WEEKLY REVIEW: Database Changes, Podcast Highlights & More
Ratings Drop for Operation Blessing; Rise for Advancing Native Missions, Audio Scripture Ministries
This week we published our annual list of Shining Lights. These are ministries that scored the highest possible ratings in all three categories MinistryWatch evaluates: Transparency, Financial Efficiency, and Donor Confidence. We hope you will use this list of the “best of the best” ministries as your year-end giving guide. You can find the list here. 
I also wanted to warn you about so-called “matching” or “challenge” gifts that a lot of ministries use at year-end to try to get you to donate. Matching and challenge gifts can be used ethically, but they are often tools to create a false sense of urgency. These offers to match or double your gift should not keep you from doing your own careful research into that ministry. To read more about matching and challenge gifts, click here.
Here’s what else is new at MinistryWatch this week.
MinistryWatch Database Changes
MinistryWatch now has more than 1,000 ministries in its database. These ministries represent more than $44 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:
Administer Justice (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 95 to 100)
Advancing Native Missions / ANM (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Up 78 to 98)
Alfalit International, Inc. (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 90)
Audio Scripture Ministries (Up 1 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 80)
Beyond (From 5 to N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Down 73 to 53)
Blessman International (Up 2 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 76 to 96)
Calvary University (1 Stars, Transparency Grade: From A to C, DCS: 73)
Campus Outreach SERVE (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: From C to D, DCS: 70)
Children of the Nations (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 100)
Children’s Relief International (Up 4 to 5 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 93)
Christian Aid Mission (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: From D to F, DCS: 49)
Christian Relief International/Nexcus International (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 70)
Cross International (5 Stars, Transparency Grade: From C to A, DCS: 72)
David C. Cook (From 2 to N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: From C to D, DCS: 53)
Ethnos360 (2 Stars, Transparency Grade: D, DCS: Down 32 to 30)
Every Home for Christ (N/A Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: Up 48 to 55)
Feed My Starving Children (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 70)
Global Christian Relief (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 75)
Mercy Corps (Down 4 to 3 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 66)
New Generations (3 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Up 90 to 92)
Operation Blessing (Down 5 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: 90)
Trail Life USA (Down 3 to 2 Stars, Transparency Grade: A, DCS: Down 98 to 80)
Village Missions (Up 3 to 4 Stars, Transparency Grade: C, DCS: 75)
The following ministry has been added to the MinistryWatch database with the most recent year’s financial data:
Stadia: New Church Strategies (Transparency Grade: D, DCS: 31 )
On The MinistryWatch Podcast
Morningstar Dispute Settled, Bill Hwang Sentenced, and T.D. Jakes Updates
On today’s program, MorningStar Fellowship Church in South Carolina reaches a settlement with York County after a decade-long dispute over Heritage Tower—a building originally owned by Jim Bakker’s Praise the Lord Ministries. We’ll have details.
And, Christian philanthropist Bill Hwang was sentenced for a $10 billion fraud. We’ll take a look.
Plus, another Christian college is on the ropes. Saint Augustine’s University in North Carolina slashes its workforce by 50% in its fight to retain accreditation.
But first, a week after suffering a dangerous health incident during a Sunday morning church service, Bishop T.D. Jakes updated his congregation via live video. “Many of you don’t realize that you’re looking at a miracle,” Bishop T.D. Jakes said in a live video message to the congregation on Sunday (Dec. 1). “I faced a life-threatening calamity, was rushed to the ICU unit. I had emergency surgery. Survived this surgery” He said.
ECFA Changes
The following organizations have had membership status changes in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
ADDITIONS: Water for Good (Bentonville, Ark.), Coram Deo Academy (Lewisville, Tex.), Stillwater Christian School (Kalispell, Mont.), iReach Global (Plano, Tex.), Hope Within Ministries (Elizabethtown, Penn.), Beta Upsilon Chi Foundation (Ft. Worth, Tex.)
REMOVALS: Uncaged (Atlanta, Ga.), Cleveland Pregnancy Center (Cleveland, Ohio),
Advice About Giving
Hurricane Helene Giving. Western North Carolina is slowly recovering, but it will need help for months if not years ahead. We have compiled a list of ministries working in Hurricane Helene-affected areas. We’ve also included some tips for making decisions about how and where you should give. To see this article, click here.
To see our complete coverage of Hurricane Helene relief efforts, click 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.
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.
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.
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.
About MinistryWatch
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.
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.
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.
