Ep. 423: Chateauroux Fellowship, Olivet University, and Generosity Leads to Happiness
On today’s program, Chateauroux Fellowship claims to connect billionaires with Christian ministries…but we were not able to confirm with any ministries that they had received any of the funds. We’ll have details.
And, a small reformed denomination commissioned a report by Guidepost solutions to investigate handling of sexual abuse cases…then it reversed its decision. We’ll take a look at what happened.
Plus, a new study finds that Christians are the most charitable…and the happiest.
But first, California revokes Olivet University’s approval to operate—but the school says it plans to stay open anyway.
The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Jessica Eturralde, Scott Bauer, Tony Mator, Heather Hahn, Diana Chandler, Brittany Smith, Christina Darnell—and you, Warren.
A special thanks to Baptist Press and United Methodist News for contributing material for this week’s podcast.
Until next time, may God bless you.
MANUSCRIPT:
FIRST SEGMENT
Warren:
Hello everybody. I’m Warren Smith, coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina, and wishing you a merry Christmas!
Natasha:
And I’m Natasha Cowden, coming to you from Denver, Colorado. And we’d like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast.
Warren:
On today’s program, Chateauroux Fellowship claims to connect billionaires with Christian ministries…but we were not able to confirm with any ministries that they had received any of the funds. We’ll have details.
And, a small reformed denomination commissioned a report by Guidepost solutions to investigate handling of sexual abuse cases…then it reversed its decision. We’ll take a look at what happened.
Plus, a new study finds that Christians are the most charitable…and the happiest.
Natasha:
But first, California revokes Olivet University’s approval to operate—but the school says it plans to stay open anyway.
Warren:
The California Department of Consumer Affairs Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education has ordered that Olivet University’s approval to operate be revoked. The order also requires the school to pay $64,432 to cover the costs of the investigation and prosecution.
Because of this action, Olivet must cease enrolling new students and must propose a planned “teach out” current students.
Natasha:
What’s the background to Olivet?
Warren:
Olivet, founded by controversial figure David Jang, was approved to operate by the state in 2005, but that approval expired in 2014 and has not been renewed.
In March 2023, a complaint was filed against Olivet, seeking a revocation or suspension of its approval to operate. It included 14 reasons the state should revoke the approval, including failing to include a face-to-face instructional component, failing to provide all the courses included in the approval, failing to have necessary evaluations of faculty, and failing to demonstrate that Olivet has required financial resources.
Last year, a group of former Olivet students sued Jang and the university, claiming they were part of an international labor trafficking scheme run by Jang and his disciples.
According to reporting by Newsweek, Olivet University is also under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security for money laundering, human trafficking, and visa fraud.
By the way, every time we write about Olivet University, we get emails asking if this is the same as Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois. It is not. The two schools are not related in any way.
Natasha:
What’s our next story?
Warren:
If the plan of the Chateauroux Fellowship and its director Christian Thomas Lee comes to pass as promised, it would likely be the largest philanthropic initiative aimed at Christian ministries in American history.
According to the group’s own website, the Fellowship has committed at least $5 billion in future bequests to dozens of Christian groups. But so far MinistryWatch has not been able to determine that any of the groups have received funds, though many of the hopeful recipients have spent thousands of dollars in travel and lodging to attend meetings and dinners with Lee.
Natasha:
So where is that money?
Warren:
“Bequests and “planned gifts” seem to be the key words here. None of the ministries contacted by MinistryWatch have so far received any funds. They have, rather, received notification that their organizations will get a bequest from an anonymous billionaire (or billionaires) at an unspecified future date, presumably upon the benefactor’s death. However, other than assurances from Christian Thomas Lee, the ministries do not appear to have received any legally binding documents confirming these bequests will occur.
Natasha:
On their website, they list Some of the Christian ministries that have received commitments — but no funds — who are they?
Warren:
Grace To You, the ministry of John MacArthur. A letter from Executive Director Phil Johnson to Christian Lee said: “On behalf of Grace to You, John MacArthur, and our entire staff, I want to express our profound gratitude for the extraordinary generosity of the anonymous donor who arranged a legacy donation of $1.5 billion to our ministry.” The letter concludes, “I’d love to meet you someday if the opportunity ever arises.”
Ashland University. The amount of the announced bequest was redacted from a letter from Ashland President Jon Parrish Peede to Lee. An earlier posting placed the amount of the bequest to Ashland at $1 billion.
Natasha:
That’s $2.5 billion with just these two organizations alone.
Warren:
That’s right, and there are dozens of organizations, mostly Christian schools, that are identified on the Chateauroux website. Most of them don’t have the amount of the bequest identified, but we have been able to identify that the total exceeds $5 billion.
Again, MinistryWatch was not able to identify that any of these bequests, or any others announced on the Chateauroux website, had so far been fulfilled.
This is a fascinating and convoluted story, involving some of the top Christian ministries in the nation. We don’t have time to go into the entire story here, but I do recommend that you check out the story on the MinistryWatch website, and we’ll be following up to see if any of these bequests come to pass as time goes by.
Natasha:
Next, news of a shooting at a private Christian school.
Warren:
A 15-year-old student opened fire at a private Christian school Monday morning in Wisconsin, killing two people in the final week before Christmas break. The female shooter also died.
In a statement, the City of Madison said the shooter, identified as Natalie Rupnow, shot and killed a teacher and a student at Abundant Life Christian School, a K-12 school with about 390 students, before apparently turning the gun on herself. Rupnow was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.
Natasha:
The City of Madison said one teacher and three students were taken to the hospital for care following the shooting. As of Tuesday morning, two have been released and two remain in stable condition.
Natasha:
Warren, let’s take a quick break. When we return, a Nazarene Pastor who says he is pro-LGBTQ resigns his eldership to avoid trial.
I’m Natasha Cowden, along with my co-host Warren Smith, and we’ll have that story and much more, after this short break.
BREAK
SECOND SEGMENT
Natasha:
Welcome back. I’m Natasha Cowden, along with my co-host Warren Smith, and you’re listening to the MinistryWatch podcast.
Next, the story we promised before the break.
Warren:
Facing potential discipline for a leaked pro-LGBTQ paper, Nazarene pastor Dr. Rick Power has quit the theologically conservative denomination.
“I have resigned my credential as an Elder in the Church of the Nazarene,” Power announced in a Dec. 2 Facebook post. “Over a period of years, my thinking on human sexuality has changed to the point that I could no longer embrace the church’s position regarding LGBTQ+ members of the human family.”
Power’s resignation comes months after he vacated the office of district superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene’s Hawaii-Pacific District at the request of local leadership.
Natasha:
Power maintains that his views on marriage and sexual identity never technically violated his ordination vows, since he did not openly preach LGBTQ-affirmation.
Warren:
Power emailed a paper to top Nazarene officials detailing his personal views on sexuality.
Then the paper leaked to the public, and the church had to act.
“Even after retirement,” Power wrote on Facebook, “formal accusations and charges were filed against me. These would have led to a trial and potential discipline. But I have no interest in putting myself, my family, or my friends in the church through the ordeal of a church trial.”
Natasha:
Next, A small denomination headquartered near Grand Rapids, Michigan, is facing criticism over what appears to be decades of abuse and cover-ups.
Warren:
The Protestant Reformed Church in America (PRCA) was founded in 1924 and consists of 33 churches and about 8,700 members.
During the denominational meeting (synod) in 2023, the church leaders voted to hire Guidepost Solutions to investigate the alleged sexual abuse and cover-ups.
The nearly year-long investigation cost the denomination $358,000.
However, at the annual meeting in 2024, the leaders voted to adopt a position “declar[ing] that Synod 2023 erred by authorizing a secular organization to assist Christ’s church in an ecclesiastical work (investigating sin) that belongs exclusively to the church.”
Natasha:
Do they have a different plan to uncover the truth?
Warren:
While the synod did not mandate that a new organization be hired, the report suggested that a newly appointed committee may choose to hire “an appropriate organization that belongs to the church organic to investigate the sin of sexual abuse in the PRCA.”
PRCA pastor Rev. Clayton Spronk, who supported the third party investigation, said the synod reversal gives the appearance that the denomination would prefer to protect itself than the children who were allegedly victims.
Natasha:
What’s the history here?
Warren:
The allegations against the PRCA dates back as far as the 1970s.
According to the Guidepost report, there is a history of sexual abuse allegations in 29 of the church’s 33 congregations.
The report also mentioned that 43 people either abused children or mishandled allegations of abuse.
Natasha:
Next, news from the United Methodists.
Warren:
The denomination’s finance agency unanimously passed a 2025 spending plan on Dec. 11 that does not include raises for bishops. This comes at a time when the number of active bishops currently serving in the U.S. has decreased from 39 to 32 with the result that most U.S. bishops now lead more than one conference — and thus have a bigger workload.
To help bishops’ office staff in this time of consolidation, the GCFA board also approved a one-time grant of $20,000 to each of the 15 U.S. episcopal areas that have expanded to include what previously had been separate areas.
Natasha:
This year’s spending-plan process has been especially challenging for all denomination-wide ministries, including agencies and bishops.
Warren:
That’s because after the disaffiliation of about a quarter of U.S. churches, this year’s General Conference passed a historically low four-year budget of between $353.6 million and $373.4 million, depending on collection rates in 2025 and 2026. The 2025-2028 budget represents about a 40% reduction of the previous denominational budget that General Conference passed in 2016.
The hope is that the decreases in the new budget will relieve the financial burdens on annual conferences and local churches alike.
Natasha:
Our next story is a bit wild.
Warren:
The federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed suit against a Pasco, Washington, pastor for allegedly roping his own congregation into a multilevel marketing scheme.
A CFTC complaint accuses Francier Obando Pinillo of bilking “not fewer than 1,516 U.S. customers,” including members of his former Spanish-language congregation, Tiempo de Poder Church, out of at least $5.9 million.
Natasha:
How’d he do it?
Warren:
According to the Dec. 9 complaint, Pinillo used his position as a pastor to gain victims’ trust and lured them with claims of risk-free investments and guaranteed profits. He told customers their money was being invested in cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin through his three businesses — collectively called Solanofi Entities — and he directed them to an online “dashboard” to view their balances and profits. He also announced plans to release a Christian token called “ShekkelCoin,” and he offered a 15% referral fee to customers who brought in more investors.
Pinillo, who lives in both Pasco and Miami, carried his sales pitch to multiple churches, including a Florida megachurch, where he reportedly spoke on the importance of escaping poverty and then advertised his trading scheme and promised potential customers they could make withdrawals from their accounts after three months.
Natasha:
But according to the CFTC, Pinillo’s pitch was entirely fictitious.
Warren:
He never invested the money, his businesses did not exist, the dashboard was a ruse, the bot software did not exist, ShekkelCoin was never released, and many investors never saw a dime.
Natasha:
What did he do with the money?
Warren:
The CFTC believes that instead of investing the funds, Pinillo “misappropriated them by transferring at least $4.05 million in digital assets to 23 private digital wallets in Colombia with no known connection to trading commodity interests.”
In a press release, the CFTC explained it is seeking “restitution to defrauded customers, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, trading bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations.”
Ad lib: Affinity fraud. Faith-based fraud.
Natasha:
Warren, we’re going to take another break. When we return, our lightning round of ministry news of the week.
I’m Natasha Cowden, with my co-host Warren Smith. More in a moment.
BREAK
THIRD SEGMENT
Natasha:
Welcome back. I’m Natasha Cowden, with my co-host Warren Smith and you’re listening to the MinistryWatch Podcast.
Warren, we like to use this last segment as a sort of lightning round of shorter news briefs.
What’s up first?
Warren:
Educational Media Foundation (EMF), the parent organization behind the Christian noncommercial networks K-LOVE and Air1, is set to acquire Radio Nueva Vida—a Spanish-language Christian radio network—from the Association for Community Education (ACE).
This will make the network, its four California stations, and about 60 translators part of the EMF family of companies.
According to the most recent numbers available to MinistryWatch, EMF has over $1.1 billion in assets. Those numbers have grown substantially since 2018 as has EMF’s revenue.
In 2018, it had revenue of $189 million and in 2022, its revenue was over $238 million, exceeding its expenses by almost $73 million.
Natasha:
What’s next?
Warren:
Bible-engaged Christians are the most charitable people in the nation, and giving increases happiness among the generous, the American Bible Society (ABS) said in releasing the last chapter of the 2024 State of the Bible.
ABS Chief Innovation Officer John Plake said in releasing the results, “People who consistently read the Bible and live by its teachings are more likely to give to charity,” “Our data shows that they also give far more – not only to their churches, but also to religious and non-religious charities.
Families earning under $20,000 a year give as much as 11% of their income to charity. But giving largely decreases as income increases, dropping to 5.4% for families that earn just under $50,000, researchers said. Giving rises as high as 8.5% of income for families earning between $50,000 and just under $100,000, but drops to the lowest proportion of 2.9% for those who earn between $100,000 and $150,000.
In each income bracket, those who give are happier than those who don’t.
State of the Bible is based on a nationally representative survey conducted for ABS by the University of Chicago,
Natasha:
And, who did we feature in the Ministry Spotlight this week?
Warren:
Pro-life organization Preborn! recently earned MinistryWatch’s 2024 “Shining Light” Award.
“Shining Light” awards are reserved for ministries with a 5-Star financial efficiency rating, an A Transparency Grade and a 100% Donor Confidence Score—the highest in each of our three categories. PreBorn! met all of these criteria in 2024.
Only 18 of the more than 1000 ministries in the MinistryWatch database qualified as a Shining Light. We consider these 18 ministries to be “truly the best of the best when it comes to transparency, accountability, and financial efficiency.”
PreBorn! is a nonprofit that supports Pregnancy Clinics through digital marketing, grants for ultrasound machines, evangelism outreach training, and more.
According to its annual report, in 2023, PreBorn! saved more than 59,000 babies, placed 83 ultrasound machines, and trained over 2,000 people in evangelism outreach.
In addition, in 2023, the organization had a revenue of $34.7 million, growing from $7.7 million in 2019. Its total expenses in 2023 were $24.7 million. PreBorn! spends 83% of its revenue on programing and just 3% on fundraising costs.
Natasha:
And we also have our roundup of ministries featured in Ministries Making a Difference.
Warren:
We do…
New Life Center in Fargo, North Dakota, is inspiring engagement from a host of local businesses who are helping the ministry in its work to help those in need “find a path forward.”
This fall, they received winter coats donated by Duluth Trading Company, care packages for veterans donated by Heroes Compass, and other necessities like warm clothes, towels and medications donated by Modern Woodmen of America.
The NLC Thrift Store was also voted the Best Thrift Store in River Valley for 2024. NLC has 2 stars and an “A” transparency grade in the MinistryWatch database, and a donor confidence score of 80.
Churches and ministries in Western North Carolina are banding together to help residents rebuild and find hope through the holiday season following the devastation of Hurricane Helene, according to reporting by Christianity Today. Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry is coordinating efforts from national groups. First Baptist Church Swannanoa is hosting a “boutique” for parents to pick up gifts for their kids, handing out handmade blankets quilted by a donor, and donating Christmas trees they bought from a nearby Christmas tree farm flooded by Helene. Fairview Baptist Church is distributing necessities, like warm clothes and diapers, and helping to connect pipes to a septic system for people who lost their homes and moved into campers.
Natasha:
Warren, any final thoughts before we go?
Warren:
Year end fundraising. Shining Light Awards. Please be generous.
Natasha:
The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Jessica Eturralde, Scott Bauer, Tony Mator, Heather Hahn, Diana Chandler, Brittany Smith, Christina Darnell—and you, Warren.
A special thanks to Baptist Press and United Methodist News for contributing material for this week’s podcast.
I’m Natasha Cowden, coming to you from Denver, Colorado.
Warren:
And I’m Warren Smith, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Natasha:
You’ve been listening to the MinistryWatch podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.
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