Month: March 2016

In Hamilton Spectator Gospel for Asia Story, Canadian Director Contradicts GFA-US Executive

Steve Buist reporter for the Hamilton Spectator has written a major expose’ of Gospel for Asia. Published today, a shorter version will also appear in the Toronto paper tomorrow. The headquarters for GFA-Canada is in Hamilton so the story is a local and national one there.
In the story, GFA-Canada Director Pat Emerick denies one of the first claims told to me by GFA-US COO David Carroll. Emerick denied that Canadian donations had been lumped together with American donations:

“There has been no mingling of funds and field partners can absolutely account for the originating source of all deposits,” Emerick stated.

“All funds sent to the field have been accounted for separately in annual reports to the respective international boards as well as according to national accounting standards in the receiving countries,” Emerick stated.

He is not exactly answering the question. The fact is that Canadian funds were not reported to the Indian Home Ministry as coming from Canada. In May 2015, Carroll told me that Canadian funds were lumped in with American funds. He said there was no requirement for them to be reported separately.

The Canadian funds were combined with U.S. funds by our auditor in India for various accounting reasons. There is no requirement that they be reported separately.

Buist’s assessment is that the funds were combined without proper reporting.

Meanwhile, Gospel for Asia officials in the U.S. told an American evangelical financial accountability group last summer the charity didn’t exert any control over its Indian affiliates and how they spend the money.

Taken together, it means Canadian donations were lumped in with the American donations sent to India but the American charity didn’t exercise any control over the Indian affiliates receiving the money.

This would appear to be in violation of the CRA’s rules that state the Canadian charity must maintain control and direction of its donations and be able to account for how they have been spent, even when done through an intermediary.

Buist covers the waterfront and cites Bruce Morrison and me on a variety of financial matters. The entire class action suit is embedded online.
Readers of this blog will recognize much of the facts but Buist does a very fine job of weaving it all together in one place.

K.P. Yohannan Meets With Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Donates $150k to Ganga Clean Up Project

Yes, indeed. K.P. Yohannan, defendent in a RICO lawsuit and leader of a charity found to be in violation of federal law, met with the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi earlier this week.
primeministerKP
I suspect PM Modi is projecting an accepting of all faiths, which is of course, a good thing. However, I wonder if he realizes that Yohannan’s organization has lost membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, the Independent Charities of America, the National Religious Broadcasters and was forbidden from soliciting donations from federal government employees.
One reason for the meeting was for Yohannan to donate $150k to the “Ganga cleanliness campaign.”

Dr. K. P. Yohannan, Metropolitan Bishop of Believers Church, Kerala along with a delegation called on Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, today. Dr. Yohannan donated Rs. 1 crore towards Ganga cleanliness campaign. Prof. P.J. Kurien, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha was also present on the occasion.

I wonder where the $150,000 came from.
You can read more about the Ganga project here.

The aims and objectives of NMCG is to accomplish the mandate of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) of
1.To ensure effective abatement of pollution and rejuvenation of the river Ganga by adopting a river basin approach to promote inter-sectoral co-ordination for comprehensive planning and management and
2.To maintain minimum ecological flows in the river Ganga with the aim of ensuring water quality and environmentally sustainable development.

The twitter crowd doesn’t appear to be glowing in praise of Modi for the meeting.\

Tullian Tchividjian's Liberate Network Dissolves and Cancels 2017 Conference

I just received this from a Liberate Network board member:

The remaining board members of the recently launched Liberate Network have decided to cancel the 2017 Liberate Conference and dissolve the organization. Those that had registered for the conference will be issued full refunds.
We’d like to thank those that have stood alongside Liberate in championing the message of ‘God’s inexhaustible grace for an exhausted world.’ However it is in the best interest of that very message—which is bigger than any network and any man—for Liberate to come to an end.
– Board of Directors Liberate Network, Inc.

This decision follows the actions of Willow Creek Presbyterian Church to terminate Tullian Tchividjian’s employment after new allegations surfaced earlier this week. Five of the nine Liberate Network board members had already resigned.

Can You Get Your Money Back From Gospel for Asia?

Wills Point GFA Chapel
GFA’s Chapel in Wills Point, TX, source: HH Architects website

One former donor to Gospel for Asia has been so concerned about being a good steward that the donor tried to get payment stopped on a credit card used to send payments to GFA. It appears that the card company has been challenging GFA over those charges.
The donor does not want to be identified but has provided evidence of the charges.
The donor disputed the last three charges to the card and this week was credited for one month’s charges. The card company is still disputing the other charges.
According to my source,  a representative at the company said GFA did not provide documentation to verify that funds were used for the designated purpose. Instead, GFA gave the card company a letter sent to the card holder in 2014. The letter reminded the card holder that a recurrent payment had been set up to support GFA causes.
The representative told my source that a second disputed case had been filed by another donor against GFA this week.