Talk:Hank Hanegraaff
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Much of the "controversies" section is documented here: [1] june 22, 2006
Contents |
[edit] Books
Perhaps someone would like to add a link from the Books section to the following review of "The Last Disciple"? http://www.christianbookreviews.info/lastdisciple.htm
[edit] Clean-up (& neutrality of 'Controversies' section)
I have spoken with Hank several times on the Bible Answer Man program and I have done a significant amount of research into the controversy surrounding his ministry. I have spoken directly with one of the parties who was fired by Hank for speaking up for better accounting practices at CRI. I have a CD recording of Hank getting angry with a former employee who called into the Bible Answer Man program and questioned Hank's accounting practices. All that I have read in the Controversies section appears to line up very closely with the facts I am aware of. While the list of problems at CRI seem fairly accurate, it leaves out a number of other problems which seem to have plagued the ministry. For example it appears that CRI purchased a $60,000.00 Lexus sports car for Hank's use and Hank's wife was on the payroll but employees never saw her do anything for the ministry. The combined salaries of Hank and his wife were indeed in the area of $400 to $500 thousand per year according to a number of reports. You can find out much more about all this by copying and pasting the following words into a Google search:
"Hank Hanegraaff" finances
I have not looked into it yet but I have been told that Hank's move to North Carolina (in which he left most of his staff in California) was to get out from under the scrutiny of his staff. I have also heard that he has purchased an expensive home in a gated community next to a golf course in Charlotte. I have not confirmed that info. John David 5/23/2006
I've done a major clean-up of the article today, basically re-organizing the sections, rewriting in better English, and including references etc.
The section Controversies seems to be the only remaining major problem. There are a lot of unsubstantiated claims in there, so that section needs to be redrafted more carefully and footnoted so it's clear where the claims are coming from. User:David L Rattigan 21:02 03 May 2006 GMT
[edit] Paring Down
I pared down the criticisms section to something more pithy.
Here's how it looks now:
Although not subject to widespread criticism, some have accused CRI of paying Hanegraaff an "outlandish" salary (reportedly in excess of $500,000.) He's also been criticized for an alleged intemperate attitude toward his employees and for organizational mismanagement.
I removed the this last line -
"The criticisms, however, are not widespread, and are nowhere near as vocal as those involving the multi-million dollar salaries paid to televangelists."
Besides being bad english, it's sort of a judgment call as to whether or not criticisms against Hank are widespread. Who's to say? He's kind of a minor player thus so would his critics be. The rest of the sentence is poorly written and basically irrelevant. The people who criticize Hank for earning 500 Large don't care what televangelists make. They just think HE's making too much. :)
If anyone thinks I'm being unfair here by all means let me know. I just want to see the narrative stay on track.
Big Daddy 05:02, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
- I have never heard of him, but I can understand that there might be criticism for his salary. Good edit. Providing criticism in the passive voice is sometimes considered bad form on wikipedia. I can say, "some people think he cheats on his taxes" but unless it's sourcesd it's just heresay. I think there's a wikiguidance on sourcing but I am too lazy to find it right now. You might want to take out the whole thing and just say how much money he makes with a news source to back you up. MPS 23:33, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Too much hearsay
This article gets gets a little bit into hearsay I think. For example, the bit about the $500,000 salary is unsubstantiated. Is this statement based on any actual facts, or just on rumors?
This article leaves a lot to be desired on many levels I think.
"I enjoy his radio show and it helped me to break away from the word of faith movement. I hope he isn't making $500,000 each year because it would make him less credible when lambasting prosperity teachers. Now if he is making that and more from book royalties, more power to him." We need people like him and more because the common person doesn't understand how to study the Bible and heck for that matter, most ministers.
- According to the 2004 IRS Form 990 (fiscal year 7/1/2004-6/30/2005), Mr. Hanegraaff was paid $199,000 plus $11,192 for expenses. His wife Kathy was employed as Director of Planning with a salary of $125,000 plus expenses of less than $2500. Copies available for public inspection at www.guidestar.org - EricP 17:48, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Woah, not so fast, Eric (my friend)! Please see my article in the Christian Sentinel that covered this. http://www.cultlink.com/news/aug_2004_sentinel_eupdate.htm The actual amount of the Hanegraaff income was "$411,727 in compensation." This was "according to the latest IRS 990 forms filed by CRI that covered the 2002-2003 fiscal year." This was based, as Eric said above, on the 990 forms available at www.guidestar.com. I also noted that it was "... up from the $358,447 of a year earlier. That is an increase of more than $53,000! CRI Vice President Paul Young, who abandoned his wife in Canada approximately a decade ago incurring the disappointment of his home church and the former president and coworkers at CRI Canada, received almost a $25,000 raise, placing his salary at $155,600. But the way the Hanegraaff compensated was reported in the IRS forms required some creativity: Hanegraaff's on paper `salary' actually went down from $251,886 to $227,167, but despite a slow speaking schedule (Hanegraaff does not speak at many churches and conferences) his expense account zoomed from $17,301 to $53,164! Meanwhile Kathy Hanegraaff's salary as `director of planning' went from $87,600 to $107,500, and her expense account went from $1,660 to $3,896. But hidden in the 990 form is the fact that Kathy Hanegraaff was the only one at CRI to receive an extra $20,000 in `contributions to employee benefit plans and deferred compensation.' Also keep in mind that according to one of the exposés of last year many CRI employees were unaware of Mrs. Hanegraaff's role at the ministry; some complained that they seldom ever saw here, and others didn't know she worked there. Yet since her hiring approximately four years ago in the newly created position, the 990 forms claim that Mrs. Hanegraaff, a parent of nine children, works more than 50 hours per week at CRI!" Of course, some new 990 forms have been filed since then that show more changes. The Christian Sentinel will report on that. Sincerely, William M. Alnor, Ph.D. Publisher, The Christian Sentinel and Assistant Professor, Dept. of Communication, California State University, East Bay (Hayward) w_alnor@yahoo.com
[edit] Condescension?
I've enjoyed his "Bible Answer Man" radio program, and found much of it helpful, but, at the same time, I am not surprised at some of the problems Hanegraaff's apparently had with CRI employees, because one can certainly detect a note of condescension when he disagrees with someone calling-in to the program. For example, words to the effect of "If you would just read the text of the Biblical passage in question, I don't think you would have the problem you are having with it," with an implication that the caller hasn't read it, or wasn't intelligent enough/reasonable enough/of good enough faith, to figure out what the text was saying. That being said, I've also heard Hanegraaff be somewhat good natured with callers he disagrees with, so he's by no means consistently condescending.
I've only listened to the program once or twice, but I thought he generally seemed to be a friendly and intelligent person. However, I think it is important to have this large criticisms section because of all the controversial positions he has taken, most of which I didn't know about before reading this article. Academic Challenger 09:33, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
Does he have a college education? I have never seen any info on his holding any academic training in theology. I'm not saying you need it in order to be an effective minister but it has always been something I've wanted to know about him.
[edit] Hanegraaff
Any known realtionship between the two Hanegraaffs? --Pjacobi 22:28, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
