Weekly Review
Holy Land Experience, ECFA Membership Changes, MinistryWatch Database Changes, and More
On the Podcast: The Holy Land Experience Sold. 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, we explore the practice of Christian colleges granting honorary degrees, one of the largest churches in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination is facing a financial scandal, and the building of new churches is at historic low levels. We begin today with news from Orlando, Florida. The Holy Land Experience, a Christian-based theme park in Orlando, Florida, has been purchased by a Seventh-day Adventist health care company. You can hear the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and other podcast apps, or you can simply click here.
ECFA Changes. The following organizations have had membership status changes in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. ADDITIONS: Water4 (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Care Net Center of Greater Orleans (Albion, N.Y.), Nicolas Fund for Education (Bellevue, Wash.), Christ’s International Ministry (Fresno, Calif.), Transforming Center (Wheaton, Ill.), Impact Latin America (Seattle, Wash.) REMOVALS: Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, Calif.), The Mercy Maternity House (Spring, Tex.), Calvary Children’s Home (Powder Springs, Ga.)
MinistryWatch Database Changes. MinistryWatch now has more than 960 ministries in its database. These ministries represent more than $35-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: Bridges for Peace, Inc. / BFPUSA (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), Radio Training Network, Inc. (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Scripture Union USA / SU (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Service Over Self, Inc. (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), SIM USA, Inc. (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), Southern Wesleyan University (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), STEER, Inc. (Down 2 to 1 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc. (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), The Rutherford Institute / John Whitehead (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), Truth For Life (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Unbound / FKA Christian Foundation for Children and Aging / CFCA (4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), Back2Back Ministries (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Bethel University – Tennessee (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), Care Net (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Catholic Medical Mission Board / CMMB (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: From D to C), Christ for India (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), Compassion International, Inc. (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Dallas Baptist University (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), Georgia Right to Life (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: D), HopeKids (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Image Clear Ultrasound, Inc. (ICU Mobile) (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Kingdom Advisors (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Praise Network, Inc. / Herb Roszhart (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: D), pureHope / FKA Natl’ Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Thru the Bible Radio Network (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: C), Westminster Seminary California (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: C). The following ministries have been added to the MinistryWatch database with the most recent year’s financial data: Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A), Water4 Inc (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A)
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Salary Data Now In MinistryWatch Database. We now have salary information for 3,000 executives from about 500 of the 850 ministries 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.
On-Line Training For Ministry Leaders. Thanks to a partnership with Dunham + Co., MinistryWatch is now able to offer on-line training “short courses” in such topics as change management, fundraising, social media, and the use of cryptocurrencies such as BitCoin. To read more about these courses, click here.
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. I also want to let you know that I was a guest on the podcast and YouTube program “William Ramsey Investigates.” You can watch that interview here.
New 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.
