MinistryWatch Podcast

On today’s program, Steven Furtick and Elevation Church are generating controversy because of the ticket prices of their upcoming tour.  And Hillsong’s Brian Houston was removed from the pulpit is awaiting a court date, but that hasn’t stopped him from taking the stage at other events.  We’ll have details.  We begin today with the story of a massive financial fraud that targeted Christians. The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Phil Cooke, Bobby Ross Jr., Dale Chamberlain, Jessica Etturalde, Anne Stych, and Steve Rabey. Special thanks to Church Leaders dot com and The Christian Chronicle for providing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

An important part of what we do here at MinistryWatch – especially with these “Extra” episodes -- is to bring to you thought leaders who have important things to say both to donors and to ministry leaders.  That’s why I’m pleased to have back on the program Phil Cooke. Phil has written a provocative article for the MinistryWatch website about pastor and ministry leader compensation.  Phil argues that we should be paying not less, but more.  Before we let Phil make his case, let me tell you a bit about him. Phil Cooke is a working producer in Hollywood who also has a Ph. D. in theology.  He’s the author of a half-dozen books on media and marketing and has been a contributor to Fast Company, Forbes, and The Huffington Post.  He is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as well as the Producer’s Guild of America. Phil spoke to me from his studio in California. The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.   We get database, technical, and editorial support from Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Christina Darnell, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. I’m Warren Smith, and you’ve been listening to the MinistryWatch podcast.  Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, we examine a ministry called Pre-Born!, which has grown dramatically over the past three years.  We’ll tell you why.  Also on today’s program, another pastor has been charged with felonies for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.  We’ll have details.  We begin today with the strange story of a youth pastor whose lapse in judgment has garnered national attention. A reminder that I’ll be hosting a lunch for MinistryWatch friends in Charlotte on October 26, and I’ll be in Newport Beach, California, on November 15.  If you live in those cities, you should be getting an email from me with more information, but if you want to make sure that you get an invitation, please email me and I’ll make sure you get the details.  All of these lunches are FREE.  They’re just our way of saying THANK YOU for being a part of our work. And I also want to mention that we have slightly tweaked our Financial Efficiency Rating formula.  We now divide the database into fifths, or quintiles.  That means the top 20 percent of ministries get a five-star rating, the next 20 percent get four stars, etc.  That’s slightly different than the dividing lines we used before, and it has resulted in about 100 ministries getting new scores – some higher and some lower.  We’ve got a complete explanation of what we did, and why, in the Thursday email.  The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Anne Stych, Dale Chamberlain, Yonat Shimron, and Christina Darnell. Special Thanks to Church Leaders dot com for providing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, a Christian filmmaker from Colorado Springs has been arrested as part of a child sex sting conducted by local police and the Department of Justice.  We’ll have details.  And a documentary about the sex abuse scandal at Kanakuk Kamps has won an Emmy.  This journalistic prize for the news organization VICE lends further credibility to the stories of the survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of a Kanakuk counsellor.  We begin today with news that a defamation case filed by a pastor against his former church has been dismissed.  A Florida judge has dismissed the defamation lawsuit filed by former Celebration Church pastors Stovall and Kerri Weems on the grounds that the suit concerns an ecclesiastical matter and is therefore outside the court’s jurisdiction. In closing:  I’ll be hosting a lunch for MinistryWatch friends in Charlotte in October, on the 26th, and I’ll be in Newport Beach, California, on November 15.  If you live in those cities, you should be getting an email from me with more information, but if you want to make sure that you get an invitation, please email me and I’ll make sure you get the details.  All of these lunches are FREE.  They’re just our way of saying THANK YOU for being a part of our work.  If you’d like details, please send me an email:  wsmith@ministrywatch.com The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Anne Stych, Steve Rabey, Jessica Lea, and Christina Darnell. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, the Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention (ECAP) is set to roll out an accreditation program designed to train and certify ministry executives in skills to prevent sexual abuse.  And we note two notable passings this week:  Open Doors founder Brother Andrew, and the long-time president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, Dan Busby.  We begin today with the controversial decision by Christian musician Chris Tomlin to tour with the scandal ridden Hillsong United this fall. Before we go… I’ll be hosting a lunch for MinistryWatch friends in Charlotte in October, and I’ll be in Newport Beach, California, on November 15.  If you live in those cities, you should be getting an email from me with more information, but if you want to make sure that you get an invitation, please email me and I’ll make sure you get the details.  All of these lunches are FREE.  They’re just our way of saying THANK YOU for being a part of our work.  I also want to remind you that if you make a donation to MinistryWatch during the month of September, we’ll send you a copy of “Restoring All Things” as our thank you gift.  This book is one that I wrote with the Colson Center’s John Stonestreet, and it features stories of great ministries doing great work all around the country.  Just go to MinistryWatch.com 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 Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Bob Smietana, Shannon Cuthrell, Jessica Eturralde, and Anne Stych. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, it’s been a year since Glenn Beck’s The Nazarene Fund raised $35-million for Afghan relief.  We’ll have an update on where the money went.  We also look at Charlie Kirk’s organization Turning Point USA.  The group now has a subsidiary called Turning Point Faith, aimed at pastors and church leaders.  We begin today with news that the Southern Baptist Conventions’ top administrative body voted to cut ties with two congregations on Tuesday. If you make a donation to MinistryWatch during the month of September, we’ll send you a copy of “Restoring All Things” as our thank you gift.  This book is one that I wrote with the Colson Center’s John Stonestreet, and it features stories of great ministries doing great work all around the country.  Just go to MinistryWatch.com 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 Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Bob Smietana, Steve Rabey, Jesse T. Jackson, Jessica Eturralde, Anne Stych, Peter Smith, and Christina Darnell. Special thanks to ChurchLeaders.com and The NonProfit Times for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, we take a look at the Bible translation industry.  We ask the question:  How much does it really cost to translate the Bible.  We also look at a milestone for the Christian ministry Samaritan’s Purse.  It will hit $1-billion in revenue this year.  And one of evangelicalism’s flagship seminaries, Fuller Seminary, has the first African American president in its history.  We’ll have details.  We begin today with news that 2,000 churches and Christian ministries have asked the U.S. Senate to oppose the “Respect For Marriage Act.”  A Reminder:  if you make a donation to MinistryWatch during the month of September, we’ll send you a copy of “Restoring All Things” as our thank you gift.  This book is one that I wrote with the Colson Center’s John Stonestreet, and it features stories of great ministries doing great work all around the country.  Just go to MinistryWatch.com 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 Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Emily McFarlan Miller, Stephanie Martin, Alejandra Molina, Bob Smietana, Yonat Shimron, Jessica Eturralde, Tom Campisi, Kim Roberts—and you, Warren. Special thanks to ChurchLeaders.com for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, one of evangelicalism’s most prominent leaders, Ted Haggard, his hit new lows.  We’ll have the latest.  And the American Bible Society latest president lasted less than 90 days.  The organization has had five presidents in the past 10 years.  We’ve got news of the latest changes at this two-century old ministry.  We begin today with the latest chapter in the story of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.  Last week, Lighten Group, announced it was shutting down.  Lighten Group is a new ministry started by Sarah Davis, former CEO of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) and daughter of late Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias.  Lighten Group, whose team is comprised of former RZIM employees, was founded in the fall of 2021 and was supported by RZIM funding.  It is not clear what has happened to the millions of dollars in assets owned by RZIM when the organization imploded in the aftermath of a sex abuse scandal. Before we go, a reminder:  if you made a donation to MinistryWatch during the month of September, we’ll send you a copy of my book “Restoring All Things.”  It’s a book that I co-wrote with The Colson Center’s John Stonestreet.  Just go to MinistryWatch.com 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 Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Emily Miller, Todd Nettleton, Anne Stych, Audrey Jackson, Alejandra Molina, Bob Smietana, Jesse T. Jackson, Jessica Etturalde, and Steve Rabey.  Special thanks to The Christian Chronicle and ChurchLeaders.com for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

An important part of what we do here at MinistryWatch – especially with these “Extra” episodes -- is to bring to you important thought leaders who have important things to say both to donors and to ministry leaders.  That’s why I’m pleased to have back on the program Phil Cooke. Phil got his start in media working on the television program of Oral Roberts, while he was still a student at Oral Roberts University.  Over the years Cooke has become one of the nation’s experts on the use of media in a Christian context.  He has also been outspoken on the need for men and women of integrity in Christian ministries.  Though he got his start working for one of the most famous televangelists in history, he has also been a thoughtful critic of televangelists.  And even though he is a media and marketing expert, he says that evangelical Christianity doesn’t have a marketing problem.  It has a character problem. Phil Cooke is a working producer in Hollywood who also has a Ph. D. in theology.  He’s the author of a half-dozen books on media and marketing and has been a contributor to Fast Company, Forbes, and The Huffington Post.  He is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as well as the Producer’s Guild of America. Phil spoke to me from his studio in California. You can find the article we discussed today, The Loyalty Obsession – Why It’s Harming Churches and Ministries – by going to the MinistryWatch website. Before we go, I’d like to remind you that MinistryWatch is donor supported.  We take no money from ministries.  All of our content is free.  No paywall.  That means we couldn’t do what we do without faithful donors.  You guys are the real heroes of this enterprise.  So if you’d like to join that heroic group by pitching in to make sure that MinistryWatch remains a viable endeavor, you can go to MinistryWatch.com and hit the “donate” button at the top of the page. And if you give during the month of September we’ll send you a copy of a book I co-wrote with The Colson Center’s John Stonestreet.  That book is:  “Restoring All Things:  God’s Audacious Plan to Change The World Through Everyday People.” The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.   We get database, technical, and editorial support from Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Christina Darnell, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. I’m Warren Smith, and you’ve been listening to the MinistryWatch podcast.  Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, more promises, but few details, from the Bible translation industry.  We’ll have the latest from Wycliffe Bible Translators.  And a former World Vision staffer gets 12 years in prison after an Israeli court found he aided a terrorist group.  But his supporters – including World Vision itself – say he’s innocent.  We begin today with the story of Matt Chandler, who is taking a leave of absence from his role as pastor of The Village Church. I also want to remind you that if you made a donation to MinistryWatch during the month of August, you’ll receive a free one-year subscription to WORLD Magazine.  We’ve had such a great response, that we’ve extended this offer a few days, through the Labor Day Weekend.  So if you thought you’d missed this offer, don’t despair.  This is a fantastic opportunity to pick up a subscription to WORLD and support our work at the same time.  Just go to MinistryWatch.com 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 Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Anne Stych, Bob Smietana, Kim Roberts, Kathryn Post, Rod Pitzer, and Steve Rabey. Until next time, may God bless you.