From time to time I've been asked about making financial projections on religious TV programs. In other words, with a typical daily or weekly program, can we project from a fundraising point of view what a particular program will make based on past or similar programs? From my perspective, if we could project the results of our programs successfully, we'd all be billionaires. The problem is the finicky nature of the TV audience. The secular networks like ABC or NBC literally spend tens of millions on audience research year in and year out, and still produce failing shows every single season. If they're spending millions doing it, I have serious doubts our ... read more

As 2009 begins, this is the final conversation that represents a significant stumbling block to the Christian community's ability to impact the culture. Remember that in today's media-driven world, perception matters, and regardless of your theological persuasion, it's time to realize that some of our efforts - even well intentioned efforts - can have damaging consequences. Yesterday we talked about what's called the "prosperity message." Today, the next step is ... read more

It doesn't take much channel surfing - especially in the morning - to see that outside the normal full time religious television channels, some TV evangelists seem to be ganged up in blocks. Further, a closer examination seems to reveal that those "ministries" (which some would call "fringe") who spend the whole program talking about and asking for money seem to be all gathered around the early morning block on BET. So here's the guys who are most aggressive about asking for major financial donations (my favorite is the "$1,000 seed") who seem to be aimed directly at inner city viewers. Does that mean these hard core prosperity ministries are targeting lower income, minority viewers? Interesting question. ... read more

One of the things that the financial crisis at Oral Roberts University pointed out recently was the apparent internal direction of funding. The Oral Roberts Ministry was founded first, and during the evangelistic ministry of the founder Oral Roberts, the ministry organization was used to help fund the university. In essence, the ministry spawned the university, and for many years used it's national television program and direct mail outreach to raise significant funding for the university.

But apparently, ... read more

Here's the link to the CBS News report on Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Is it a balanced report or inaccurate? Is KCM missing something when it comes to their perception by the general public? Is CBS off base? ... read more

Here's Christianity Today magazine's perspective on the investigation of media ministries by Senator Charles Grassley. ... read more

On the subject of TV ministries, something we don't talk about much is an issue the editors of the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper brought up this morning. ... read more

Today was the deadline for a selected group of TV ministries to turn over financial information as demanded by Senator Charles Grassley. As we could have predicted, so far:

Kenneth Copeland and Joyce Meyer turned in everything before it was due. Paula White responded, but then went silent, no one has a clue what she is up to. Benny Hinn stalled. And Eddie Long and Creflo Dollar have stonewalled. ... read more

As 2008 comes closer, I want to throw out a few statements that I'd like you to be thinking about. I want to write about each of them more fully in the near future, but let me toss out a few controversial topics and see if you agree that each one is something we need to confront: ... read more

There's been a lot of interesting discussion here lately on the scandals, alleged misconduct, and outright stupid behavior from some pastors and Christian media leaders. It brings up an interesting point, not the least of which is the wave of problems, all happening at the same time. There are some common themes with the criticism, and one that bothers me a bit is the tendency to compare a major, international ministry with a local pastor. The truth is, ... read more