Earlier today, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram published a story with a statement from Gateway Church confirming the staff reductions I reported on Tuesday. According to the statement from Lawrence Swicegood, executive director of Gateway Media, the church is going to “prune” staff to prepare for growth. I suppose that is one way to look at it, although I also suppose that the staff to be pruned might see it differently.
The Star-Telegram report said that the church planned to reduce staff by 10-15% but gave no time frame. My sources maintain that the plan is to eventually cut as many as one-third of 900 positions.
The Star-Telegram article may have misstated Gateway’s financial status for 2016. As I read the annual report, it appears that Gateway experienced a deficit. More about that in a future post.
To me, a curious note is that the Star-Telegram said the church confirmed the staff layoffs but did not say what initial report had been confirmed. You can read that report first published here on Tuesday.
Month: April 2017
Glenn Beck Wants Transparency at Mercury One; Here's How He Can Start
Today, on the second hour of his radio show, Glenn Beck spoke briefly about the charity he founded, Mercury One. Listen:
Transcript:
We’re just going through an audit and I said to, Mercury One, I want the toughest auditors you can possibly find. Now that’s Mercury One, I’m not even on the board of Mercury One but I went to the board and said, ‘you guys should have the toughest audit and I want to see every page ’cause I’m raising most of the money for you. I want to see every page. And if there’s something wrong, I want the audience to know. If there’s something right, I want the audience to know. I think they should publish it on the website. We have to be transparent in everything we do and that means you too.
The audit may be in part a reaction to my recent articles about changes at Mercury One. Mercury One changed their donation allocation policy to avoid designated funds. Now all donations go into a general fund which may be spent as the leadership decides.
An issue which may have raised the need for an audit is the question about what David Barton did with the $104,000 given to him by Mercury One while Barton served as board chairman. Mercury One gave Wallbuilders (Barton’s charity) $204,000 in 2014 and 2015 combined. The IRS 990 reporting form for one of those years said Barton used the funds to help people with “unforeseen disasters.” Historically, Wallbuilders has not been engaged in disaster relief.
On transparency, I have asked Mercury One several questions but there has been no response.
If Glenn Beck wants to be transparent, he could start by getting David Barton to acknowledge academic fraud. Over six months ago, Barton claimed on camera that he had an earned degree. As it turns out, the degree was given by a diploma mill.
He could also have Barton admit that he never played Division One NCAA basketball for Oral Roberts University.
If Beck really wants transparency, he could start with Mercury One’s chairman of the board.
Spring Pledge Drive: So Far K-LOVE is Just Asking for Money
It is Spring Pledge Drive time at K-LOVE, and so far, the Christian mega station is just asking for money.
During past campaigns, K-LOVE has used other non-profits to provide a misleading incentive to give. One year, donors were told a $40/month donation would trigger a the gift of a pair of shoes for a poor child. Another drive, the hook was a warm coat. However, as it turns out, those shoes and coats would have been given anyway.
So far this year, as far as I can tell, the pitch has not included a misleading marketing partnership. Watch:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8IFxh8x9Z8[/youtube]
Also, the K-LOVE website doesn’t mention a marketing partnership.
About the only gimmick I see is the contests for a vacation and an Apple prize pack. While it may be a little tacky, it isn’t dishonest. I assume someone will win those things.
While I continue to believe donors should carefully assess whether or not K-LOVE really needs pledge drive funds to remain on the air (as opposed to using them to expand), so far the station has avoided the troubling marketing gimmicks of past campaigns.
If you hear any changes, let me know…
Layoffs Coming to Gateway Church Amid Millions in Spending
The fourth largest church in America is in the midst of what has been called a “pruning.” According to sources in a position to know, Gateway Church is in the midst of gradually laying off one-third of current staff. According to sources who wish to remain anonymous to avoid repercussions, Gateway leaders are downplaying the layoffs, calling them a “healthy pruning.” Without referring to the downsizing, Gateway is offering a resume writing workshop to help to those who have been “laid off or fired.”
While the classes will no doubt be helpful, it is worth asking: Why does a church which took in over $127-million in revenues in 2016 need to lay off staff? Gateway’s annual report for 2016 is below:
First of all, it is worth noting that Gateway is a massive enterprise with a fund balance of over $155-million. At first glance, I have a hard time understanding why Gateway makes their youth group pay for their mid-week pizza snack and is downsizing operational staff. Gateway has not responded to my questions about the matter.
Curiously, Gateway reports $13,123,084 in “non-operating expenses.” Non-operating expenses refer to funds spent not in keeping with an organization’s mission. As a non-profit, Gateway is supposed to spend donor funds on mission related purposes. If the non-operating expenditures were shown as a deduction from the “revenue over expenses-operations” as was Gateway’s practice in prior years (e.g., 2015), the statements would show a combined spending in excess of revenues (a net loss) of $9,617,522. It appears that Gateway altered their presentation to make the loss less obvious to statement readers. While non-operating expenses can refer to interest payments and other permitted purposes, it is fair to ask why there is no description of these expenses which comprise just over 10% of 2016 revenues.
Possible Non-operating Expenditures
During 2016, Gateway’s founder and Lead Pastor Robert Morris was a vocal supporter of the GOP and now serves on Donald Trump’s advisory committee. Gateway Church helped sponsor a inaugural ball for Donald Trump which took the Morris’ away from their annual January churchwide fast. At the same time, Gateway Church began charging the youth group for their weekly pizza snack at meetings. While the youth group paid for their pizza, the Robert and Mrs. Morris were spending Gateway’s funds on a pricey inaugural gala. With Trump winning the presidency in November, it seems likely that some of those sponsorship funds would have been committed from 2016 revenues. Listen to Tony Perkins thank the sponsors of the gala which celebrated “the great victory.”
In September 2016, Gateway sponsored and hosted a Solemn Assembly of Christian right pastors to pray for the nation. Although the event was a downsized version of the original plan (75,000 pastors in Cowboy stadium), the promotional video makes it clear that the event sought political change through a religious event. Is any of this political activity in Gateway’s non-operating expenses?
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljR6pOifHoY[/youtube]
Via Glenn Beck and David Barton, Mercury One Declares War on Education
David Barton has been at war with higher education for many years. Glenn Beck gets involved from time to time but has decided to throw in with Barton’s war in a big way via his charity Mercury One. For $375, students (18-25 years old) can go to Mercury One and learn history from Barton and Beck. According to Beck, when it comes to having historical answers, “I guarantee you the professors in college will have the wrong answer.” Watch:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEsIu6qCPzc[/youtube]
According to the Mercury One website, students will be taught about the following topics:
- A Biblical Worldview
- The Truth in History
- America’s Godly Heritage
- Early Education in America
- How the Bible Influenced America
- American Exceptionalism
- God and the Constitution
- Reclaiming the Land
When I first began to examine Mercury One, I had respect for Beck’s willingness to use his platform to help rescue religious minorities from ISIS held territories. However, of late, Mercury One has shifted the focus of charitable work to education. Donations are no longer accepted strictly for rescue work. With Barton and Beck trying to expand Barton’s influence through miseducation, I can’t see any reason to donate to the organization.
For students thinking about attending the program, please consider the other skills you could learn during your stay at Mercury One.
- How to omit and add words to the founders to create politically useful quotes.
- How to misattribute pithy quotes to your favorite historical figure (Part one, Part two)
- How to omit pertinent historical facts from your presentations.
- How to turn fiction books into sources of historical facts.
- How to cite only the statistics you need to support your position.
- How to demonize people who point out your mistakes.
- How to cover your tracks when you make an error you don’t want to admit.
- How to make up stories to embellish your personal history (Part one, part two, part three)
- How to use diploma mills to give you an earned doctorate without doing any academic work.