Weekly Review
ECFA Membership Changes, MinistryWatch Database Changes, On This Date at MinistryWatch
On This Date at MinistryWatch 
ONE YEAR AGO: A popular Dallas-area megachurch leader has been placed on indefinite leave for online communication with a woman who is not his wife. Leaders at The Village Church, based in Flower Mound, Texas, announced longtime pastor Matt Chandler’s leave during a service this past weekend, citing inappropriate Instagram messages. He was reinstated to his position four months later. Read more here.
TWO YEARS AGO: The spokesman for the National Religious Broadcasters was fired for promoting vaccines on the MSNBC “Morning Joe” cable news show, Religion News Service has learned. Daniel Darling, senior vice president of communications for the NRB, was fired Friday (Aug. 27) after refusing to admit his pro-vaccine statements were mistaken, according to a source authorized to speak for Darling. Read more here.
THREE YEARS AGO: Liberty University is opening an independent investigation into Jerry Falwell Jr.’s tenure as president, a wide-ranging inquiry that will include financial, real estate, and legal matters, MinistryWatch reported Sept. 1, 2020. In a statement, the board said it had retained an outside firm to investigate “all facets” of the school’s operations under Falwell, and that it was “committed to learning the consequences that have flowed from a lack of spiritual stewardship by our former president.” Read more here.
On The MinistryWatch Podcast: More SBC Troubles, Pulse Outreach’s Remarkable Claims, and Bank Of America Kicks Out Christian Ministry. On today’s program, the Southern Baptist Convention sees another leader resign in scandal…and names a new interim replacement. Also, Pulse Outreach—an evangelistic megaministry geared to young adults—claims they reached 300 million people with the Gospel…but won’t share how they GOT that number. We’ll get into all that later in the program. We begin today with news that a Christian relief ministry is accusing Bank of America of discriminating against them based on their religious beliefs. Listen here.
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ECFA Changes
The following organizations have had membership status changes in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
ADDITIONS: NONE
REMOVALS: Transform Our World (San Jose, Calif.), FOCUS Ministries (Knoxville, Tenn.), Better Together (Naples, Fla.)
MinistryWatch Database Changes
MinistryWatch now has more than 1,000 ministries in its database. These ministries represent more than $41-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:
A Partners dba The Antioch Partners (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100)
AbleLight / formerly Bethesda Lutheran Communities (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Up 82 to 86)
Amazing Facts (1 Star, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 51)
Atlantic Gateway Communications (Down 2 to 1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 86 to 82)
Avenue of Life (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A)
Bible Study Fellowship / BSF (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 78 to 74)
Bread for the World Institute, Inc. (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 73)
By The Hand Club For Kids (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 82)
California Baptist University (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 65)
Camp Eagle (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)
Cannon Beach Conference Center (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)
CBMC, Inc. (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)
Center for Bioethical Reform (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 75)
Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corporation (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86)
Chestnut Mountain Ranch (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)
Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)
Christian Heritage / Christian Heritage Children’s Home (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)
Christian Solidarity International (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 59)
City Union Mission (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A)
Cornerstone Television Network, Inc. (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 84)
Dare 2 Share Ministries (Down 2 to 1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 96 to 92)
Destiny Rescue USA (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88)
Doulos Ministries, Inc. dba Shelterwood (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 96)
Echo, Inc. (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100)
EQUIP Leadership, Inc. (Up 2 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 82)
Feed My Starving Children (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 73)
Food For The Poor, Inc. (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 53)
MinistryWatch and Sex Crimes. We write a lot 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.
Maui Giving. If you want to give specifically to ministries working to provide relief in Maui, click here.
MinistryWatch In The News. MinistryWatch is often called upon by Christian and secular media to comment on what is going on in the evangelical world. You can find some of these news reports here.
