Today’s Times of India reports that Gospel for Asia/Believers’ Church received special permission to violate Indian law regarding treatment of wetlands. According to the report, Kerala’s state cabinet overruled objections by revenue officials to the conversion of wetlands for use by the Believers Church Medical College, a project of Gospel for Asia in Thiruvalla. According the TOI, “The cabinet has regularized the group’s land filling, citing it as a “special case” and thereby violating the Kerala Land Utilization Order. “
Please click through the link to read the report. Five points stand out.
1. It doesn’t appear that the Christian nature of the Believers Church Medical College is prompting state persecution of Believers Church or Gospel for Asia as GFA leaders often claim. This appears to be a sweet deal for Believers Church. They can use land the local authorities want for wetlands for their for-profit hospital and medical college. They also avoid the cost of correcting their illegal use of 3.77 acres.
2. According to this report, the local government gave permission for filling the land suitable for building a medical college in 2003. The empire building in India goes back a long way. Donors outside of Indian might well wonder where the funds came from in order fill the lands and construct a state of the art medical college and hospital.
3. If this report is accurate, GFA in India illegally diverted a stream and filled in 3.77 acres of land. This illegal action doesn’t square well with repeated claims by GFA leaders that their actions on the field are legal. It cannot help the overall purpose of Christian missions to conduct affairs illegally and then fail to correct the matter.
4. If I understand the TOI report, this matter may not be over. The TOI reporter makes the case that the state cabinet action violates a ruling of the Supreme Court. Although I am not sure who would lead the charge, there may be a challenge to the cabinet’s decision.
5. GFA in India is said by this report to be under Believers’ Church. Unknown to many donors, the real destination for millions of donor dollars has been Believers’ Church in India with their for profit schools, medical centers and rubber plantation. No doubt the pursuit of this matter involved lawyers and much time and money. It is past time for GFA to come clean about their finances, not just here, but around the world.
Category: Francis Chan
Gospel for Asia Issues Threats and Demands Removal of Staff Meeting Audio
Yesterday afternoon, I received word from the management of Patheos that lawyers for Gospel for Asia demanded the removal of posts with audio of the May 14, 2015 staff meeting in Wills Point, TX. They also wanted the picture of David Carroll in priestly garb sprinkling water around the Wills Point building site taken down.
The following posts were targeted by GFA:
Gospel for Asia’s President K.P. Yohannan and Indian Courts Seem to Disagree about His Status with Indian Charities
Believers Church in India Gave Nearly 20 Million to Help Gospel for Asia’s New Office Complex
Gospel for Asia Leaders Tell Staff Cash Carrying is Legal but They Won’t Do It Anymore
What is This Gospel for Asia Priest Doing? (Image replaced with a link to the image – the image was freely available to GFA staff)
All but one of these posts contain audio from the May 14, 2015 staff meeting where GFA leaders (David Carroll, John Beers, Danny Punnoose and K.P. Yohannan) answered questions from staff about various staff concerns and problems. This meeting was supposed to put to rest many of these questions, but in the long run more questions and problems have come up. GFA leaders are willing to pay lawyers to threaten lawsuits but they are not willing to publicly address the concerns and allegations of former staff and former donors.
Patheos management and I decided remove their sail from the wind in that I have now linked to the audio hosted elsewhere. I see no reason for GFA to harass Patheos with frivolous demands when the use of these materials is fair use of material for the purpose of providing commentary on the practices of GFA. I was provided the audio by a former staff member at GFA. The staff meeting was attended by the entire staff of GFA and was supposed to provide answers to public controversies. Now, GFA does not want you to hear their answers. Despite GFA’s heavy handed effort at intimidation, readers can still get the facts by going to these posts and following the links to the audio.
This is an incredible and I think foolish move on the part of GFA leaders. They are now making a direct attempt to cover up their own statements. This information has been in the public ear for weeks. We can hear them making their claims in their own words. When the information is available like this, I cannot be accused of taking material out of context or providing false information. So now, they want to remove these facts from the public consciousness.
Since 100% of donations to GFA are supposed to go to the field, I wonder where the funds come from to pay lawyers to threaten legal action. Perhaps GFA leaders believe attorneys’ fees are where donor funds are most needed.
Gospel for Asia is a non-profit organization. As such, GFA has a responsibility to operate in the public interest. Covering up information which allows donors insight into the actual workings and claims of the organization is the not the action of an organization operating in the public interest. From a religious point of view, they are walking in darkness and want to keep the rest of us in darkness as well.
I do not intend to allow GFA’s threats and intimidation to silence the facts. There is more to come.
Open Letter to Operation Mobilization Founder George Verwer from Terry Jones about Gospel for Asia and K.P. Yohannan
Gospel for Asia has a long history, having been founded by K.P. Yohannan in 1978. Terrol (Terry) Jones is a missions advocate who served at GFA from 1984 through 1993. Jones recently wrote a letter to George Verwer, an endorser of GFA and the man who has served as a lifelong mentor to GFA founder and director K.P. Yohannan. Verwer is also the founder of Operation Mobilization. In this email which was addressed to Verwer and several others, Jones calls on Verwer to remove his endorsement of GFA. Jones also addressed the letter more widely to the body of Christ.
It is hard to put into perspective how disheartening GFA’s public fall has been to long time mission watchers and leaders. When a person like Terry Jones comes forward with a public call like this, the situation is grave.
November 8, 2015
To George Verwer and the Body of Christ:
Thank you George for receiving me and my Sri Lankan ministry friends into your personal cabin and then for the privilege of sitting with you up front. Thank you also for the gift of your new book, More Drops. I have read the last part three times- Messiology. Thanks again for writing the Foreword to my book.
Having lived a composite of 9 years in India and Sri Lanka which includes innumerable ministry trips of up to three months and the wonderful experience of having our two sons born in Sri Lanka, I am very aware of the “messy” situations in missions. Still the Lord is doing some wonderful things in South Asia. I certainly do not have an “idealistic view” as you mentioned in your book nor an inclination for perfectionism. We need “radical grace” as you say, but that must not give way to “cheap grace”.Your message on the Logos hit home. It was a privilege to see my former student at Lanka Bible College interpret your words into Sinhala. What a joy also to see many of my ministry friends sitting right on the front row. You do not mince words and you are transparent about your own struggles. We are all miracles in the making, becoming more Christ-like from one degree of glory to another.
I videoed part of your message and intend to get the entire series which you delivered at the Pastors and Leaders Conference on Logos-Hope ship. Your statement about integrity in finances especially stuck in my mind: “If you have received money to buy three chickens and spent it on something else, then confess it to the donor and get yourself right.” Make amends!
Unfortunately, when it comes to K P Yohannan and GFA/Believers Church it is a matter of mega millions of dollars, a massive difference. I worked with K P for 9 years as Church Coordinator developing relationships with churches from 84-93. I traveled with him to California and met with Chuck Smith. He sent me to places like Alaska to spread the word of native missions. The initial copy of Revolution in Missions includes a photo of our small staff including me. I think we had only four or five full-time staff at that time.
In 1993 while still with GFA I returned to India with my family to see how we were doing. What I discovered caused me to resign. KP decided that the “work was not being done” as he thought it should be. Instead of supporting, encouraging, equipping and training missionary/church planters, he would start his own church. The wonderful testimonies of brother and sisters we used to publicize GFA and create a high degree of integrity, these people would now be discarded. This radical change went almost unnoticed by western constituency. However it caused great confusion and division on the field. I saw the results first hand.
In Bihar I spoke at the GFA training center. There were about 50 students. I asked how many were converted to Christ through a GFA evangelistic team. Two or three raised their hand. The rest were sent in good faith for training by their home church, Assemblies of God etc. I later got a report from Lalachen, one of KP’s Kerala friends, reporting that all 50 students were being sent out to start KP’s new Believers Churches.
I visited our friend in Nagaland, the late Vito Chu. He founded Christ For the Nations of Nagaland connected with CFNI in Dallas, Texas. KP asked him to change the name of his school to GFA training school and he would continue to support the work. He refused and GFA went 7 km down the road and started his own school. This I am told folded after sometime. Not sure if GFA still owns land there or just rented. This happened all over India at this time.
In Sri Lanka I helped GFA connect to groups who were doing pioneer church planting. KP assured pastors that he had no intention of starting his churches, just extend the kingdom of God. He lied! The GFA Bible training school took students from anyone and every where and shifted them to start Believer’s Churches. Lal Vanderwal used to teach at Lanka Bible College but KP made him a Bishop and now receives a good salary but, of course, not at all comparable to the huge amount paid to His Imminence with all expenses paid, reported to be $120,000 in 2007 according to one of his staff. Does his wife Gisela receive a big salary also? His son Danny also? The common BC priest gets a comparable pittance.
When I returned to the States I met personally with KP in his office and told him he was in danger of self deception. He said, “If you have the money you have the power.” He was completely defiant and determined to continue in deception. What he was projecting in the States and the West was not the reality of things in South Asia. He was apprehensive that I would speak negatively to his growing staff but we decided to leave quietly and return to Sri Lanka where I taught at Lanka Bible College. He rejected my observations and, I assumed, that the Board also rejected my accusation of “deliberate deception”.
Instead of receiving correction, KP expanded his deception and took on more and more staff. He had found his groove as a missionary entrepreneur. Was God blessing his deception? Money was certainly flowing in. Many good, loving, dedicated and committed people joined the staff thinking they were serving the benevolent image KP had created. But it was a mirage.
The GFA Diaspora, former staff, must understand now that they worked in good faith for the Lord, not KP’s Kerala Kingdom of which he is the King.
George, must we wait for a secular court to prove that KP has deliberately deceived people out of millions of dollars? Board members, whom I personally know, have resigned because they know KP has deliberately deceived people encouraging them to give for various benevolent causes while lining the Believers Church coffers with mega millions. Nearly $20 million was sent back to build his headquarters in Wills Point, Texas. The deception is so massive that one could say “you can not see the trees for the forest.”
George, I strongly urge you to withdraw your endorsement of KP and GFA/Believers Church if, indeed, you still publicly endorse him. Money given for three chickens is minuscule in comparison to this massive deliberate deception. Others have withdrawn their endorsement including former board member Skip Heitzig. Radical grace must not become cheap grace!
Following Matthew 18, I went to KP personally in 1993. He was obstinate and even became more deceptive. A few years later I called for KP to come to Secunderabad to meet with me, Ray Eicher, Divakaran and another brother from OM. He came. We met at the OM center and tried to show KP that he was deceptive but we were loving, not condemning. He was unmoved. Intransigent!! Now, I submit this to you, George, as a representative of the Body of Christ in it’s manifold form and to others receiving this e-mail.
So far KP and the ruling staff/board have shown no inclination to repent of their deception or even acknowledge culpability except for a very weak admittance of human fragility and fault of which we are all guilty. Instead, they have practiced diversionary tactics even avoiding “facing the facts”. If KP continues in this unrepentant manner, we of the Body Of Christ have no other option than to consider him and his decision makers as heathens and entrepreneurial tax collectors. Matthew18:17. This is the true Biblical shunning, not what GFA leaders and other staff practiced against staff who questioned the status quo.
This is submitted to you George and the Body of Christ in hope that KP will turn from his corruptive practices and truly walk in the light as Jesus Christ, the light of the world, not in mixture, good and evil light and darkness, which has been Satan’s way from the beginning. He always deals in mixture and deception. KP and ruling staff need to come clean.
If they do not repent, should Believer’s Church bishops and priests continue to dress in cassocks that have originated from the deception of His Imminence? What should the believers in these churches do? Where can they go? If the very foundation of Believers Church is deception and now the power is the money power that KP lusted for, what shall these believers in Jesus do? Still Jesus is building His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I hope they will disrobe, trust God and Jesus our Lord, and disassociate with KP unless he truly does turn from his deliberate deception and mixture of light and darkness.
Humbly submitted to the Body in hope,
Brother Terrol (Terry) Jones in Sri Lanka
Terry Jones became a Christian while he was a sophomore at Tulsa University through the witness of a Campus Crusade for Christ staff member. He was graduated from TU and Asbury Theological Seminary. Terry served 15 years in United Methodist Churches and non-denominational churches. He worked with Operation Mobilization for two years in India and has lived a composite of 9 years in Sri Lanka and India. He married Pattie in 1980 and they moved to Sri Lanka where he taught at Lanka Bible College eventually for 5 years. From 1984 through part of 1993 he worked with K.P. Yohannan and Gospel For Asia as Church Coordinator establishing relationship with churches throughout North America. He and Pattie are still very much involved with national missionaries in India and Sri Lanka especially, traveling there at least twice a year for a month at a time.
As always, I call on GFA leaders to respond and provide answers to the growing list of concerns which have surfaced over the past two years.
K.P. Yohannan Attempts to Do Calvary Chapel Damage Control
Last night Phoenix Preacher published a letter to Calvary Chapel pastors from Gospel for Asia CEO and International Director K.P. Yohannan. I am not sure if it went to all CC pastors or just those who have had dealings with GFA in the past. I did get confirmation from multiple sources that the email message went to multiple Calvary Chapels around the country.
Calvary Chapels, a movement associated with the late Chuck Smith, are especially important because so many of them support GFA. If you Google Calvary Chapel and GFA, you’ll find well over 100 CCs which support GFA in some fashion. I am still surveying CC pastors and attenders at this link. I have 53 responses as of now but would like a few more before I go with the results. Currently, most respondents are dropping support or never supported in the first place and are not inclined to start. Yohannan’s letter appears to be a response to growing unrest among CC pastors and congregations about the integrity of GFA.
Michael Newnham at Phoenix Preacher commented on one aspect of the letter and I encourage readers to examine his comments about Yohannan’s treatment of former GFA staff. I will extend those remarks here.
Below is the email with my comments and questions for Yohannan added. The entire email without comments is provided at the end of the post.
Dear Pastor ———-,
Greetings to you. I am grateful to God for the relationship He’s given us over the many years. I appreciate your heart to reach the lost world with us, and this is why I am writing to you today.
For the past several days, I have been ministering to around 15,000 believers who have been savagely persecuted and ostracized for their faith in Christ. These meetings were arranged well over a year ago and some believers traveled for days just to get to the conference location. Even with much happening in the US office at this time, I couldn’t cancel this trip and let them down.
This sounds like quite a conference. I am surprised that a gathering of 15,000 persecuted believers didn’t merit an article in Christianity Today or the Christian Post or some other Christian publication, especially with the Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church coming up. I would sure like to know more about that meeting.
Even if everything Yohannan says here about a conference is true, that does not explain his silence before and just after October 2 when the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability terminated GFA’s membership. The allegations rocking GFA have been public for months.
Most of you are now aware that ECFA recently terminated our 36-year membership with them. I know, reasonably so, that this has caused great concern and raised questions about the integrity of Gospel for Asia and the handling of our financial matters. ECFA affirmed the funds given to the ministry were accounted for. We have honored our sponsors and donors designations. There were some processes and standards for ministry where we fell short of their standards. During the review process, which we are very grateful for, each time ECFA pointed out something that they felt we could improve on, we took it seriously and began to implement changes without delay.
Yohannan says that ECFA affirmed that “funds given to the ministry were accounted for.” This claim is not enough. At least $90 million from 2012-2013 is unaccounted for in public records in India. Does the ECFA and GFA expect the public to simply take GFA’s word for it? Without some explanation, this isn’t enough for me,and it shouldn’t be enough for donors.
What is not explained by Yohannan is why the ECFA board voted GFA off the island. If GFA did everything ECFA recommended, then why terminate the membership? Active termination of ECFA membership has only happened one other time since 2013. It is serious and requires explanation. Yohannan’s letter suggests that ECFA kicked GFA out even after GFA complied with ECFA suggestions. That is a big stretch and requires evidence. For starters, GFA should release the ECFA report.
In retrospect, we realize that we have should have sought experienced outside counsel at times to help us in dealing with the complexities that come with a ministry of our size. To strengthen our ministry and further improve our processes, we are working hard toward becoming eligible to re-apply for ECFA. GFA’s eight board members are standing strong and aiding the ministry in these matters.
Without some disclosure of what ECFA objected to, reinstatement to membership will erode ECFA’s credibility without doing a thing to build GFA’s status. GFA could really take a step in the right direction by releasing the ECFA report with a stated plan for how the board and leaders plan to correct the problems.
It is surreal to read Yohannan’s affirmation of his board when three Calvary Chapel associated board members (Gayle Erwin, Skip Heitzig, and Damian Kyle) just resigned. In Erwin’s opinion, Yohannan kept the board in the dark about important issues including the related party transaction of $20 million from India to the U.S. for home office construction expenses in 2013. Yohannan ignores the fact that three board members just resigned with one of them accusing the CEO of misconduct.
Furthermore, if his board is standing strong, where are they? Why haven’t they stepped up in public to offer full-throated support? A first step would be for GFA to identify those that remain.
One question which raised concerns is in regard to the kind of church structure on the mission field. The structure (which is explained here: gfa.org/bc/about, is the result of God’s leading in the lives over 100 of our senior leaders in Asia, including myself. About ten years ago, after much prayer and fasting, the decision was made to register Believers Church with the Asian governments in order to gain the protection offered over the assets and work that many of you invested in, and that our missionaries and pastors here have given sacrificially to establish. For the sake of the Lord’s work and by His leading, our leaders on the field chose a form of church structure that is accepted by the government known as “constitutional episcopacy” (this is not the same as an Episcopal church, instead it is the governance of the church), which means the church is led by episkopos (bishops) (1 Timothy 3:1-2) and presbyteros (elders) (Acts 14:23). In order for any pastor to legally conduct weddings and other legal matters for the church, each one must be licensed by the Magistrate from the judicial system, or be ordained by a bishop of a church within constitutional episcopacy.
Other churches operate in India without this structure. Regarding weddings, there is reason to question Yohannan’s statements. Christian and Hindu weddings are governed by different laws in India. According to the sources I have consulted (Indian embassy, and Indian government, see the links), no religious ceremonies are required and the legal aspects of marriage is handled by a Wedding Officer (link, link, link). In other words, religious ceremonies may be performed, but the legal recognition of a marriage is a civil matter.
On the governance of Believers’ Church, one should consult the Constitution of the church which places K.P. Yohannan on the throne. Contrary to what he told his staff (he said he has no legal authority), Yohannan is on all church boards and is the final administrative and religious authority.
Also, just so you know, the practice of ring kissing has not been taught or encouraged in Believers Church. The video of the pastor’s ordination being circulated about me does not show people kissing my ring, but rather them kneeling down to be prayed for and then touching my hand to their forehead, which is a very common cultural gesture of respect in India. I myself have done this many times.
One must see the video below and match it up with Yohannan’s description:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfHoh6xMEkM[/youtube]
Cody Carnine, former co-Director of Development at GFA told me, “It is interesting that KP continues to deny that kissing his ring was not practiced. Some people actually left Believers Church on the mission field because they could not in clear conscience take part in the ring kissing ceremony. I understand that ring kissing is not currently practiced by Believers Church but there are plenty of witnesses who have seen it in the past. Even current staff with Gospel For Asia have seen it happen.”
Travis Helm, the other Director of Development, added, “I was personally told by KP in person while driving him from a church meeting in Virginia in late September of 2014 that “the ring kissing tradition was one we (Believers Church) was trying to move away from.”
Neither ring kissing nor bowing and touching hands with foreheads are required by the Indian government. Whatever is happening in that video ceremony (and it looks like those ordained are kissing something), it appears to be an elevation of Yohannan to his Believers Church Constitutionally required status of “His Grace, the Most Reverend.” I will leave to readers to determine if Yohannan’s claim of humility is supported by the Believers Church Constitution and the video above.
The expression and practice of worship in Believers Church are liturgical in form. This is culturally understood and accepted in South Asia, though it is a less common form of worship for evangelical denominations in the West. A typical church service in a Believers Church consists of 30 minutes of congregational worship, 40 minutes of systematic teaching through the Word of God with practical application, intercessory prayer and confession of the faith. While the expression is different, the substance remains the same. Our statement of faith, commitment to historical Biblical Christianity and philosophy of ministry remains unchanged. It is the governance of the church that has changed.
Believers Church is in the unique position of having over 2.5 million believers, who speak nearly 300 languages, and of whom as many as 80% are illiterate. The interactive portion of the liturgy allows all to participate in the service, while reading through major portions of Scripture once every few years. It is the desire of Believers Church to keep these believers unified in the faith while growing in the Word and knowledge of the Lord.
For more on Believers Church liturgy, see this description of the Communion liturgy. In my view, Believers Church is much closer to Anglican and even Catholic beliefs about Communion than to your average Calvary Chapel.
We thought we were communicating effectively to you regarding these changes made to Believers Church and the reasons for it. We put up numerous pages on our GFA website. We hosted many, many Calvary pastors on the field and never hid our church from anyone. With some pastors we spent hours explaining the reasons for these changes; and we thought it was understood. However, we now realize, by comments made to us, that we did not communicate as effectively as we thought we had. We are truly sorry for this. Please know that it was not intentional. In the future we will work harder to communicate better.
One place Believers Church was hidden was in the 2013 audit. GFA in Texas sent more to Believers Church than to GFA in India in 2013. While hospitals and for profit schools were going up with GFA money (an Indian court affirmed that donor money was not spent as intended), GFA failed to disclose that millions was being sent to Believers Church.
There are some former staff who have been quite vocal in expressing complaints they have against my leaders and I. We have taken this seriously and actively sought, according to Matthew 18, to reach out individually to these former staff members to ask for forgiveness. As leaders, we would agree that we have not always represented Christ in the right way. But our conscience is clear before God that we have always tried to. And we continue to try. We have not disclosed the “other side of the story”; the personal lives of many of those whose testimonies have been shared. Some of them we spent hours counseling out of addiction and sin. Some of them we fasted with, prayed with and wept with during times of personal struggles and family tragedies. We have protected them and their reputations. God knows, and in fear of Him and of judgment we will continue to pray for them.
Phoenix Preacher nailed this. Michael Newnham wrote:
In one small paragraph the GFA Diaspora and others who have left the group are slandered with the vilest of faux pietistic innuendo as addicts and sinners and are implicitly threatened with disclosure of private pastoral issues.
Thus, all their accusations and information are dismissed.
They are no longer brothers and sisters, but sinners and addicts who cannot be trusted.
There can be no more wicked and evil abuse of ecclesiastical authority.
This is an abomination to God and His church.
This tells you every thing you need to know about K.P. Yohannan.
This is an unprincipled attack on former staff and not an appropriate commentary about the merits of their complaints. Yohannan leaves it up to the imagination of the reader which staff are addicts, and which are serious sinners, thus impugning their character.
Some people have asked if my lifestyle is different in reality than what I have written in my books. I’ve even heard people saying I live in a mansion and drive around in a classic European sports car! In reality, my “European sports car” is a restored 1962 VW bug which I bought 19 years ago for $1800. My wife drives a Honda HRV. In my life I have taken a total of 4 family vacations. I currently have one house in the Dallas area that I am trying to sell. It’s in a nice neighborhood hardly two minutes from the previous location of our ministry. It’s about 3,000 square feet, has 4 bedrooms, my office and my wife’s office. In Asia, the only house I live in is owned by the church. It’s about 1,400 square feet. Some pastors have seen it during their visits to India. My salary is set by the Board of Directors of Gospel for Asia. It is about $100,000 per year, including housing allowance. My wife and I don’t need that much to live on, but this is what the Board decided to give us. We give a significant portion of it back to the ministry. I have never taken any royalties from the 250 books I have written. Although I have been called foolish for not taking them, writing books has never been about the money, but about reaching the lost world and encouraging the saints. This is the way I have chosen to live my life. Like you, I try to hear from the Lord and do what He asks of me.
Many former staff contacted me about this point. A former staff couple told me that they were required to live on half of Yohannan’s salary with a much larger family. Another family of four was paid one-third of Yohannan’s wages. Some qualified and received WIC benefits to buy milk and supplies for young children. Others had to go on the insurance exchanges to get health insurance. Many staffers I have spoken with told me they were not able to save and had to ask for extra money from their own accounts when needs came up.
Yohannan mentions his books. Recently, I spoke with two of Yohannan’s ghostwriters. Bill Bray told me earlier today that he wrote “every word” of Revolution in World Missions back in the mid-1980s. Yohannan was involved and Bray interviewed and spoke with Yohannan and his wife frequently about the content but, according to Bray, Yohannan did not do the writing. Another ghostwriter said 13 books were penned by taking notes and sermons and putting them into manuscripts with Yohannan’s name on them. I await Yohannan’s comments about these claims and will be glad to print his rebuttal, if he has one.
I have attempted to live before God and man humbly and faithfully. There have been many times that I have fallen short and failed. But I ask God for forgiveness and make things right with those who allow me to. And I look forward to the day I will see my Lord face to face.
If you have any specific questions for me, I would be happy to talk with you. You can also direct your questions to my leaders, Daniel Punnose, John Beers or David Carroll. I have included all our email addresses below.
Your brother,
K.P. Yohannan
Well, apparently, I can’t direct my questions to the GFA trinity. But then the letter was addressed to Calvary Chapel pastors. Despite the fact that GFA’s non-profit status requires them to operate in the public interest, the public’s interest is only welcome if they are giving GFA money.
For now, I will again say that I will publish any evidence or comments GFA cares to provide. I have always done so. What I won’t do is simply accept statements without evidence and ignore discrepancies that are unexplained simply because you claim to be doing ministry.
Click here to read the email without interruption.
A New Story from Gospel for Asia About Where Millions of Donations Went in 2013
In their 2013 audit, Gospel for Asia said $58.5 million was sent to Gospel for Asia – India in 2013. See below:
However, in public records in India, only about $6 million was reported received by Gospel for Asia – India. Gospel for Asia Canada reported about $15 million sent to India in 2013. Nothing was reported as coming from Canada in the public records in India. Although unreported in the audit, GFA also sent millions of dollars to NGOs in India, Believers’ Church, Love India Ministry, and Last Hour Ministry. Counting those funds, the total accounted for goes to about $37 million. Thus, about $21 million is unaccounted for from the U.S. office. The figure grows to $36 million if one adds the Canadian money which doesn’t show up anywhere in India. Another analysis looking at income from all sources worldwide estimates about $47 million unaccounted for in 2013.
The bottom line is that the funds that GFA claimed to send from the U.S. and Canada do not show up in the Indian records available. Despite repeated requests, GFA has never offered an explanation.
Until recently.
A person concerned about GFA spoke to a representative by phone and asked for information about the unaccounted for funds. The GFA representative told the caller that my blog posts had only found and reported the amounts given in the Indian state of Kerala. According to my source, the GFA rep said my figures did not include funds sent by GFA to NGOs in other Indian states.
So I checked the other states. I looked through the reports in every state for donations to Believers’ Church, Gospel for Asia, Love India Ministry, or Last Hour Ministry. I even looked for Bridge of Hope, Operation Mobilization and Good Shepherd Church (OM-India and GSC are friendly to GFA in India and have received small grants from GFA). I found nothing. No funds were sent from GFA-US or Canada to these organizations in any other Indian state according to public records available.
So now, back to you GFA. This really should be easy. You said in your audit that you sent $58.5 million to GFA-India. However, GFA-India reported only about $6 million. Why didn’t you report the related party transactions which went to Believers’ Church, Love India Ministry and Last Hour Ministry? And where are the funds that don’t show up in the records of any of the four NGOs?
This should not be hard. Remember, it isn’t your money.