ABC News targeted the spending habits of the heads of some Christian ministry organizations that repeatedly ask people for monetary donations, with its “20/20” newsmagazine citing multimillion–dollar mansions and a private jet, for example, owned by Paul and Jan Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).
“[W]e’ve all been trained to not even think, to just give the money over and not ask questions and to just not be good stewards,” Rusty Leonard, founder of Stewardship Partners, said on “20/20” March 23.
“And all the satisfaction we get is in the act of giving, not of making sure that actual good work gets done,” he said.
Leonard became so disturbed by the misuse of ministry funds that he started a Web site called ministrywatch.com, which monitors the spending habits of a significant number of Christian groups.
Through the site, he helps the public keep tabs on which organizations are trustworthy with money and which ones don’t have financial transparency.
“It’s a huge red flag. Nobody should donate to any of those ministries,” Leonard told ABC.
“There’s no point in donating to a ministry that wants to take your money but not tell you a thing about how they’re going to spend that money … I’m human, you’re human,” he said. “If I had no constraints on me, I’d probably do all kinds of stupid things.”
TBN, the largest religious broadcaster in the world, is on Leonard’s “Donor Alerts” list because he has serious concerns about how money given to the group is spent.
TBN “sits on a $340 million cash hoard, and owns houses in an exclusive Orange County, Calif., community hidden behind very regal gates,” ABC reported.
“They control one mansion worth about $4 million, and an even bigger one — over 10,000 square feet — that’s worth about $6 million. The Crouches also travel the world in a jet worth a reported $7 million.”
Paul Crouch’s response to criticism of his lavish lifestyle, “20/20” said, is, “If God’s people are poor as Job’s turkey, who’s going to pay to send the gospel to the ends of the earth?”
After the broadcast, TBN Vice President Paul Crouch Jr. issued a response, stating that the program was based on “unreliable,” “outdated” and “incomplete” information and had used a “prejudiced source” — presumably referring to Leonard.
Ministrywatch.com gets about 4,000 hits a day, Leonard said, and some groups are actually asking him to evaluate them.
The Web site released a list of the Top 30 Brightest Shining Light organizations for 2006, which are ministry groups that Leonard deems trustworthy with handling money.
Among them are Answers in Genesis, Crown Financial Ministries and the Family Research Council. (BP)
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