Weekly Review
ECFA Membership Changes, MinistryWatch Database Changes, What’s on the Podcast? On This Date at MinistryWatch
ECFA Changes. The following organizations have had membership status changes in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. ADDITIONS: PRISM (Pittsburgh, Penn.), New Life Center (Fargo, Ind.), Choices (Chattanooga, Tenn.), The Hope Collective (Lake Zurich, Ill.), Happy Hands Education Center (Broken Arrow, Okla.), Refuge (Columbus, Ohio) REMOVALS: St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church (San Diego, Calif.), Living Hope International (Fort Washington, Penn.)
On the Podcast: On today’s program, one of the largest United Methodist churches in the country, and the largest in South Carolina, is preparing to leave the denomination. And the Internal Revenue Service is far behind in its efforts to process Form 990s. This backlog is a blow to transparency and accountability. We’ll explain why. And we remember pastor, author, and hymn writer Jack Hayford, who died last week at age 88. We begin today with former Celebration Church pastor Stovall Weems. He and his wife Kerri have settled with First Citizens Bank after a claim stating they defaulted over $700,000 in unpaid debt. You can hear the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and other podcast apps, or you can simply click here.
How To Read A Form 990. This webinar has proven so popular that we’ve repeated it three or four times over the past two years. And we’re going to do it again. It will take place on Feb. 1 at 4 pm ET. It’s absolutely free, but you do need to register to get all the links and details. To register, click here.
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MinistryWatch Database Changes. MinistryWatch now has more than 1,000 ministries in its database. These ministries represent more than $38-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: AbleLight / formerly Bethesda Lutheran Communities (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 82), Bright Hope International (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100), Four Corners Home for Children (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92), Lifewater International (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100), Living Free, Inc. (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86), Love a Child (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 72), MANNA Worldwide (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 82), Multnomah University (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86), Ramesh Richard Evangelism and Church Health / RREACH (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96), Rapha International (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92), Santa Barbara Rescue Mission (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 82), Watoto Child Care Ministries (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 80), World Relief (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86), Young Life (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 74), Ambassadors For Christ, Inc. (Down 2 to 1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 86 to 82), American Family Association (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100), Becket Fund for Religious Liberty (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 65), Black Diamond Camps (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96), Christian Worship Hour (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 92 to 96), Community Bible Study (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 90), Dream Center Foundation (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 47), Family Matters, Inc. / Grace Based Families (Down 2 to 1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 88 to 84), Family Talk / Dr. James Dobson Family Institute (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88), Garden Gate Ranch (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88), Good News Productions, International (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 73), International Students Inc. (Down 2 to 1 Star, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 85 to 81), Joni and Friends / Joni Eareckson Tada (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 76), Kingdom Advisors (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92), Life in Abundance International (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92), Living Water International (Up 1 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 86 to 90), Mennonite Brethren Foundation (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 53), Nashville Rescue Mission (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 90), Not For Sale (Down 2 to 1 Star, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 67 to 63), OneHope, Inc. (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 82), Pearlstone Conference & Retreat Center (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 69), Stand to Reason (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 83), The Anglican Relief and Development Fund (Down 2 to 1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 82 to 78), Trinity Forum, Inc. (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 90), World Gospel Mission (1 Star, Transparency Grade: From A to C, DCS: 59), XO Marriage (Down 2 to 1 Star, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: Down 74 to 70). The following ministry has been added to the MinistryWatch database with the most recent year’s financial data: New Life Center / Fargo Union Mission (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A), Score International (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A)
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.
Audio Version of Faith-Based Fraud Now Available. Thanks to those of you who made my new book Faith-Based Fraud a best-seller in several Amazon categories this week. It’s now available in paperback and e-book versions. To get your copy, click here. This week, the new audio version released. You can get that from Audible by clicking here.
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.
On This Date at MinistryWatch. ONE YEAR AGO: MinistryWatch reported on the feasibility of using Translation Service Providers (TSPs) to translate the Bible. Read more here. TWO YEARS AGO: On Jan 14, 2021, MinistryWatch publishes an analysis of charismatic preachers who prophesied a Trump victory in the 2020 election. Read more here. THREE YEARS AGO: On Jan. 14, 2020, MinistryWatch reported that youth speaker Acton Bowen had been sentenced to 1,008 years in prison — the maximum sentence possible — after pleading guilty to 28 charges of raping and sexually assaulting young boys he reached through his ministry. He was also ordered to pay $840,000 in fines. Read more here.
