The past year has been difficult for the nation’s religious broadcasters. Just weeks after the 1988 convention of the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters)—with the organization still reeling from the PTL scandals—Jimmy Swaggart, then a prominent NRB member, drew headlines with his confession of “moral failure.” Later in 1988 came reports of an Internal Revenue Service investigation of some 30 religious broadcasting organizations.
To many observers, last month’s forty-sixth annual NRB convention, held in Washington, seemed to reflect the somber attitude of the past year. The emphasis was more on introspection than on politics and personalities. This introspection includes the organization’s effort, soon to be implemented, to police itself according to its new code of integrity.
Different Tone
The response of NRB officials to the second consecutive year of scandal and intense public scrutiny was to “get back to the basics.” With the theme “Jesus Christ is Lord,” planners injected a spiritual emphasis many participants feel may have been lacking in the recent past.
“I keep hearing words like ‘healing,’ ‘worship,’ and ‘blessed,’ ” said NRB president Jerry Rose. Television preacher Jerry Falwell echoed Rose’s observation: “I don’t believe there has been a convention on a higher spiritual level,” he said. “I sense a new commitment to preaching the gospel.”
At the same time, politics moved to the back burner, aided no doubt by the recent passing of the political season. Last year President Reagan, all the major Republican presidential candidates, and several members of Congress were among those to share the NRB limelight (CT, Mar. 4, 1988, p. 32). This year, Vice-president Dan Quayle was the only politician to address the convention.
President George Bush was scheduled to speak but had to cancel at the last minute because of a severe case of laryngitis. Evangelist Billy Graham brought regrets from the President, and then led the convention in an extended time of prayer for Bush and the nation.
Rose spoke in lieu of Bush, telling listeners that when they give “Jesus Christ the highest priority” in their personal lives, their ministries will be in order. “Often today, sin is only confessed after the awful glare of public exposure and the heavy weight of humiliation,” Rose said. “We should deal with sin in our lives quickly and seriously.”
Likewise, at the annual congressional breakfast, attended by new Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp and 20 members of Congress, keynote speaker Charles Colson kept to spiritual themes. “Faith and public order are inseparable,” Colson said. “When you separate [them], you have tyranny.”
The week’s most political speech was given at an auxiliary event not officially sponsored by the NRB. Oliver North was the featured guest at the “Eighth Annual Roundtable Prayer Breakfast” (formerly the National Prayer Breakfast in Honor of Israel). North spoke against communism and terrorism around the world, then left the hall immediately to attend the second day of his trial for his role in the Iran/contra affair.
Optimistic Portrait
Throughout the convention, NRB officials painted an optimistic picture of their industry’s future. “It is my opinion that we’re still in an explosive, expanding field,” NRB executive director Ben Armstrong told reporters.
Despite recent figures suggesting a decline in viewers and donations (CT, Feb. 3, p. 32), Armstrong pointed to a growing number of religious radio and television stations as well as program producers. “What began as phenomenal growth in the 1970s,” he said, “has continued unabated for more than a decade.” Armstrong downplayed any negative effect caused by the scandals, claiming that local broadcasters have not been hurt. He added that one positive impact has been that now “the man on the street knows about religious broadcasting.”
Nevertheless, the specter of scandal was present at the convention. One of the first acts of business was to enact the NRB executive committee’s March 1988 recommendation to rescind Swaggart’s membership. “As an association, we believe that a minister’s life should be above reproach, lived according to Biblical principles,” said a statement accompanying the action. “We grieve when a brother falls, and we grieve for the impact the action has on those who are in need of the hope of the Gospel.”
In addition, it was revealed the NRB ethics committee has received complaints against Paul Crouch, president and founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, one of the nation’s largest religious broadcasting operations. Crouch has been accused of, among other things, using “hostile takeovers” to acquire new stations. The ethics committee is “processing” the complaints.
Eficom’S Arrival
The NRB is pinning its hopes for credibility on the new Ethics and Financial Integrity Commission (EFICOM) code. Nonprofit NRB members had a February 15 deadline (with a 90-day extension option) to file disclosure forms, an independent audit, and other materials to demonstrate compliance with guidelines set by the organization.
The code applies only to nonprofit members and thus does not affect the more than half of NRB’s 1,400 organizations that are commercial broadcasters. According to NRB official Thomas Zimmerman, who is in charge of implementing the EFICOM effort, by convention time last month, only 34 members had applied for and received EFICOM accreditation, although he said many were expected to apply soon after the convention. Also, 84 members have been automatically approved because they belong to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
Although an NRB press release said nonprofit members were “responding positively” to EFICOM, some members have concerns about how the code will be administered and enforced. Several ministries do not like the requirement forbidding family-dominated boards.
NRB members that do not meet the guidelines will be expelled, though Rose said any expulsion would be preceded by dialogue with the NRB ethics committee. “If they don’t apply, we’ll go talk to them and see what the problem is,” said Rose. “And if they don’t comply, we’ll talk to them about that.” As far as the commercial broadcasters not affected by EFICOM are concerned, Rose said an NRB committee is in the process of determining “if there should be some kind of accountability there.”
Zimmerman said a new list of certified NRB members will be published in a coming issue of Religious Broadcasting; those certified would receive the EFICOM “seal of approval.” He said the NRB would not publish a “blacklist” of organizations not certified.
By Kim A. Lawton in Washington, D.C.
