Today on MoneyLife

Rusty Leonard is our guest again today. He’s here to help us learn how to be wise givers to God’s kingdom.

Rusty has a Web site devoted to determining if a ministry is worthy of financial support. The goal is to advance God’s kingdom. This is timely because this is the biggest month of the year for giving.

Rusty will share principles about how to avoid scams. There's a a lot of financial misinformation out there. It may be packaged well, but it leads to financial bondage in man’s economy.

Anything contrary to God’s Word will bring destruction if you follow it. We want our listeners to be able to make wise and skillful financial decisions. We'll be starting a new series soon on that topic.

Rusty is normally here to talk about the economy, but today we want to talk about MinistryWatch.com, which he started with his wife, Carolynn.

Rusty has wanted people to make money through investing so they can give more money to God’s work. MinistryWatch.com is a free Web site people can go to for independent information on Christian ministries.

Rusty and Carolynn want people to be educated so they can make wise decisions about who they give to and give to the ministries that are doing the best job in advancing the kingdom.

MinistryWatch.com is designed to help people be good stewards of their charitable giving. Each year, $15 billion is given to the ministries in the MinistryWatch database. Rusty believes that $1 billion of that money is being given to less effective ministries. The goal is to steer that money toward more worthy ministries.

MinistryWatch.com has more inquiries at the end of the year as people make giving decisions. The site's Web traffic goes up. You don’t have to sign up to use the Web site, research is freely available. All you do is put in the ministry name and you’ll get information.

The first criteria in the evaluation is whether a ministry is transparent. Ministries need to be open about what they do with the donations they receive. Some don’t want to share that information, about 30-40 ministries. There’s not a lot of government regulation of non-profit ministries. Transparency is the best way to combat scam artists.
 
Some ministries aren’t well managed though they are well-intentioned. You can determine that when you analyze their budgets and expenditures. You look at how much is being spent on fundraising versus actual ministry and helping people. Donors want money to be used as intended, and you can get that information at the MinistryWatch.com Web site.

Rusty says he feels good about Sen. Charles Grassley’s investigation of 6 mega-churches.
Sen. Grassley is an evangelical Christian. He's not seeking to interfere with all ministries, but is just looking at a few.

Sen. Grassley says he’s examining ministries that may be misusing funds and cheating donors. These ministries haven’t been transparent. Some of the ministries under investigation have cooperated, some haven’t. The investigation is in a quiet period because of Sen. Grassley’s focus on health care reform.

Most ministries are good and worthy of support, like Crown and you should have no fear supporting them. MinistryWatch.com highlights the 30 best ministries each year.

Rusty says scams aren’t always obvious. You must pray for discernment. You shouldn’t make donations over the phone to ministries you don’t know. Ask for information in writing or look it up online.

Don’t give in to pressure tactics. Calls are often being made by professional fundraisers. Ask questions, slow the process down. Beware of false charities and organizations that sound similar to something else. They may offer a false tax id number. Do some investigation.

Giving should bring you joy, but you don’t want your giving decisions to be purely emotional. Analysis is appropriate. Plan ahead, investigate, research charities.

Giving is best when there is a relationship with the organization. Have a giving strategy, know where you want your giving to go if you want to achieve the most with each gift. Rusty says Crown is a great example, and has always made MinistryWatch's Shining Lights list. Crown manages its money well and offers some of the greatest leverage for donors.

Crown is 34 years old. Our founders had impeccable integrity gained through years of faithfulness. I want to thank listeners who trust this ministry and support it.

Crown has many outreaches beyond this radio program. We're ministering to people in 80 nations around the world. God is at work, and we’re seeing lives transformed.

Crown gives its donors a great return on investment. Millions of people are ministered to and they in turn minister to millions more. The ministry's income went down in 2009 but we maintained the same level and quality of ministry.

This is an important month for giving to this ministry, as 25% of our annual income is received in December. If you’ve been blessed by this ministry, please prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner. When you give to Crown, you share in the joy of what God is doing. You help spread the truth about God’s economy to people all over the world.

We now have a special giving opportunity for you through the Transformation Challenge. The impact of your contributions made between now and December 31st is doubled! If you have been blessed by this ministry, please consider becoming a financial partner.

Effectual Giving

It is not the amount of money given that concerns God, because He owns it all; it’s how the money is being used that’s important.

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Responding to God's Mandate

Sometimes generous givers are tempted to think that all they have to give is money.

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Bottom Line Discipleship

You can’t serve the Savior and all that stuff on an equal footing. One has to take precedence.

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Setting Dreams in Motion

When it becomes clear that God is redirecting our efforts, what can we do so our natural determination does not become a liability?

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Other Resources:

• ABCs of Money Package
• Career Direct
• God's Principles for Operating a Business
• Business By the Book
• Crown Mvelopes