scores by 2 points.
Asheville Christian Academy and International Cooperating Ministries both dropped into the bottom 20% for financial efficiency within their respective sectors.

We also highlight stories from our podcast, where you can catch up on the week’s news in less than 30 minutes—perfect for a commute or walk. We highly recommend ministries join the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), which is why we list organizations that have either joined ECFA in the past week or been removed (none were added/removed this week). Check it all out below.

CORRECTION: MinistryWatch reported that International Fellowship of Evangelical Students USA had fallen in its Transparency Grade and Donor Confidence Score for not posting audited financials on its website. That was incorrect—it DOES post audited financials, and its profile in the MinistryWatch database now reflects that.

With that, here are three top stories on the MinistryWatch website from this past week:

Philip Yancey Retires After Admitting Affair

By Bob Smietana. Philip Yancey, a beloved evangelical author and speaker, will retire from public ministry after admitting to a long-term affair. “My conduct defied everything that I believe about marriage,” Yancey, 76, wrote in a letter to Christianity Today. “It was also totally inconsistent with my faith and my writings and caused deep pain for her husband and both of our families.”

125 Highly Paid Ministry Leaders — 2026

By Warren Cole Smith. Below is a list of 125 highly paid Christian ministry executives. The information was derived from the latest available Form 990 prepared by the ministry itself. We are not calling this list the “Highest Paid Christian Ministry Executives” because many pastors and other church leaders who might make more are not on this list. Churches are not required to make their Form 990s available to the public, even though many megachurches include media and other ministries that are funded by donors not associated with the church.

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK: The Road Ahead for MinistryWatch in 2026

By Warren Cole Smith. Every year, for the past six years, I have presented a forward-looking, three-year strategic plan to the board of directors of MinistryWatch. That plan has not always been perfect. In fact, it has never been perfect. Circumstances change. New funding sources become available, or they dry up. Opportunities and barriers arise. These annual exercises in strategic planning have made real to me a lesson from a 1957 speech by President Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

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Here’s what else is new at MinistryWatch this week.

MinistryWatch Database Changes

MinistryWatch now has more than 1,000 ministries in its database. These ministries represent more than $44-billion in total revenue, most of that donor revenue from evangelicals. The following ministries have their profiles updated with the most recent year’s financial data. The Financial Efficiency rating of each ministry is in parenthesis. If this rating represents a change from the previous year, that change is noted:

Ministries recently added to the database:

African Reaching Africa (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 71)

Behind the Scene International (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 96)

Brookstone Schools (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 73)

Deaf Pathway Global (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 56)

Empower One (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 33)

Equipping the Persecuted (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 66)

Friends of India Network (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 71)

Global Fellowship/Mission Stream (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: F, DCS:16 )

GTi Hope (1 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 75)

Harvesters Ministries (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 58)

HopeHouse International (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 66)

Impact Indonesia (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 60)

International Christian Response (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 75)

Opportunity Tribe (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: N/A)

Strategic Launch Network (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: N/A)

The Chara Project (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS:N/A )

With Ministries (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: N/A)

Ministries with upgraded ratings:

Community Bible Study (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 95)

Now in top 20% for financial efficiency in Leadership Training sector.

Jeanne Mayo Ministries (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 66)

Now in top 40% for financial efficiency in Leadership Training sector.

Standing Stone Ministry (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 80 to 100)

Now in top 60% for financial efficiency in Leadership Training sector, also raising its donor confidence by 20 points.

UnfoldingWord (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 80 to 100)

Now in top 60% for financial efficiency in Bible Translation Organizations sector, also raising its donor confidence by 20 points.

Ministries with downgraded ratings:

Ananias House (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 95)

Now in top 60% for financial efficiency in Evangelism Support sector.

Asheville Christian Academy (Down 2 to 1 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 80)

Now in bottom 20% for financial efficiency in K-12 Schools/Academies sector.

Church World Service (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 66)

Now in top 40% (down from top 20%) for financial efficiency in Relief & Development sector.

Daily Audio Bible (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 78)

Now in top 60% for financial efficiency in Educational Media sector.

Family Life Ministries (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 98 to 78)

Now in bottom 40% for financial efficiency in Educational Media sector, also dropping its donor confidence by 20 points.

Feed The Children (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 71 to 69)

CEO/President’s compensation is not within one standard deviation of the median compensation.

First Love International Ministries (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 100 to 80)

Now in bottom 40% for financial efficiency in Foreign Missions sector, also dropping its donor confidence by 20 points.

International Cooperating Ministries (Down 2 to 1 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 75)

Now in bottom 20% for financial efficiency in Foreign Missions sector.

MissionGO (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 97)

Now in top 60% for financial efficiency in Foreign Missions sector.

One For Israel (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: Down A to C, DCS: Down 100 to 98)