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Church Colleges & Universities Ministry News

Weekly Review Nov 2023 ECFA Membership Changes: Key Removals and Their Implications for Accountability in Christian Ministries

ECFA Member Changes, On This Date at MinistryWatch, MinistryWatch 1000 Database Changes

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ECFA Changes

The following organizations have had membership status changes in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. 

ADDITIONS: NONE

REMOVALS:  Union Mission Ministries (Charleston, W.Va.), Strategic Angel Care (Plano, Tex.), Abundant Life Church (Stephens City, Va.), Trinity Bible Church (Richardson, Tex.), New Dawn Communities (San Clemente, Calif.)

On This Date at MinistryWatch

ONE YEAR AGO: Several prominent apologists have signed a statement calling the senior leadership team of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) “not fit to be in ministry and leadership positions.” The statement, signed by Paul Copan, William Lane Craig, Debbie Licona, Michael Licona, and Sean McDowell, comes after the committee independently investigated and inquired about claims of abuse made against the senior leadership team by former RZIM employees. Read more here. 

TWO YEARS AGO:  Frankin Graham, President of both Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, underwent heart surgery at The Mayo Clinic.  Read more here.

Access to MinistryWatch content is free.  However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts.  To make a donation, click here.

FOUR YEARS AGO:  On Nov. 21, 2019, an independent report into the operations of Harvest Bible Chapel found “massive corporate governance failure apparently developed over several years” at the church primarily because of its former senior pastor, James MacDonald.  Read more here.

TEN YEARS AGO:  John Piper shares his thoughts on pastor compensation here.

On The MinistryWatch Podcast

International House of Prayer, More SBC Problems, and Grand Canyon University Hit With Record Fines

On today’s program, the leader of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Mike Bickle, has been accused of sexual abuse spanning decades. Also, Grand Canyon University—the largest Christian university in the U-S—is facing record fines after a federal probe that claims the school lied to students about the cost of degrees. And, we have compiled a list of the largest Christian ministries in the U-S 

We begin today with news that Kanakuk Kamps is suing its insurer over breach of contract.  Listen here.

MinistryWatch Database Changes

MinistryWatch now has more than 1,000 ministries in its database. These ministries represent more than $41.5 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:

A3, formerly Asian Access Life Ministries (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)

Acton Institute for the Study of Religious Liberty (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 69)

Advancing Native Missions / ANM (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)

Adventist Development & Relief Agency (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 63)

Ankerberg Theological Research Institute (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 71)

Arizona Baptist Children’s Services (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)

As Our Own (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 80)

Biglife International Inc.  (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)

Buffalo City Mission (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)

Carolina Creek Christian Camp (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 71)

Catholic Medical Mission Board / CMMB (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 65 to 61)

Champion Ministries dba Groundwire (Down 4 to -2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 96 to 92)

Christian Aid Ministries (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88)

Christian Aid Ministries Foundation (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)

Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100)

Christian Legal Society / CLS (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86)

City Gospel Mission (1 Star, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 73)

City Rescue Mission Inc (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 90)

City Rescue Mission, Jacksonville (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 90)

Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 87)

Eagle Village (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 79)

Edify (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)

Educational Media Foundation (dba K-LOVE and Air 1 Radio) (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)

Forge (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)

Global Advance, Inc.  (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 72)

Global Training Network (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)

Gospel Partners Media (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)

Great Falls Rescue Mission (1 Star, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 75)

Haggai International (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 82)

Haven of Rest Ministries – Anderson (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 90)

Holt International Children’s Services (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 74)

In His Image International (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88)

InterAct Ministries, Inc.  (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)

International Leadership Institute (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86)

International Needs formerly IN Network USA (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 86)

JAARS (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88)

Jack Van Impe Ministries (1 Star, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 49)

Kids Around the World (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 76)

Lake Ann Camp (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)

Lighthouse Ministries, Inc.  (Down 4 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 92)

Love Justice International (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 96)

Lutheran Bible Translators (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100)

The following ministry has been added to the MinistryWatch database with the most recent year’s financial data:

Vision New England (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 77) 

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.

Israel Giving. We have compiled a list of ministries working in Israel that we recommend.  You will also find some ministries working there that we do NOT recommend. You can find the 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.

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Warren Cole Smith

Warren previously served as Vice President of WORLD News Group, publisher of WORLD Magazine, and Vice President of The Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He has more than 30 years of experience as a writer, editor, marketing professional, and entrepreneur. Before launching a career in Christian journalism 25 years ago, Smith spent more than seven years as the Marketing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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