Weekly Review
John MacArthur, Brett Favre, and More SBC, AG, and UMC News
ECFA Changes
The following organizations have had membership status changes in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. 
ADDITIONS: NONE
REMOVALS: Vision Charitable Trust (Plano, Tex.), GraceLifeBaptist Church (Christiansburg, Va.), NewLife Church on the Peninsula (Silverdale, Wash.), Crossroads Christian Counseling (St. Louis, Mo.)
On This Date at MinistryWatch
ONE YEAR AGO: NFL star Brett Favre has become the public face of a Mississippi scandal involving a Christian ministry and misspent welfare money. Read more here.
THREE YEARS AGO: John MacArthur organizes petition drive to deem church “essential” in the wake of COVID shutdowns. Read more here.
FOUR YEARS AGO: MinistryWatch announced that veteran journalist and Christian ministry leader Warren Cole Smith will be its new president. MinistryWatch is dedicated to transparency and accountability among Christian ministries. Founded in 1998 by Rusty and Carol Leonard, the ministry maintains a database with two decades of financial and other information from the largest Christian ministries in the country. Read more here.
EIGHT YEARS AGO: The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) terminated the membership of Gospel for Asia Friday for violations of ECFA standards. The termination came after a lengthy review of the church planting ministry’s practices. Read more here.
On The MinistryWatch Podcast: United Methodists, The AG’s Response to Chi Alpha Scandal, Christian College Growth, and Mildly Good News For The SBC
On today’s program, a Methodist nonprofit in New Jersey is embroiled in a religious liberty battle with local government over beach access. We’ll have details. Also, an Assemblies of God pastor speaks out against Chi Alpha, the denomination’s college campus ministry that’s currently knee deep in a sexual abuse scandal. And, a new study shows that Southern Baptist churches are growing in the Northeast…but does it tell the whole story?
We begin today with positive news — 11 evangelical colleges across the country have announced record enrollment this fall. Listen here.
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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:
Avenue of Life (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)
Blue Letter Bible (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)
Campus Outreach SERVE (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)
Christ for All Nations (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 70)
Christian Relief Fund (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)
Corporate Chaplains of America (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)
CrossPurpose (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88)
Design Outreach (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 84)
Dynamic Youth Ministries (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 82)
Elim Bible Institute & College (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 67)
Friends of the Great Commission Foundation (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 70)
Frontier Alliance International Inc. (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 43)
Hope is Alive Ministries Inc. (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88)
House of Providence (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)
Kairos Prison Ministry International (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 86)
Kentucky Mountain Bible College (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86)
Live Action (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: From D to C, DCS: 67)
Louisiana Christian University (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 69)
ServeNow (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)
Shai Fund (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 65)
SonSet Solutions (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)
The Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A)
The Veritas Forum (Up 1 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 92 to 96)
Trinity Center for World Mission (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)
YWAM Strategic Frontiers (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 45)
The following ministry has been added to the MinistryWatch database with the most recent year’s financial data:
Love Never Fails (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: N/A)
Reach the Rest (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: N/A)
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.
