Those big name televangelists and Christian television ministries are only concerned with asking for money. Right? Not so according to a recent report put out by Professor Stephen Winzenburg of Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa.

Winzenburg’s Summer/Fall 2004 study of twenty-six top Christian TV ministries shows that the average airtime spent by these ministries on fund raising and promotion combined is 17%. Commercial TV, on the other hand, devotes 28% of its airtime to ads and promos. The bottom line—Christian television ministries are not focused on raising money. In fact, they spend 11% less time on funds and promotion than does the average commercial television program.

“Once again religious broadcasters use much less time in fund raising and promotion than commercial television devotes to advertising,” Winzenburg says in his report, TV Ministries Impact 2004 Election, Fail to Open Financial Records. “It’s a myth that most TV preachers spend the bulk of their airtime asking for money.”

On average, televangelists and Christian programs devote 9% of their airtime asking for money and 8% on promoting their ministries, according to Winzenburg. Below is a sample of how some of the twenty-six ministries fared in the areas of fundraising and promotion combined:

--Billy Graham (4%)

--EWTN Live (5%)

--Praise the Lord (6%)

--Kenneth Copeland (12%)

--Jerry Falwell (13%)

--Robert Schuller (14%)

--Creflo Dollar (16%)

--700 Club (18%)

Some ministries did exceed the 28% average of commercial television programs including:

--Robert Tilton (35%)

--Marilyn Hickey (31%)

--James Robison (29%)

Has there been a radical decline in how Christian television ministries use their airtime in recent years? Again the answer may surprise some. Winzenburg, who began his research in 1981, notes that little has changed in the last past ten years. The commercial aspects of television ministry “began a slow decline in 1990 and have been consistent since 1996,” he says. Today, fundraising and promotion “remain at their lowest level” since Winzenburg began his research in 1981.

The full report by Professor Winzenburg can be viewed online at http://faculty.gvc.edu/swinzenburg/tv_ministries_study.pdf

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