MINISTRY SPOTLIGHT: Pioneers
Summary: Pioneers began in 1979, as a foreign mission organization, with its primary purpose to evangelize and plant churches to unreached people worldwide. Pioneers supports and facilitates Christians to get involved in missions, either short-term over a summer, or one year, or for a lifetime as a full-time missionary.
Pioneers website (www.pioneers.org) provides ways to dialog with them to see how best they may facilitate Christians the practical steps to become a missionary. Pioneers works in large cities worldwide, as well as small rural villages. Each location and cultural context is met with creative means to build relationships and make disciples. They introduce people to the Bible and share the gospel in their own languages and adapting to their culture.
Pioneers United States headquarters is in Orlando, Fla. However, it is a global organization and has offices in 15 countries.
It has been a very dynamic organization and has readily embraced change over the years. In 40 years it has merged with another ministry (World Evangelical Outreach), seen ministry name changes, moved multiple times, used to operate a campground, and engaged in formal and informal partnerships worldwide.
Access to MinistryWatch content is free. However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts. To make a donation, click here.
It is classified as a “church” status for IRS purposes, and it does not file an IRS form 990, so there is not as much information available to the public compared to other public charities.
It has at least ten organizations that it does business through. Some of these other activities include: Operating a retail business known as “Latitudes” which sells crafts; Lake Whip 1 LLC which owns property and receives annual rent from a hotel; William Carey LLC runs a number of other LLC’s through it that in turn own real estate and some lease to other businesses; Gil McArthur LLC owns real estate, including long term lease payments it receives from Olive Garden; Florence Young LLC owns real estate, including long term lease payments it receives from Longhorn restaurant; Lee Bruckner LLC also organized to own real estate; Mission Pointe Owners’ Association, Inc. for the ownership, operation, maintenance, and preservation of property; Arab World Ministries, Inc. ceded control of its governing board to Pioneers; and Pioneers has two other legal entities that Pioneers does not name as it says it is for security purposes it does not disclose. And in 2021 Pioneers sold some of its property in the amount of about $12 million dollars.
The aim of Pioneers is to send Christians to unreached people around the world so others may hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and to in turn make disciples.
MinistryWatch Donor Confidence Score: 71 (out of a possible 100) “Give With Confidence”
MinistryWatch Financial Efficiency Rating: 3 Star (out of a possible 5 Stars)
MinistryWatch Transparency Grade: C
ECFA Member? Yes
Revenue in Most Recent Year Available (2021): $91,366,260
Four-Year Revenue Trend: Increasing (about 44 percent increase)
Percent of Revenue Pioneers Spends on Fundraising: 6 percent
Percent Peer Group Spends on Fundraising: 5 percent
President: Steve Richardson
President’s Salary and Other Compensation: Pioneers does not disclose this information.
Complete MinistryWatch profile for Pioneers can be found here.
Find recent MinistryWatch articles mentioning Pioneers here.
