Weekly Review
K-Love Launches Podcast, Video Platform, Live Gatherings Devastated, ECFA & MinistryWatch Database Changes
EMF Launches Christian Podcast Platform. Contemporary Christian music radio giant Educational Media Foundation (EMF) — parent of K-LOVE, Air1, and WTA MEDIA — is launching the AccessMore podcast platform today that will stream a steadily growing library of faith-based podcasts. Initial offerings will include “Dare to Be” with Grammy-nominated singer Natalie Grant and “Equip + Empower” with Christine Caine, founder of A21 and Propel Women. AccessMore will feature new and existing podcasts as well as limited series, such as “I Still Believe” from director Jon Erwin, taking listeners behind the scenes of his recent hit movie about Jeremy Camp.
Live Gatherings Devastated. Arts and culture nonprofits in the United States with annual budgets of more than $50,000 are facing a $12.4 billion revenue shortfall due to Covid-19-based interruptions, reported the Non Profit Times. Despite reduced payroll expenses, and cuts to non-personnel expenses, these 35,000 organizations will still have a bottom-line deficit of $6.8 billion. According to a report from Southern Methodist University’s SMU DataArts, the National Center for Arts Research, the figures are based on surveys about closures, layoffs and impact to date. It assumes most organizations will resume activity by October 1, albeit with restrictions on the number of people allowed to gather. The projections also assume that March through May 2020 represents the worst of the pandemic’s economic impact. That said, many organizations have cancelled their summer programs and some have nixed their programs through spring 2021. The full report is available here: https://culturaldata.org/pages/long-haul/
On Today’s Podcast. Each week, Natasha Smith (no relation!) and I bring you news about Christian ministries, as well as the latest in charity and philanthropy, all designed to help us become better stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. On today’s program, Norma McCorvey, the Roe of Roe v. Wade, is the subject of a new documentary that has pro-life groups up in arms. Also on today’s program, GOD-TV is generating controversy because of its programming in Israel. And Planned Parenthood mistakenly got $80-million in Covid relief funding. But will they give it back? Up first is news that famed apologist Ravi Zacharias has died, following a short battle with an aggressive cancer. He was 74 years old. You can hear the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and other podcast apps, or you can simply click here.
ECFA Changes. The following organizations have had membership status changes in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. ADDITIONS: Shining Light Ministries (Annville, Penn.) REMOVALS: World Bridge Ministries (Acworth, Ga.), Church of the Open Door (Elyria, Ohio), First Baptist Church of Sunnyvale (Sunnyvale, Tex.), Caspari Center for Biblical and Jewish Studies (Wheaton, Ill.), Texas Generation One (Houston, Tex.), St John’s Academy (St. Augustine, Fla.)
MinistryWatch Rating Changes. 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: Alfalit International (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Alliance for Children Everywhere (Down from 3 Stars to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Far East Broadcasting Company (Up from 2 Stars to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), First Liberty Institute (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Good News (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Harvest Evangelism/Ed Silvoso (Up from 2 Stars to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A).
