Once upon a time Prestonwood Baptist Church’s lead pastor Jack Graham endorsed K.P. Yohannan and Gospel for Asia. Now those endorsement pics and videos are missing. Other pastors who came to GFA via Graham (e.g., Rob Wilton) also are missing.
The current page is here.
As of about week ago, the bottom of the page looked like this:
Prestonwood Baptist Church has not responded to requests for comment about their current stance toward GFA.
Category: David Carroll
Gospel for Asia No Longer Member of National Religious Broadcasters; K.P. Yohannan No Longer on NRB Board
Acting on a tip, I contacted the National Religious Broadcasters to ask if Gospel for Asia had been dropped from membership in the organization. I also asked if K.P. Yohannan was still a part of the 2018 board class.
Spokesman Kenneth Chan provided the following statement:
GFA is no longer a member of NRB. That part of the website was outdated and now fixed.
Mr. Chan provided no answer to my question about why GFA isn’t a member.
At one time, the organization was a member and Yohannan was a member of the 2018 board class which means he was just re-elected in 2015 and was slated to serve until 2018. He had also been a member of the board class of 2015.
The member profile is still on the NRB website, but a link to it is missing in the directory of organizations.
Although no reason was given, and GFA did not respond to an inquiry, it seems obvious that the move is most likely in response to the ongoing scandal enveloping the second largest mission group in the nation.
Indian Media Taking Up the Gospel for Asia Scandal
Slowly but surely, the Indian press is taking a look at the Gospel for Asia scandal. I have been contacted in the past week by an Indian journalist for information. Various stories have appeared on Indian websites. For instance, see below:
Matters India: Indian Pentecostal leader accused of misdirecting donations
UCANews (Catholic news): Indian-American charged with running fraudulent charity
American Bazaar (American website devoted to Indian news): Indian-American Missionary Accused of Funneling Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for Personal Use
Readers may leave additional links in the comments.
Update to the Gospel for Asia Fraud Lawsuit – Why Are Board Directors Not Named as Defendants?
After I read the lawsuit against Gospel for Asia, I asked the lawyers bringing the suit why Board directors were not included as defendants.
In response, Martin Woodward of Stanley Law Group told me:
Defendants may be added or removed throughout the litigation of a case based on the available information.
Understandably, those bringing the suit do not want to signal their moves. My guess is that the process of discovery will reveal information which could lead to additional defendants. On that point, I am wondering if board members who knew K.P. Y0hannan altered Gayle Erwin’s report on the GFA diaspora might find themselves added to the suit.
Board members have a fiduciary responsibility to see that the organization operates ethically and in keeping with laws. Even so, Erwin pulled back the curtain and let the public know that much of what was happening was not known by the board of directors. Given what Erwin revealed, it is certainly possible that the author of the recent board statement did not actually come from the board.
The Daily Beast Examines the Gospel for Asia Lawsuit
The Beast gets a quote from the former UK GFA director.
Check out this Daily Beast article on the GFA lawsuit.