MinistryWatch Podcast

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. FINAL THOUGHTS: I do want to mention to our listeners that we are entering the most critical time of the year for Chrisitan ministries, including MinistryWatch, when it comes to fundraising. We need to raise about a quarter of our budget, about $110 thousand, before the end of the year, and we are not alone. Some ministries raise 30 or 40 percent of their budgets during the last two months of the year. If you’d like to help us reach our year-end goal, just go to MinistryWatch.com and hit the donate button at the top of the page. But whether you give to us or not, we hope you will use our database to help you make giving decisions. And that you will give wisely and generously during this season. The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Bob Smietana, Jesse Jackson, Rod Pitzer and Collin Binkley. A special thanks to ChurchLeaders for contributing material for this week’s program. Until next time, may God bless you.

Here at MinistryWatch we write from time to time about sexual sin, scandal, and brokenness. It has been my experience that many of these stories have pornography as one component of the story.  It is also apparent that pornography has become something of a secret sin among church and ministry leaders. Some surveys have found that as many as 50 percent of church leaders have some involvement with pornography. Other studies say that a child’s first involvement with pornography can start as early as age 9. Because these facts are, unfortunately, a part of the current cultural moment, I’ve read a good bit about the topic, but I’ve not read anything as wise and helpful as Sam Black’s “The Healing Church: What Churches Get Wrong About Pornography, and How To Fix It.” Sam Black believes that churches should places of healing, and he offers both theological and practical advice for church leaders, ministry leaders, those struggling to stop using porn, and those who want to fortify themselves so they never start. Sam Black is the director of recovery education for Covenant Eyes, a software program that provides help and accountability for those who want to avoid online pornography. Prior to joining Covenent Eyes in 2007, he made his living as a journalist. FINAL THOUGHTS: A couple of quick thoughts before we go.  First, if you found value in today’s program, please share it with a friend. Secondly, just a quick reminder that MinistryWatch is a donor supported ministry. We take no money from the ministries we cover, we don’t put ads on our site, and we don’t have one of those annoying paywalls. If you would like to support us in our work, just go to MinistryWatch.com and hit the donate button at the top of the page. Thanks to Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh for producing today’s program. We get technical, database, and editorial support from Christina Darnell, Kim Roberts, Casey Sudduth, and Stephen DuBarry.

On today’s program, Christian attorney Jenna Ellis pleads guilty for her role in attempting to overturn election results in Georgia in 2020. We’ll have details. Also, Korean churches are leaving the United Methodist Church—but not without difficulty. And a Texas seminary has big changes ahead…we’ll share more later in the program. We begin today with news that the former president of Southwestern Theological seminary Adam Greenway is threatening the school with a $5 million lawsuit. Adam Greenway, who resigned as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in September 2022, is reportedly threatening to sue the Texas-based institution for $5 million. According to The Tennessean, Greenway’s attorney, Andrew Jones, sent a demand letter to the seminary last month, claiming that SWBTS damaged Greenway’s reputation and his ability to seek further employment. FINAL THOUGHTS: First, we posted the quarterly results of our Ministry Executive survey on the website this week. The findings suggest that ministry leaders remain optimistic about the year ahead, but cite fundraising as their biggest concern. That’s a shift from quarters past, when finding qualified employees was the top concern. There’s a lot of new data in this quarter’s survey, and if you are ministry leader, I encourage you to check it out here. I also want to remind you that MinistryWatch has published a booklet called “75 Red Flags To Consider Before Donating To A Christian Ministry.” We’ll send you that booklet as our thank you for any gift to MinistryWatch during the month of October. This is a great tool for Christian donors. We use the questions in this booklet every day here at MinistryWatch to help us evaluate ministries. To get your copy, just go to the MinistryWatch website and hit the donate button at the top of the page. The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Jessica Eturralde, Kim Roberts, Steve Rabey, Stephanie Martin, Christina Darnell, and Rod Pitzer. A special thanks to Church Leaders for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s EXTRA episode, I’m sharing a conversation I had recently with Collin Hansen. Collin is editor in chief at The Gospel Coalition, and he is the author of an intellectual biography of Tim Keller called “Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation.” I think it’s fair to call Tim Keller the “Accidental Celebrity.” When he went to New York City to found Redeemer Presbyterian Church in the 1980s, a clear-eyed assessment of his chances for success would have placed that number very low.  He didn’t do any of the things that wannabe celebrities would have done. He didn’t have a radio or TV program.  He wasn’t a fiery orator. No rock band. Yet over the years, the church grew. In fact, it grew to the point that some call Redeemer, and Tim Keller himself, among the most influential churches and church leaders of the past half-century. Collin Hansen has been a friend and colleague of Tim Keller for decades, and he augmented his personal experience with first-rate research to produce the book we will be discussing today. I want to mention that I did an interview with Tim Keller just before he died, and you can find that interview here: https://ministrywatch.com/a-conversation-with-tim-keller/ I also wrote an appreciation of Tim just after he died, and you can find a link to that article here: https://ministrywatch.com/editors-notebook-remembering-redeemer-presbyterian-churchs-early-days/ Thanks for joining us today for this special episode of the MinistryWatch podcast. If you enjoy this podcast, there are a few things you can do to help us grow. First, leave us a rating, share a review, post a link to this conversation on social media, or – if you’re old school – just tell a friend. However, you do it, please know that I’m grateful, and your efforts really do make a difference in helping us grow. The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh. We get technical, editorial, and administrative support here at MinistryWatch from Christina Darnell and Casey Sudduth. Until next time…May God Bless You!

On today’s program, the family charged with using a fake church to promote its fake COVID cure has been sentenced. We’ll have details. Also, Tim Ballard—the hero behind the anti-trafficking movie Sound of Freedom—has himself been sued for sexual assault. And, our MinistryWatch guide for giving to relief efforts in Israel. We begin today with news that Tommy Nelson, the best-selling author and long-time pastor of Denton Bible Church in Dallas, has announced plans for his retirement. FINAL THOUGHTS: It’s a new month, and we have a new gift for our donors. MinistryWatch has published a booklet called “75 Red Flags To Consider Before Donating To A Christian Ministry.” We’ll send you that booklet as our thank you for any gift to MinistryWatch during the month of October. This is a great tool for Christian donors. We use the questions in this booklet every day here at MinistryWatch to help us evaluate ministries. To get your copy, just go to the MinistryWatch website and hit the donate button at the top of the page. The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Steve Rabey, Jack Jenkins—and you, Warren. Until next time, may God bless you.

“Christianity Today” and “The Daily Wire” Provide Teachable Moment An article in the “Daily Wire” about the political contributions of “Christianity Today” staffers offer Christians a lesson in how to – and how not to – engage in truthful and fair public discourse. You can find the “Daily Wire” article here: https://ministrywatch.com/ministrywatch-guide-to-giving-to-support-israel/ You can find MinistryWatch President Warren Smith’s article about this “dust up” here: https://ministrywatch.com/dust-up-between-christianity-today-and-daily-wire-provides-a-teachable-moment/ The producers for today’s program are Jeff McIntosh and Rich Roszel.  Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, we take a look at legal and verbal assaults on Pregnancy Resource Centers in California and New Jersey. Famous Christian apologist responds to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability’s decision to terminate his membership. And a new report says churches and ministries kept more than $7 billion in Payroll Protection Plan funds.  We’ll look at some of the details. We also look at a report from the Department of Education about Liberty University. The report says they may have underreported campus assault incidents.  We begin today with an update on a story we’ve been covering for a while—a Minnesota youth pastor accused of sexually assaulting multiple teenage girls has been arrested. FINAL THOUGHTS: MinistryWatch has published a booklet called “75 Red Flags To Consider Before Donating To A Christian Ministry.” We’ll send you that booklet as our thank you for any gift to MinistryWatch during the month of October. This is a great tool for Christian donors. We use the questions in this booklet every day here at MinistryWatch to help us evaluate ministries. To get your copy, just go to the MinistryWatch website and hit the donate button at the top of the page. The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Paul Clolery, Tom Campisi, Kim Roberts, Christina Darnell, Rod Pitzer—and you, Warren. A special thanks to Tom Campisi of the Tri-State Voice and to The NonProfit Times for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

Regular readers of MinistryWatch (or listeners to this podcast) likely already appreciate the value of hard-hitting, truth-seeking journalism. But in this episode, MinistryWatch President Warren Smith goes deep into this topic with Christianity Today’s News Editor Daniel Silliman. Indeed, you might even call today’s episode an apologia for Christian journalism with one of its master craftsmen. That master craftsman, Daniel Silliman, has been at Christianity Today since 2019. He got his start as a crime reporter in the Atlanta area. He also holds a doctorate in American Studies from the University of Heidelberg. He’s the author of the 2021 book Reading Evangelicals: How Christian Fiction Shaped a Culture and a Faith. One more quick note before we dive into the interview:  I refer a couple of times to a podcast interview Daniel did with “The Upwords Podcast.” It’s an excellent interview, and I commend it to you.  You can find that podcast here:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-impact-of-journalism-daniel-silliman/id1537044590?i=1000628242068 FINAL THOUGHT: Thanks to Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh for producing today’s program.  We get technical, database, and editorial support from Casey Sudduth, Christina Darnell, and Stephen DuBarry. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, we take a look at the 50 largest evangelism and discipleship organizations in the nation.  We also have details regarding the suspension of celebrity pastor Albert Tate. And the state of California has sued pregnancy care centers in the state. The lawsuit could have chilling effect on pregnancy resource centers around the country. And do you remember Mark Driscoll, the disgraced former pastor of Seattle’s Mars Hill Church?  Well, he’s back, and we’ll fill you in what he’s been up to. We begin today with Andy Stanley’s controversial conference Unconditional Love, which took place at Stanley’s North Point Church near Atlanta last weekend.  FINAL THOUGHTS: It’s a new month, and we have a new gift for our donors. MinistryWatch has published a booklet called “75 Red Flags To Consider Before Donating To A Christian Ministry.” We’ll send you that booklet as our thank you for any gift to MinistryWatch during the month of October. This is a great tool for Christian donors. We use the questions in this booklet every day here at MinistryWatch to help us evaluate ministries. To get your copy, just go to the MinistryWatch website and hit the donate button at the top of the page. The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Liz Lykins, Chris Moody, John Stonestreet, Timothy Padgett, Kim Roberts, Kathryn Post, Steve Rabey, Christina Darnell, and Rod Pitzer. A special thanks to Religion UnPlugged and Breakpoint with the Colson Center for Christian Worldview for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

Julian Simon’s name does not mean much to many Christians today, but it should.  Julian Simon understood “the long game” when it came to public discourse. He knew that it was important not merely to win political victories, but to win hearts and change minds. It’s a lesson that ministry leaders and donors who want to make a difference would do well to remember.