Month: March 2016

Gospel for Asia Defendants Request Extension to Prepare Response to RICO Suit

Gospel for Asia defendants K.P. Yohannan, Gisela Yohannan, Daniel Punnose, David Carroll, and Pat Emerick have requested until May 9, 2016 to respond to the RICO lawsuit filed on behalf of former GFA donors Matthew and Jennifer Dickson.
In February, the Dicksons filed a racketeering suit against the leadership of Gospel for Asia alleging misuse of funds and fraud (click link for the suit and more information).
 
GFAExtCourt
The entire document is here.
UPDATE: Although the defense requested 60 days to prepare a response, the judge shortened the period to end April 15. In exchange for the extension, the defense agreed to accept service on the suit on behalf of K.P. Yohannan who apparently is still out of the country. GFA’s defendants are being represented by Locke Lord, a prominent law firm in Dallas.
The Order on Motion for Extension of Time to Answer is below:
40 day ext Dickson v GFA
 

Mark Driscoll’s The Trinity Church Holds Open House Amid Protest

Four protesters and at least one news crew greeted Mark Driscoll’s debut in Phoenix on Sunday evening.

According to one protester, the police arrived to tell the picketers that the sidewalk was public property. On person on the scene estimated that about 40 cars were in the parking lot about 15 minutes before the service, some with Washington plates. Another thought more like 70 cars were in the lot by the beginning of the service.

Bob Sluys and Skip Rohl; source Bob Sluys
Bob Sluys and Skip Rohl; source Bob Sluys

Driscoll was interviewed by Jeff Van Sant at KPHO/KTVK – Phoenix. According to a report filed by Jeff Van Sant, Driscoll denied the charges in the RICO lawsuit.

Here is Van Sant’s report:
azfamily.com 3TV | Phoenix Breaking News, Weather, Sport

Driscoll says he has not been served the lawsuit. Then he says the charges are false and malicious. If he doesn’t know anything about it then how can he say anything about the nature of the charges. We know that the church used Result Source to prop up his book. He admitted that and stopped using the description of bestselling author because the scheme was made public. Furthermore, it is well documented that Mars Hill lawyers warned Sutton Turner against revealing how much of the Global Fund went to international mission work.

Gospel for Asia Brags About Supplying a Drop of Water in New Delhi's Beleaguered Bucket

Gospel for Asia has been on a roll with press releases claiming to help India’s poor. The most recent one touts their efforts to ease a water crisis in the state of Delhi. The crisis has been exacerbated by political protests.

Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers delivered nearly 4,000 gallons of water this week on World Water Day (March 22) to stricken residents of three areas in Delhi, hard-hit by a disruption in the city’s main supply source caused by a political protest.
Water was distributed to more than 1,000 people in three Delhi neighborhoods, with each household receiving two to 13 gallons. Residents there have suffered from severe water shortages, requiring residents to buy water daily until recently.

Perhaps 4,000 gallons sounds like a lot, but it is just a drop in a very large bucket.
According to a CNN report, it would take millions of gallons to make an impact.

As of Tuesday evening, the government had restored 80 million of the 580 million gallons that flow from the damaged canal daily. It is not clear when Delhi’s water supply will return to normal.

It costs about a dollar a gallon for commercially available bottled water in Delhi, so GFA’s big investment in the water crisis could have cost them a little over $4000.00 at most.
However, it was probably much less than that. According to the press release, GFA used tankers to bring in the water.

“We sent in tanker trucks to help those with life-threatening needs,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder and international director of GFA.

In 2012, one could rent a tanker which carries about the same amount of water GFA gave away for around $30. The same amount in the Fall of 2015 might go for as high as $50. The most recent source I found (last month) said tanker trucks providing the amount described by the press release could be secured for just over $60 (4000 rupees for 12000 liters).
Given the source of the press release, it probably took more money to pay for the publication of the release than it took to provide the water.
Even if the cost was around $4000, that is about 4 times what little Sayaan Ali needed to get life saving medical care and a whole lot less than the $74 million sitting in Indian banks from foreign contributors.