Greetings from Latrobe, Pa., where I spent a couple of days attending the denominational meeting of the Anglican Church in North America. For those of you who read my recent editorial anticipating this event, I can report that the delegates chose to almost completely reject my recommendations. Such is the life of the prophet. (Seriously, we’ll have more on the decisions of ACNA in the week ahead.)
I spent last weekend in London, attending a conference on Bible translation. The godliness and faithfulness of the men and women who give their lives to the work of Bible translation is inspiring and humbling. That said, and as I have written about extensively, the Bible translation business is broken. The Bible translation world has been slow to abandon 200-year-old organizational and fundraising models – not to mention translation models. But there are signs of innovation in this corner of evangelicalism, and we’ll be bringing you more stories from that conference in the months ahead.
For now, let’s move on to our normal weekly reports.
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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:
Adult & Teen Challenge, USA (Up 1 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 69)
Advent Christian Village (Down 2 to 1 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 70)
Answers in Genesis (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 66 to 70)
Back to the Bible / Good News Broadcasting Association (1 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: Up 56 to 60)
Bible League International (Down 2 to 1 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 46)
Campbell University (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: From C to D, DCS: 59)
Campbellsville University (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: From C to D, DCS: 51)
Catholic Relief Services (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 35 to 20)
Davar Audio Bibles (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 84 to 97)
Hand2Hand (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 85 to 100)
Heaven’s Family (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 98)
International Christian Concern (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 97)
JesusOnline Ministries (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 93 to 98)
Luis Palau Evangelistic Association (Up 1 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 73)
Mercy Corps (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 61)
Operation Blessing (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 90)
Outreach Aid to the Americas / ECHOCuba (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 97 to 98)
Partners Relief and Development (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 82 to 97)
Patrick Henry Family Services (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 87)
Reach the Rest (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 98)
Remember Nhu (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 95)
Riverside Christian Ministries (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 77)
Stonecroft Ministries (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 95 to 80)
The Global Orphan Project (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 94 to 97)
The Radiance Foundation (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: Up 60 to 73)
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Down 2 to 1 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 44)
Vanguard University of Southern California (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 66)
Vapor Ministries (1 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 67 to 85)
Word for the World USA (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 95 to 100)
Word of Life Fellowship (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 75)
World Relief (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 87)
The following ministry has been added to the MinistryWatch database with the most recent year’s financial data:
Appalachian Bible College (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 66)
NAMS Network (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 48)
On The MinistryWatch Podcast
Giving Up, More on Robert Morris, Denominational News from the Christian Reformed Church, Anglicans, and Nazarenes
On today’s program, the Christian Reformed Church synod have voted to suspend leaders within the denomination who approve of LGBTQ lifestyles…their message: repent or disaffiliate. We’ll have details.
Also, ministries continue to distance themselves from megachurch pastor Robert Morris after a woman claimed he abused her starting when she was 12 years old. We’ll look at the latest.
And, a new report shows that donors gave more in 2023…but the real dollar impact was rocked by inflation.
But first, the Church of the Nazarene’s only seminary is getting pushback for platforming Pro-LGBTQ faculty and speakers.
ECFA Changes
The following organizations have had membership status changes in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
ADDITIONS: NONE
REMOVALS: Idaho Falls Rescue Mission (Idaho Falls, Idaho), Concepts of Truth International (Wynne, Ark.), New Oaks Community (Hamilton, Ohio)
Ukraine Giving. If you want to give specifically to ministries working in and near Ukraine, click here. We posted this link before, but we’ve added a few new ministries recently.
Israel Giving. We have compiled a list of ministries working in Israel that we recommend. You will also find some ministries working there that we do NOT recommend. You can find the list here.
Salary Data Now In MinistryWatch Database. We now have salary information for 4,000 executives in our database posted in our profiles. So check out this new addition by clicking on the red button at the top of this page, or here. That takes you to our database. The search engine is right there, and you can type in the name of a ministry you’re interested in and our profile will pop right up – now, with compensation information for the top executives.
If you’d like to see who the highest paid executives are, take a look at our recently published lists of Highly Paid Ministry Executives and Highly Paid Christian College and University Executives.
A Guide To Giving For Disaster Relief. When disaster hits, Christians give. But where they give can make a big difference? Which organizations are most effective in these post-disaster situations? MinistryWatch has published a list of organizations that are doing relief work and which have an “A” Transparency Grade and a 3-, 4-, or 5-star rating for Financial Efficiency. It’s a list of about 30 ministries, and you can find it on the front page of our website. I’ll also include a link in the show notes to this program. Link to list HERE.
Drop A Dime On Us. Do you have a story idea for MinistryWatch? If so, send us an email. A lot of the stories we do originate from our readers and listeners. They send us news tips, press releases, emails, questions, and links. So, if you have a story you’d like us to cover, or a ministry that you think needs a closer look, please email us. Our email is info@ministrywatch.com. That will come directly to my desk, and we’ll take it from there.
MinistryWatch and Sex Crimes. We write a lot about pastors and ministry leaders involved in sex crimes. That’s why I thought it might be a good time to re-post this story, which explains why we think covering these crimes are necessary: Why MinistryWatch Reports on Sex Crimes. As always, your feedback is welcome.
MinistryWatch Video. In closing, a reminder that we have created a new, short (3.5 minutes) video that explains what we do here at MinistryWatch, and why. If you’re new to MinistryWatch, I hope you’ll check it out. To find it, click here.