Buffalo & Rochester February '23 trends

[tbolt909]

No, they are motivated by faith. Money is a tool used to achieve that objective.

Don't be naive. I am not a believer, but I recall that Jesus reportedly overturned the moneychangers tables in rage.
The "Faith" part rings hollow when money is their God. The Mike Murdocks, Joel Osteens, and EMFs of the world are simply pitchmen...

 

[Theater of My Mind]

The church is the most powerful institution in the world having a centuries-long history of leveraging faith to amass its unrivalled power, wealth and influence.

EMF represents a just small example of that process. This is an organization on a mission to increase its power and influence, and we can see for ourselves how it is amassing unstoppable tax-free wealth.

When it comes to religious broadcasters and televangelists, history has provided many examples of their money leading to spectacular corruption. Was it disclosed on their 990 forms? Not that I can recall.

For now we can only wonder what EMF ultimately plans to do with the growing mountain of money they are accumulating. Only time will tell whether they use it to travel a familiar road to personal riches.

 

[davideduardo]

Don't be naive. I am not a believer, but I recall that Jesus reportedly overturned the moneychangers tables in rage.
The "Faith" part rings hollow when money is their God. The Mike Murdocks, Joel Osteens, and EMFs of the world are simply pitchmen...

Don't compare Osteen and his "religion of prosperity" with EMF.

From the top executives on down, the EMF staff is paid fairly but not excessively and all seem to work there for the ministry as much as the income. They do outreach programs, reinvest all their income in expansion and new community activities. If one is looking for a religious group that mirrors the teachings of Christ, I would included EMF on the list.

Have you ever listened to K-Love? While I find their music unappealing personally, they are not the classic "bible thumpers" and "buy the $10 blessing" of the old XERF preachers.

 

[davideduardo]

The church is the most powerful institution in the world having a centuries-long history of leveraging faith to amass its unrivalled power, wealth and influence.

EMF represents a just small example of that process. This is an organization on a mission to increase its power and influence, and we can see for ourselves how it is amassing unstoppable tax-free wealth.

The only "wealth" they have is a bunch of radio stations... many of which are non-commercial and of little value and others are larger market former commercial stations that could find no other buyer. They have very little "surplus cash" and what they accumulate is used to buy more stations and to expand the outreach programs.

When it comes to religious broadcasters and televangelists, history has provided many examples of their money leading to spectacular corruption. Was it disclosed on their 990 forms? Not that I can recall.

I can only think of two or three at the most. Most religious stations are a dime away from defaulting.

I've worked with two Catholic stations... one in Puerto Rico that wanted to "update its outreach program" and one in Lima, Perú, where I worked with the Cardinal to create a "commercial sounding mass appeal station" that played contemporary Peruvian music but did minute long messages of faith and education. Neither asked for money on the air and budgets were very tight. Management was done by volunteers like myself.

For now we can only wonder what EMF ultimately plans to do with the growing mountain of money they are accumulating. Only time will tell whether they use it to travel a familiar road to personal riches.

EMF has been doing this for decades, using every surplus penny to expand its coverage. They have only enough cash to finance new acquisitions of stations to complete full coverage of the US and its territories. The rest goes into operations and expanding their extensive outreach program that includes 24/7 free counseling.

They are spending to increase their online presence with streaming and related outreach programs.

 

[mnradiofan]

The church is the most powerful institution in the world having a centuries-long history of leveraging faith to amass its unrivalled power, wealth and influence.

EMF represents a just small example of that process. This is an organization on a mission to increase its power and influence, and we can see for ourselves how it is amassing unstoppable tax-free wealth.

When it comes to religious broadcasters and televangelists, history has provided many examples of their money leading to spectacular corruption. Was it disclosed on their 990 forms? Not that I can recall.

For now we can only wonder what EMF ultimately plans to do with the growing mountain of money they are accumulating. Only time will tell whether they use it to travel a familiar road to personal riches.

If you bothered to look at the ProPublica link I shared a few posts up, you would know this isn't true. The only "wealth" they have is radio stations that couldn't find a buyer. All other cash raised funds the program and expansion of that program. There is no other "massive wealth" and the executives are fairly, not excessively, compensated.

While I agree with your statement that MANY religious organizations are just a front to amass wealth, EMF isn't one of them. And out of all the religious broadcasters, from what little I have heard, they work to stay completely OUT of politics. They make no secret that they are trying to convert people towards Christianity, but are even religion-agnostic when it comes to that as well. The same cannot be said of many commercial broadcasters, some of which broadcast outright propaganda for financial gain (see the recent testimony from Murdoch for a great example of this).