MinistryWatch’s Top 10 Stories for July
The following stories had the most page views at the MinistryWatch website during the month of July. We present them here in a “countdown” format, from 10 to 1. The first few sentences of each story are reproduced below. To read the entire story, click on the link. To read the Top 25 stories of 2025, click here.
By Bob Smietana. Scott Beck has long hoped the faith-based tech company he founded in 2013 would help churches and other Christian groups harness technology to spread God’s word and help save the world. More than $400 million in losses and 13 years later, that dream faces a critical juncture.
By Tony Mator. When the United Methodist Church amended its standards to fully embrace same-sex marriage, at least three seminaries that train the denomination’s ordination candidates found themselves out of step with its new teaching. In June, UMC dropped one of those schools — Asbury Theological Seminary — from its list of approved non-UMC institutions. That move has placed a question mark over the denomination’s future relationship with Fuller Theological Seminary and Seattle Pacific Seminary.
By Jessica Eturralde. When MinistryWatch first reported on the collapse of Dr. Phil McGraw’s Merit Street Media last July, the network had just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sued Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), its majority owner.
By Kim Roberts. A federal grand jury has indicted a Texas man accused of defrauding victims of $2.2 million through “church flipping” and Christian concert investment schemes. Richard Reinaldo Garcia, 53, faces one count of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft after his indictment June 2 in the Northern District of Texas.
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By Kim Roberts. Three leaders at a South Carolina church and its affiliated school have been criminally charged after authorities allege they concealed that a registered sex offender was volunteering at the church and interacting with children.
By Kim Roberts. In the MinistryWatch 1000 database, 249 ministries earn a Donor Confidence Score (DCS) of 49 or below—a designation we believe warrants withholding donations. The DCS is a tool for donors that was created by MinistryWatch in 2022. It is an objective evaluation of each ministry based on a series of 14 questions that involve governance, transparency, and accountability.
By Kim Roberts. Well-known Christian conservative businessman Edwin Brant Frost IV could face up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal wire fraud charge. Prosecutors said Frost, who owned the now-defunct First Liberty Building & Loan in Georgia, orchestrated a “massive, multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme.”
By Kim Roberts. Former New Life Church pastor Brady Boyd, who resigned from leading the megachurch in June 2025, has announced he is helping start a new church in Colorado Springs. The Village Church plant is a joint endeavor between Boyd and lead pastors Joseph and Lindsay Rangel and will launch August 23 at Mountain Ridge Middle School.
By Makella Knowles. At the end of June, Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef voluntarily resigned from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. MinistryWatch reached out to Leading The Way for comment but did not receive a response.
By Robert Mineo. Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, one of the largest churches in the state, has settled a nearly two-year-old sexual abuse lawsuit through its insurance carrier. The case involved Reagan Danielle Gray, a female volunteer accused of assaulting a 15-year-old boy from the church’s youth group.
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