Related articles and links |  1 of 3

Jen Hubbard said she knew right away that Christian Research Institute (CRI) had spending problems. Committed to working at nonprofit ministries, the 27-year-old was thrilled to be at CRI, where Hendrik (Hank) Hanegraaff hosted the popular Bible Answer Man radio broadcast. But the way Hanegraaff spent money did not seem right, Hubbard told Christianity Today.

Hubbard's subsequent actions sparked an investigation by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), and in March, the watchdog agency found CRI had "breached compliance" with key member standards. After further investigation and counsel, CRI employees agreed to pay back significant sums of misused ministry funds and create better accountability systems in the organization.

CRI hired Hubbard as a donor communications specialist in May 2002. She became alarmed when she saw ministry spending practices and heard employee concerns about the outlays. Meanwhile, she was sending monthly financial appeals to donors, urging them to give generously lest CRI suffer ministry cutbacks. The ministry generated more than $500,000 a month in donations in 2001.

"It's kind of hard to make those pleas when you see the extravagance from the inside," said Hubbard, who held similar positions with Insight for Living and Joni and Friends.

One item she was particularly concerned about was CRI's paying $66,000 in July 2002 for a blue Lexus sc, purchased for Hanegraaff's use. That same year former employees said a lull in giving resulted in layoffs at the $9.3 million ministry.

When her supervisor refused to take her complaint seriously, Hubbard started looking for proof. In December, while doing after-hours overtime work at the Rancho Santa Margarita–based ministry, she quickly grabbed two dozen internal CRI documents—including invoices and receipts—to show her superiors the problems. She had access to some of the material in the normal course of her duties. The rest was in an unlocked file cabinet near her desk.

When officials found out what she had done, CRI fired her. The same day, January 20, she sent copies to the ECFA.

Hubbard wasn't the only one concerned. Others included Joshua Scott, 28, a Bible Answer Man call screener, and Thaddeus Williams, 24, a researcher, phone counselor, and writer. Williams became spokesman of a group of concerned employees. On January 20 and 21, he spoke with CRI executives Paul Young and John Stoffel to seek reform and reconciliation. The three concluded that Hanegraaff would sell the sports car, and that Williams would lead an internal accountability board of CRI employees, Williams said. But in early February, CRI fired Williams. The stated reason was excessive tardiness.

In March the ECFA announced it was conducting a "compliance review" and said CRI had "breached compliance" with three of the watchdog agency's seven standards of member conduct: board governance, financial controls and policies, and use of ministry resources. ECFA noted CRI did not have "adequate systems in place to ensure that expenditures are properly documented in a manner consistent with sound internal control or to substantiate the ministry purpose of disbursements made."

The ECFA further found that CRI had not addressed "potential conflicts of interest transactions involving related parties" and that "there were not sufficient Board policies or oversight to identify these deficiencies." At one point in the investigation ECFA President Paul Nelson told CT, "They don't have sufficient internal controls in place, so you really don't know what you don't know."

next page... |  1 of 3

August 2003, Vol. 47, No. 8