CBS 11 News in Dallas followed up today on their earlier expose’ on Gospel for Asia. Watch
The iTeam picked out a couple of big items from the ECFA report (large cash reserves, smuggling cash into India), posted here on December 2 after being released by former GFA board member Gayle Erwin.
Earlier today, I reported that GFA could face sanctions from the Office of Personnel Management.
GFA doubled down on their contention that the $20 million from Believers’ Church/GFA-India was not a related party transaction. Instead, near the end of the clip, GFA’s statement to CBS News calls it a “donation.” It is beyond belief that GFA maintains this stance in the face of overwhelming evidence that K.P. Yohannan is in charge of Believers’ Church and all “field partners” in India.
Month: December 2015
What Happened to Gospel for Asia's Combined Federal Campaign Page?
As recently as a week ago, Gospel for Asia touted participation in the Combined Federal Campaign (Google cache).
Not any more. Now if you go to that same page, one sees a “Page Not Found” message and a frown. Once, GFA boasted about their participation in the CFC (Google cache), but mention of the program is now missing at that page.
I have been aware for several weeks that the Office of Personnel Management was reviewing GFA’s status as an approved charity. Recently, I learned that GFA may be sanctioned by the OPM due to failure to meet requirements for participation in the CFC. Today, I learned from an OPM Spokesperson that OPM contacted Christian Charities USA about GFA. Christian Charities USA assists charities by submitting and certifying the accuracy of application for acceptance into the CFC and is managed by the same group that manages Independent Charities of America. CCUSA submitted GFA’s original application for the CFC to OPM.
In early December, OPM notified CCUSA that its member charity GFA may be in violation of CFC regulations. According to the spokesperson,
CCUSA contacted GFA, and gave them ample opportunity to provide evidence they were not in violation of CFC rules. However, CCUSA did not get an acceptable response from GFA. CCUSA then decertified GFA.
The decertification by CCUSA may be the reason GFA has pulled the CFC page. The next possible step for GFA would be a sanction from OPM. I have been informed by the OPM spokesperson that GFA has been notified that OPM intends to sanction GFA if GFA is unable to prove that they comply with OPM standards.
By statute, sanctions may involve expulsion from the CFC program. The removal of the CFC page and any mention of participation in the CFC may indicate that GFA has been removed although the OPM spokesperson has not commented on that point.
Prior to the termination of membership in the ECFA, GFA had touted ECFA membership, ICA membership and participation in the CFC as indicators of financial integrity. Now there is nothing to independently verify that GFA is abiding by financial promises.
Seattle's Music Scene and the Ghosts of Mars Hill Church
Today, Kathleen Tarrant in the Stranger brings us a beautifully written tour of the Seattle Indie music during and post the Mars Hill Church years. She makes the case that the early Mars Hill era had an influence on Seattle rock which endures today. Some of that persistence isn’t necessarily to be celebrated as many Christian artists were disillusioned by Mars Hill. For those, who want to understand the bigger themes of the Mars Hill story, I highly recommend this article.
A couple of short segment will give a taste:
The expansion continued in the years that followed. Mars Hill would nearly triple in size between 2006 and 2014, with 15 satellite franchise churches in five states. Driscoll’s fame and influence were expanding, too, and the cracks began to show. He doubled down on his anti-feminist, anti-gay agenda and was soon called out for spiritual abuse, bullying, plagiarism, and generally being a fraud. He was caught leaving abusive comments on internet message boards under a pseudonym. Church funds that had been designated for global outreach and a music festival disappeared. In 2012, a company called ResultSource was paid a reported $200,000 to bulk-buy copies of Driscoll’s book Real Marriage in 2012 to send it to the top of the best-seller list. Acts 29, the “church planting” network that Driscoll cofounded, removed his name from their materials. Members left in droves. A group of 21 former Mars Hill pastors filed formal charges of workplace abuse against Driscoll with the church’s elders.
The rise and fall of MHC has left a, um, mark.
Butcher, a former member of Mars Hill, plays drums in the band Copeland. While a member of the church, he was the drummer for the local Christian indie folk band Ivan & Alyosha, and worked as a designer at Tooth & Nail (his design of the band Underoath’s box set was nominated for a Grammy in 2010). His exit from the church lined up with his exit from the band, and he remembers the stigma of association with the church that followed. People rescinded offers for drumming gigs and cast uncomfortable glances at each other when they found out about his former membership.
“I get it,” he says now. “What happened at Mars Hill hurt so many people, including me. There’s a lot of healing to do, and the more transparent I can be and the more I can listen to people who have concerns about the church and what it did—the same concerns that I have—the better it will turn out.”
I doubt Driscoll will try to reprise the edgy young prophet role he played in Seattle. He seems headed for more of a father figure profit role in Phoenix.
WND Markets The Jefferson Lies
Some readers will see what I did there with the title of this post.
WND is rolling out pre-launch publicity for David Barton’s The Jefferson Lies, including a new website and a trailer. Watch:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2pUBopUnGQ[/youtube]
The new website features endorsements for the new book. I wonder if they have any idea what they are endorsing. Only one teaches history (John Swails, Oral Roberts University). I wonder if Swails was a professor at ORU when Barton played D-1 basketball there (I mean, didn’t play basketball there).
This should be fun.
If you want to get a head start on the facts regarding Barton’s claims, a great Christmas gift for yourself or that history lover on your list is Getting Jefferson Right: Fact Checking Claims about Our Third President by yours truly and Michael Coulter.
Also see Thomas Kidd’s articles in World on the Barton controversy from 2012.
Earlier today, I responded to World Net Daily’s absurd contention that The Jefferson Lies fell victim to political correctness.
World Net Daily and David Barton Claim Political Correctness Doomed The Jefferson Lies
On Friday of last week, World Net Daily published something called “Anatomy Of An American Book Banning.” Believe it or not, World Net Daily and David Barton are hoping to convince readers that Barton’s book was pulled from publication due to political correctness. The subtitle of the article is:
How New York Times bestseller was resurrected after falling casualty to political correctness.
Joseph Farah and Barton deserve each other; both engage in historical revisionism. Farah says at the end of the WND article.
Farah added: “Think about all the books that are published every year in America – many tens of thousands. Only one book that I know of in my lifetime has been censored by its own publisher after becoming a bestseller. Only one history book was so banned in the United States, to my knowledge – pulled from the shelves to ensure Americans couldn’t read it and make up their own minds about it. Many books published in America as non-fiction are made up out of whole cloth – and that includes history books with the most preposterous speculation and fantasies. In a free society, that is to be expected. What should never be expected is that controversial books with premises some might disagree with should be banned, spiked, burned or shredded. That’s exactly what happened to this book. And that’s why WND Books is bringing it back into the marketplace.
Is it possible that Farah thinks he is telling the truth? I can’t see how. The book was never “censored,” nor was it “banned in the United States.” The book was not destroyed. WND is not bringing it back into the marketplace. The Jefferson Lies has been available from Wallbuilders since the rights reverted back to Barton after Thomas Nelson stopped publishing it (see this Wayback Machine link for February 2013). It is available now on Amazon and has been for years. In fact, it has been available since at least June 15, 2013 from World Net Daily’s Superstore (see this Wayback Machine link). Let that sink in. Farah said the book was banned and implied it was somehow not in the marketplace. He has been selling it since early 2013.
There is two critical problems for WND’s theory about political correctness and Thomas Nelson: Thomas Nelson publishes many other conservatives and no other books have been pulled from publication during the same time period.
I left a comment after the article and in it named several conservative authors which Thomas Nelson publishes, including a couple published by WND.
Regarding WND’s accusation that Thomas Nelson pulled Barton’s book due to political correctness, please consider that Thomas Nelson currently publishes books by Jerome Corsi and Ben Shapiro. Thomas Nelson publishes Eric Metaxas’ highly regarded book on Bonhoeffer. Other conservatives published by Thomas Nelson include Richard Land, Judge Napolitano, Tom Coburn, William Bennett, Kevin McCullough, Star Parker, Sam Brownback and others. It makes no sense that Thomas Nelson publishes these authors but removed David Barton’s book due to Barton’s conservative ideas.
The politically correct theory fails when one considers there is no pattern, no other book which was removed. Thomas Nelson conducted an internal review and came to the same conclusion as many external critics. No amount historical revisionism by Barton and WND will change what happened.
Happily, there is an antidote to this revisionism.