Weekly Review
ADF Files Suit on Behalf of Ministries, Supporting Law Enforcement, ECFA and MinistryWatch Database Changes, Toccoa Falls College, and More
Defending Ministries and Speech. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing two pro-life organizations filed suit in federal court Wednesday after the city of Washington, D.C., refused to grant permission for the groups to paint a pro-life message on a city street shortly after the city commissioned or allowed the painting of other messages on a different street. In June, a mural reading “Black Lives Matter” was created using permanent yellow paint, the length of an entire city block, extending the width of the street. Shortly after the mural was painted, another mural reading “Defund the Police” was also painted on the street. The Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America then sought to paint a similar mural outside of the Planned Parenthood Carole Whitehill Moses Center with the message “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter,” but the city refused to grant a permit to the two groups.
BGEA Expands Law Enforcement Ministry. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association recently held its ninth National Law Enforcement Retreat at The Cove in Asheville in late October, and the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) announced that it will be expanding its law enforcement ministry with Law Enforcement Appreciation events in multiple cities across the United States. The announcement comes at a time when police departments are under scrutiny, and some progressives are working to “defund” police departments. The first three Law Enforcement Appreciation Dinners for sworn officers and their spouses will be Dec. 14-16 in Charlotte. “Law enforcement are being discouraged, demoralized and devalued at a level unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” said Jack Munday, international director of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team. “And so for me personally, I think that the need to expand ministry efforts is there because if we don’t support law enforcement, they are the only defense or shield that we have in our society to protect us from anarchy and the collapse of civil society as we know it.” In 2020, the BG-RRT has deployed crisis-trained chaplains to four cities amidst civil unrest: Minneapolis, Minnesota; Kenosha, Wisconsin; Greensboro and Charlotte, ministering to the community as well as law enforcement in those areas. The BG-RRT also sent chaplains to provide emotional and spiritual care to multiple agencies after the death of a law enforcement officer within their department.
On Today’s MinistryWatch Podcast. Each week, MinistryWatch brings you news about Christian ministries, as well as the latest in charity and philanthropy, news that we examine from a Christian worldview perspective. Our goal is to help us become better stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. On today’s program, John MacArthur’s California church is cleared by local health officials as being the source of a COVID outbreak. We have the latest in our “Shining Light” series of stories. This week we feature a ministry that provides a safe place for children and their mothers who are recovering from substance abuse. We begin today with the story of the Boy Scouts. Monday was the deadline set by a bankruptcy court for filing a sex-abuse claim against the Boy Scouts of America. The number of claims filed has exceeded 92,000, literally ten times more than the 9,000 claims filed in Catholic Church cases. You can hear the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and other podcast apps, or you can simply click here.
MinistryWatch Extra with Dr. Robert Myers. On this week’s MinistryWatch Extra podcast, we feature my interview with Dr. Robert Myers. Myers is the president of Toccoa Falls College, a small Christian school in northeast Georgia that has found ways to thrive in the challenging Christian higher education environment. We discuss how they’ve done it, as well as how the school has come back from challenges that would have sunk other institutions. To find out more about Religion Unplugged and the stories we discussed today, go to Religion Unplugged.com. You can hear that conversation here.
ECFA Changes. The following organizations have had membership status changes in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. ADDITIONS: NONE REMOVALS: NONE
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MinistryWatch Database Changes. 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: Awana Clubs Int’l (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: Los Angeles Mission (1 Star, Transparency Grade: N/A), Bair Lake Bible Camp (Up from 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Bible Tracts, Inc. (Up from 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), Alfalit International, Inc. (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Turlock Gospel Mission (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: N/A), New Orleans Mission (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: N/A), Denver Seminary (1 Star, Transparency Grade: C), World Compassion Terry Law Ministries (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A) The following ministries have been added to the MinistryWatch database with the most recent year’s financial data: City Rescue Mission (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: TBD), Jacksonville and Waterfront Rescue Mission (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: TBD), The Foundry Ministries (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: TBD), Brother Bryan Rescue Mission (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: N/A), Jimmie Hale Mission (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: TBD), Tennessee Valley Outreach (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: TBD)
