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: Patterns of Evidence Foundation (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Second Chance Global (Burlington, N.C.), SonRays Ministries (Tonawanda, N.Y.), Northcliffe Church (Spring Hill, Fla.), The Glory Project (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Embrace Grace (Hurst, Tex.), Open Hands (West Milton, Penn.), Central Michigan Youth for Christ (Alma, Mich.) REMOVALS: NONE
On This Date at MinistryWatch
28 YEARS AGO: In May of 1995, The Wall Street Journal published a series of stories that led to the downfall of the Foundation for New Era Philanthropy. New Era was a financial scandal that involved scores of some of the largest evangelical ministries in the country and was – at the time – thought to be the largest financial fraud in history. Read our account here.
THREE YEARS AGO: Famed apologist Ravi Zacharias has died, following a short battle with an aggressive cancer. He was 74 years old. After his death, his legacy was tarnished by revelations of sexual scandal. The ministry he founded, which at one time was one of the largest apologetics organizations in the world, subsequently collapsed. Read more here.
THREE YEARS AGO. Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) announced the loss of one of its pilots, Joyce Lin. She departed the Sentani, Papua, Indonesia airport early in the morning of May 12, piloting an MAF Kodiak aircraft. Lin was delivering COVID-19 test kits to a clinic in the village of Mamit in the Papua highlands. Read more here.
On the Podcast: Florida Baptists Defrauded of $700-k, Carl Lentz is Back, and Saddleback Appeals Disfellowshipping by SBC
On today’s program, the Florida Baptist State Convention has been defrauded of more than $700-thousand. We’ll explain how the fraud worked, and how you can keep your church or ministry from becoming a victim.
Former Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz is back in the news, and is soon coming to a television near you.
And we look at a group of Christian ministries in Nebraska who are withdrawing from the local community foundation over the foundation’s requirements to affirm LGBTQ rights.
We begin today with a pair of stories related to Rick Warren and California’s influential Saddleback Church.
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: Faith Broadcasting, Inc. (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88), Family Connections Christian Adoptions (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92), Fellowship International Mission, Inc. / FIM (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 73 to 69), Gideons International (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 71), Global Training Network (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96), Hope and Home (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 71), International Friendships, Inc. (Down 2 to 1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 100 to 96), International Leadership Institute (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86), International Messengers (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 90), International Needs formerly IN Network USA (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86), International Students Inc. (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 85 to 81), Joni and Friends / Joni Eareckson Tada (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 76), LeaderSource SGA / Strategic Global Assistance (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A), Lifesong for Orphans (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100), Lighthouse Ministries, Inc. (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92), Lutheran Services in America (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 73), Mars Hill Productions, Inc. (Up 1 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 92 to 96), Mel Trotter Ministries (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86), Military Community Youth Ministries / MCYM (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 82), Museum of the Bible (Up 1 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Up 70 to 74), Partners Relief and Development (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96), Paz International (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: From A to C, DCS: N/A), Persecution Project Foundation (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86), Project PATCH (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 87), Reliant Mission (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 77 to 73), River Radio Ministries / One Connection Media Group (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88), Ron Hutchcraft Ministries (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 90), ServeNow (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A), Shepherd’s House Ministries (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92), Stand to Reason (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 83), Terri Savelle Foy Ministries Inc (Up 1 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: F, DCS: Up 30 to 34), The Anglican Relief and Development Fund (Down 2 to 1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 82 to 78), The CALL (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A), The Christian Academy (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: From A to D, DCS: 92), The Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A), Turning Point for God (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 53), Union Mission Ministries (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A), WaterStone Support Foundation Inc (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88), Word of Life Fellowship (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 72), World Witness, the Board of Foreign Missions (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 63 to 59), XO Marriage (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: From D to F, DCS: Down 74 to 70), Youth for Christ USA, Inc. (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 90)
MinistryWatch and Sex Crimes. We’ve written a larger than normal number of stories this week about pastors and ministry leaders involved in sex crimes. That’s why I thought it might be a good time to re-post this story, which explains why we think covering these crimes are necessary: Why MinistryWatch Reports on Sex Crimes. As always, your feedback is welcome.
Drop A Dime On Us. Do you have a story idea for MinistryWatch? If so, send us an email. A lot of the stories we do originate from our readers and listeners. They send us news tips, press releases, emails, questions, and links. So, if you have a story you’d like us to cover, or a ministry that you think needs a closer look, please email us. Our email is [email protected]. That will come directly to my desk, and we’ll take it from there.
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.
A Guide To Giving For Disaster Relief. When disaster hits, Christians give. But where they give can make a big difference? Which organizations are most effective in these post-disaster situations? MinistryWatch has published a list of organizations that are doing relief work and which have an “A” Transparency Grade and a 3-, 4-, or 5-star rating for Financial Efficiency. It’s a list of about 30 ministries, and you can find it on the front page of our website. I’ll also include a link in the show notes to this program. Link to list HERE.
Ukraine Giving. If you want to give specifically to ministries working in and near Ukraine, click here. We posted this link before, but we’ve added a few new ministries recently.
