Weekly Review
ECFA Member Changes, On This Date at MinistryWatch, MinistryWatch 1000 Database Changes
ECFA Changes 
The following organizations have had membership status changes in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
ADDITIONS: Downtown Bible Class (Portland, Ore.), Crossroads Asia International (Richardson, Tex.) Petros Network (Portland, Ore.), Global Seed Planters (Sandstone, Minn.), Soul Shepherding (Irvine, Calif.), Unbound Now (Waco, Tex.), Romans Project (Portland, Ore.), The Opened Bible Academy (Houston, Tex.), Music in World Cultures (Bridgeville, Pa.), Uncaged (Atlanta, Ga.),
REMOVALS: Cornerstone Christian Fellowship (Chandler, Ariz.),
On This Date at MinistryWatch
ONE YEAR AGO: A pastor who had a flash of fame in a reality tv show was arrested last week for using his contracting company to pocket $250,000 in elder fraud. The Arvada Police Department arrested Tilo David Lopez, 55, on an at-large warrant following a 14-month-long investigation that was launched after a complaint alleged he and his company, Remodeling Specialists LLC, committed elder fraud. Read more here.
FOUR YEARS AGO: Former Harvest Bible Chapel pastor James MacDonald is suing Chicago radio personality Erich “Mancow” Muller for defamation after Muller used his radio show to — in the host’s words — “bring down the cult of MacDonald.” Read more here.
FIVE YEARS AGO: MinistryWatch issues a Donor Alert regarding Food For The Poor because of deceptive donor solicitations. Read more 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.
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.
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On The MinistryWatch Podcast
Museum of the Bible, More Hillsong Fallout, World Vision, and David C. Cook. On today’s program, former Hillsong Atlanta pastors announce their divorce on social media. We’ll have details. And a judge rules that World Vision is liable for discrimination after rescinding a job offer after discovering a woman was in a same-sex marriage. Plus, both David C Cook and Museum of the Bible announce new CEOs. We’ll take a look. We begin today with news that the historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia has ousted its pastor Liam Goligher. Although Goligher is no longer pastoring the influential church—associated with the Presbyterian Church in America—some critics are asking what took so long. Listen here.
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:
Atlas Free (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 100 to 97)
Awana (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 87 to 90)
Barnabas International (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 83)
Care Net (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 97)
Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100)
Christian City Inc. (1 Star, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 73 to 76)
City Relief / The Relief Bus (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 94 to 91)
Crisis Aid International (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 88 to 85)
Downtown Rescue Mission Inc. (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: UP 82 to 92)
Family Radio / Family Stations, Inc. (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 55 to 52)
Help The Persecuted (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 61)
India National Inland Mission (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 88 to 78)
Launch Global (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 97)
Life Legal Defense Foundation (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 88)
New Orleans Mission (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Up 62 to 65)
Olympia Union Gospel Mission (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 79)
Raleigh Rescue Mission (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Dow 97 to 94)
Resourcing Christian Education International / RCE (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100)
Rockford Rescue Mission (Up 1 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 87)
Shared Hope International (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 100 to 90)
Starry Inc. (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 94 to 91)
Stonecroft Ministries (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 81 to 84)
Western Carolina Rescue Ministries, Inc (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 91 to 81)
The following ministry has been added to the MinistryWatch database with the most recent year’s financial data:
The Finishing Fund (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 94)
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.
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.
