Month: July 2016

K-LOVE First Promises Answer to Listener about Executive Compensation Then Fails to Follow Through

Back in May of this year, I published information about the finances of radio giant K-LOVE’s CEO and other executives. Several K-LOVE listeners who also read the blog thanked me for the information and also contacted K-LOVE to ask why the CEO made so much and why K-LOVE represented their financial picture as being precarious.

One couple, Bill and Sandra Ford, was promised a reply from K-LOVE. First, here is the Ford’s letter followed by K-LOVE’s reply.

From: Bill Ford [mailto:[email protected]]
TO: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, May 01, 2016 11:01 PM
To: K–LOVE
Subject: Mike Novak’s pay (K–LOVE Comments, General Questions)
Dear K–love,  I’m writing you today due to a recent discovery. I recently found out that Mike Novak’s compensation is over five hundred thousand dollars a year. This is completely inappropriate for a man who is paid by people sacrificially giving each month. How can you go on the radio during pledge drives and ask people to support the ministry when the president is making more money than many medical doctors?  For years my wife and I supported a Christian/Jewish ministry until we found out that the head/founder of they ministry makes over a million dollars a year-disgusting when you consider where you think your money is going, and where it is going in reality. Please pray about this.
Sincerely,
Bill Ford, RN

K-LOVE’s reply:

From: President – K–LOVE [email protected]

Date: May 3, 2016 at 3:10:59 PM PDT
To: “‘[email protected]'” <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Mike Novak’s pay (K–LOVE Comments, General Questions)
Dear Bill,

Thank you for reaching out with your concerns about the K–LOVE pledge drive and specifically the salary for our CEO. Due to the nature of your concerns, your email has been forwarded to the chairman of our board, Mr. Darrell Chambliss. He will be responding as quickly as he is able.

We do appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. Please let me know if you do not receive a response after two weeks. I do not know Mr. Chambliss’ schedule so am not sure what his time-table will be, but will follow-up if needed.
Have a blessed day!
Jill Graves
Correspondence Assistant to the President
K–LOVE Radio

Mr. Ford never heard from Ms. Graves or anyone from K-LOVE. Ford contacted me and gave me permission to approach K-LOVE with his correspondence. I told K-LOVE that I hoped they would answered Mr. Ford and that via the email I requested an on-the-record to his questions justifying the CEO’s compensation. Mr. Ford wrote a second time in June and I wrote to K-LOVE on June 30. To date, no one from K-LOVE has replied.
Mr. Ford told me that he is very dismayed with the stonewalling and is considering other giving options. I don’t blame him.

I predict that K-LOVE will not reply to these inquiries until major media attention comes their way. It now seems clear to me that K-LOVE’s leaders plan to avoid issues raised by listeners and will pursue business as usual as long as a majority of listeners allow it. If you feel so inclined as a K-LOVE listener, you can use the contact information above to contact the station with your questions.

GOP Platform Members: What Happened to Arms Help for Ukraine?

This WaPo article said Trump intervened in one issue during the week of putting together the GOP platform: Ukraine.
Specifically, the Trump camp did not want the platform to call for providing arms to Ukraine to defend themselves against Russian aggression.
Most conservatives want to help defend Ukraine. Why doesn’t Trump? Perhaps, his advisors and his own view of the world is that Putin isn’t a threat or that Ukraine isn’t our problem.
Ukraine watchers are worried and I believe Trump supporters among the committee should provide an explanation for their vote.

Eric Metaxas: I Just Love David Barton and His Work

Maybe because it is so hard to believe after all of the 2012 events, I post this to reinforce what I posted yesterday.


You remember 2012 right? American University prof and author Jay Richards recruited 10 Christian historians to read David Barton’s book on Thomas Jefferson (The Jefferson Lies, the one just recommended by Metaxas) and then read my book with Michael Coulter Getting Jefferson Right which was a response to Barton’s. Richards asked those scholars to render a verdict about the accuracy of the books and our book came out on top. Do you recall that Thomas Nelson heard from critics of Barton’s book and did their own review? Then after the review by the 10 scholars and the publisher, Thomas Nelson announced that it was pulling the book from the shelves due to historical inaccuracies. Remember that historian Thomas Kidd documented all of this for World magazine? All of that happened.
More recently, George Marsden rendered an opinion on Barton’s book versus ours and concluded that we exposed Barton’s “many inaccuracies.”
From the notes I am getting, Metaxas’ homage to Barton is surprising a lot of people.

Eric Metaxas Used David Barton's Work to Help Him Write His New Book "If You Can Keep It" (AUDIO)

Even though Eric Metaxas didn’t footnote him, he said on his radio show today that he used David Barton’s work to help him with history for his new book, If You Can Keep It. He lauded Barton’s historical work as helping him understand the Christian foundations of the nation.
This explains a lot, including his smug reaction to actual historians who have exposed the problems in his new book.  Barton didn’t spend much time trying to defend errors until his brand was threatened. Now that WorldNetDaily Press has republished his book The Jefferson Lies, Barton accuses his critics, including evangelical scholars, of being liberals.
At the end of the segment, Metaxas said he had critics in common with Barton and again seemed surprised that his work had been critiqued. Both Barton and Metaxas dismissed the critics as those who don’t like their conclusions about America. Metaxas said he took pride in the critiques but knew he was right. Listen:

I think many people will be surprised at homage Metaxas paid to Barton. Metaxas seemed genuinely impressed with what Barton had to say and with his work overall. This is amazing to me because quite a few distinguished Christian historians have been vocal and prolific in their negative assessment of Barton’s work. Metaxas claims his recent critics have nitpicked and written whole essays about minor things.
Barton chimed and said that his critics never tells readers to go read the entire context. This, of course, is a bold faced lie. At least in my critiques, I link to Barton’s sources and link to the primary sources so readers can make up their own minds.
At the end, setting aside publisher Thomas Nelson, scholar Jay Richards, and numerous Christian historians, Metaxas recommended Barton’s The Jefferson Lies to his audience.
For more on the controversy surrounding Metaxas’ new book, see the following sources:
John Fea’s series
Tracy McKensie’s blog
Gregg Frazer’s review
My article in the Daily Caller
My blog posts addressing the errors
The errors and problems pointed out via the above links are not minor. I challenge Eric Metaxas to invite one or more of us to discuss this with him on his show.
For more on David Barton’s The Jefferson Lies see this link.