I think TBN 'needs' another boat

Sure you get a fancy dancy picture frame for you hundred plus dollar donation, but does it really go to support ministry? Looks like you might have just bought a really expensive picture frame, and helped Mr. & Mrs. Crouch buy a brand new boat.

"• TBN refuses to release consolidated audited financial statements.
• TBN spends shockingly little on its charitable programs. TBN’s 2003 program expenses are extremely low at 43 percent,
when compared to the MinistryWatch.com database average at about 78 percent. Additionally, TBN’s 2003 savings rate is
high at about 39 percent compared to the MinistryWatch.com database average of around zero.
• TBN presently has cash and short term investments of $341 million. This represents money that could be deployed into
ministry work but instead is sitting idle on the ministry’s balance sheet. Meanwhile, the ministry continues to implore donors
to give it even more money.
• TBN executives Paul and Jan Crouch espouse a skewed view of the Gospel, embracing the “health and wealth” or
“prosperity” theology, often portraying an unorthodox accounting of the life and teachings of Jesus.
• Mr. Crouch and his family live a life of luxury, the full extent of which remains unknown. The Crouches refusal to be
transparent raises questions as to whether their exorbitant lifestyle is financed by the sacrificial giving of well-meaning donors.
• Matthew Crouch, son of Paul and Jan Crouch, controls a for-profit company that has received approximately $32 million
from TBN corporations during the past five years to produce movies such as “The Omega Code.” Due to a lack of transparency,
donors are unable to determine if this was a sensible use of their money or what amount of compensation Matthew
Crouch and/or others closely aligned with the Crouch family may have taken from this and possibly other related party
transactions.
• TBN’s board of directors is made up of just three Crouch family members, preventing independent oversight needed to
protect donor interests and in contrast to the best practices utilized by many other excellent ministries.
• A former employee, Kelly Whitmore, said that ministry funds were used to indulge the personal tastes of the Crouch couple.
• At least one television station has dropped TBN from its lineup after viewers complained that their promised blessings
never occurred.
• In 1998, a former TBN employee, Enoch Lonnie Ford, was paid $425,000 for agreeing not to publicize Mr. Ford’s allegations
that he and TBN founder Paul Crouch had a homosexual tryst two years earlier.
• TBN vigorously worked to keep the information regarding the settlement with Mr. Ford private and questions remain regarding
the source of those funds." - MWDA_031805_TBN.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Tags: TBN Crouch fraud