David Carroll – Page 15 – Warren Throckmorton

Questions About Gospel for Asia's Use of Donations for Leprosy Care on World Leprosy Day

Today is World Leprosy Day.
Last week, Gospel for Asia issued a press release claiming to help thousands of leprosy sufferers.

WILLS POINT, Texas, Jan. 28, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ — Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported missionaries and workers will reach out with food, clothing and medical aid on Jan. 31, World Leprosy Day, to more than 4,000 sufferers in 63 leprosy colonies, highlighting the plight of those suffering from this brutal, but highly treatable disease.

GFA’s track record in recent years does not inspire confidence that funds donated for leprosy care will get to the victims of this dreaded disease.
According to GFA’s project giving reports for 2011-2013, donors have given $284,528 designated for leprosy ministry. However, only $36,600 has been reported on Indian government forms as being received in India during the same period. On the FC-6 form, a specific line item exists for reporting foreign donations given to assist with leprosy treatment and outreach. Only about 13% of gifts designated by donors to GFA in the United States was reported as received by GFA’s field partners in India.
Due to giving in prior years, GFA had amassed a balance of nearly $400,000 in an account to help leprosy treatment as of March 31, 2014. Using funds from that account along with a small amount of the actual donations, GFA reported spending of just over $180,000 on leprosy care from 2011-2013. That is still over $100,000 less than donors gave. As with other needs, GFA has built up a balance in this account for reasons they have not disclosed. Even while GFA continues to solicit donations, organization leaders have significant funds waiting to be used in keeping with donor intent.

K.P. Yohannan Will Not Speak at Downline Missions Conference; Still on GMMA 2016 Conference Schedule

Yesterday, I posted a link to a Memphis missions conference which featured Gospel for Asia’s K.P. Yohannan as a speaker. Today, I have learned that the Downline Summit conference director is now telling people who ask that Yohannan and the organizers have agreed Yohannan will not appear. A trip to the conference website fails to find Yohannan’s picture or any references to GFA.
Still on GMMA 2016 Schedule
Another organization which has not decided what to do with K.P. Yohannan is the Global Medical Missions Alliance. Yohannan is slated to speak at their 2016 conference. Recently, Joy Kim, representing GMMA, told me that the GMMA board has been deliberating about Yohannan’s role at the Irvine conference in late June.

Indian Government Reverses Course, Says Gospel for Asia's Land Use Was Illegal

In November 2015, I wrote about a special deal Gospel for Asia got from the Indian government. GFA essentially violated wetlands regulations by re-routing a stream and filling in wetlands as a part of the construction of the Believers’ Church Medical College. However, in November of last year, the Times of India reported that the government planned to let the violations slide.
But then, on January 22, the Times of India reported that the federal government reversed the decision:

An order issued by principal secretary (revenue) Viswas Mehta on January 14, accessed by TOI, says the earlier order issued on March 17, 2015 on the basis of a cabinet decision – ratifying the land filling and diversion of a natural stream in the area -has been cancelled after the high court intervened in the matter.
The cabinet note of March 11, 2015, also accessed by TOI, said the illegal filling, though violating the Kerala Land Use Act, could be regularized by considering it as a special case.

The allegation is that GFA willfully violated the law by reclaiming land that was protected by Indian law.

Gospel for Asia's CEO K.P. Yohannan to Headline Memphis Missions Conference

Apparently, the Metropolitan will return to the United States for a missions conference in February. K.P. Yohannan is scheduled to speak at the Downline Summit which takes place at Hope Church in Memphis, Feb. 5-6.
Yohannan’s organization hasn’t had the best year since April 2015. Gospel for Asia lost their membership with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, was denied membership in the Independent Charities of America, was sanctioned to greatest extent possible by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for violations of federal guidelines, was reported to the Canadian authorities for violation of GFA’s Canadian by-laws, and may be investigated by the U.K. Charity Commission, among other problems.

U.K. Charity Commission Considering Probe of Gospel for Asia

The Gospel for Asia rumbles have reached across the pond.
Earlier today, the Civil Society News reported that a Charity Commission spokesperson told them that “The Charity Commission is assessing the information provided to see what role there is for the Commission.”
The article referred to reports from this blog and Christianity Today as playing a role in the assessment.
The UK board is much like other boards. K.P. Yohannan and his son sit on the board with two others. The independent members could easily be stalled by K.P. and his son’s contrary votes.