So-called Christian donation processing firm caves to LGBT demands and dumps Christian ministry, placing other ministry clients at same risk

Sacramento, California (April 4, 2018) – A leading pro-family organization in California is warning churches and ministries not to do business with Ministry Brands, an online donation processing service that dumps ministries that are biblically opposed to homosexuality and transsexuality.

In 2017, while Campaign for Children and Families (CCF) was in the midst of leading opposition to radical ”sex change” bills in the California Legislature, CCF’s donation manager Ministry Brands of Lenoir City, TN, and its processor Global Payments, cut off the financial legs from this California-based Christian ministry. CCF was unceremoniously dumped, leaving staff scrambling to recover.

“CCF has always abided by Ministry Brands’ terms and conditions,” said Randy Thomasson, founder and president of Campaign for Children and Families and SaveCalifornia.com. “Yet Ministry Brands and its partner shut us down because of intolerant LGBT activism that regards biblical love as ‘hate.’”

“Any Christian ministry using Ministry Brands is at risk of the same treatment, if anti-free-speech LGBT activists find a YouTube video, recorded sermon, or even a church’s statement of faith which is not fully supportive of homosexuality and transsexuality,” Thomasson said. “We’ve been injured by this rash act, and so can any other moral-values ministry client of Ministry Brands and its two dozen-plus subsidiaries, such as MinistryLINQ, BlueFire, easyTithe, and Egiving.com. Ironically, with Ministry Brands, every moral ministry is threatened.”

When given the opportunity to explain its actions and to make private restitution, Ministry Brands disclaimed responsibility, saying “feel free to reach out to” Global Payments, upon which it placed the blame. Liberty Counsel  tried to resolve the matter privately on behalf of CCF with a letter and numerous phone calls and emails. After more than six months of denials and inaction by Ministry Brands, it is high time to warn churches, religious organizations, and moral individuals not to trust or partner with Ministry Brands or Global Payments.

Facts:

• Campaign for Children and Families (CCF) is a California-based ministry organization that advocates on behalf of children, families, and traditional values, based on the Bible.

• Since at least 2012, CCF had been a contracted client for online donation services of CashLINQ and MinistryLINQ, both subsidiaries of Ministry Brands, which purchased them in 2015. CCF has at all times complied with the required terms of service.

• On September 12, 2017, Global Payments called and emailed Ministry Brands to label CCF as a “hate organization” and demanded that CCF’s “account will need to be closed” within 10 days. Later that same day, without advance notice, Ministry Brands unjustifiably breached its own terms by shutting down CCF’s donation page and canceling all scheduled donations.

• Ministry Brands’ MinistryLINQ and CashLINQ donation processing service bills itself as ideally suited to the needs of the Christian ministry community:

MinistryLINQ: The Online Giving Partner that Makes Your Ministry the Focus.
Nothing should keep you from the invaluable work you are doing. As a company that shares your values, MinistryLINQ was designed to allow you to focus less on managing donations and more on what really matters: Your Ministry. (Emphasis added). https://www.ministrylinq.com/

“Q-Suite is the heart of our product line. It really grew out of seeing a need for churches and ministries to be able to process online donations with a platform and technology that understood their special needs. Hear from key leaders at Cashlinq on the why & how of Q-Suite. “By allowing churches and nonprofit organizations focus on their passions they can be more effective.” (Emphasis added). https://www.ministrylinq.com/blog/why-we-developed-our-q-suite-products/

• On January 16, 2018, investigative reporter John Stossel looked into SPLC, concluding it “has become a hate group itself. It is now a left-wing, money grabbing, slander machine.” On March 2, 2018, Stossel did a follow-up report about SPLC labeling as a “hate group” a Portland, OR grunge music shop, whose owner “donates ‘a hell of a lot’ to National Public Radio and other progressive groups." Stossel says, “Not only is Southern Poverty Law Center a hate group, they're lazy. They just care about raising money.”
https://www.facebook.com/JohnStossel/ 
https://www.wweek.com/news/business/2017/02/21/a-northeast-portland-record-label-lands-on-a-national-hate-group-registry/ 

"Ministry Brands is hypocritically saying one thing and doing another,” Thomasson said. “Churches and Christian nonprofit organizations can't ‘focus on their passion’ for the Gospel when, at any time, they can be arbitrarily denied processing of critical funds. By shutting down our donation page, Ministry Brands has done the bidding of LGBT activists. Those pushing sexual perversity upon children and squashing the religious freedom of Americans are happy with Ministry Brands, but Creator God is angry with them. If Ministry Brands can pull the plug on one Christian ministry, what’s to stop them from harming other faith-based ministries that are dependent on online gifts? Christian ministries faithful to the teachings of Scripture should look elsewhere for a reliable donation services processor.”

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SaveCalifornia.com is a leading West Coast nonprofit, nonpartisan organization standing strong for moral virtues for the common good. We represent children and families in the areas of marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.

Campaign for Children and Families
P.O. Box 511, Sacramento, CA 95812
(916) 265-5650
savecalifornia.com