(Screenshot: Larry Huch appearing on October 19, 2024, Daystar telethon broadcast.)
Previous Investigations
Trinity Foundation has investigated Daystar Television Network, America’s second largest religious TV network, for more than a decade, and collaborated with NPR and Inside Edition for exposés of the network’s spending and use of a private jet.
Recently, another Christian media outlet, The Roys Report, has begun to thoroughly investigate Daystar. Journalist Julie Roys interviewed Jonathan Lamb, the son of Daystar’s founders Marcus (who died in 2021) and Joni Lamb, and Jonathan’s wife Suzy Lamb for stories about allegations of sexual abuse.
A list of related articles follows the end of this article.
2024 Fall Heart for the World Telethon
Less than three weeks after Hurricane Helene slammed the Florida coast, producing record flooding and destroying communities as far inland as North Carolina and just a couple of days after Hurricane Milton struck Florida, Daystar Television Network hosted its annual fall Heart for the World telethon.
However, none of the millions of dollars raised from Daystar’s telethon will help hurricane victims. Instead, Daystar president Joni Lamb promised on TV that all money given or pledged during the telethon will go to Israel.
Daystar was one of the first Christian ministries to respond with financial support for Israeli troops and citizens following the October 2023 Hamas terrorist attack. Daystar’s fall Heart for the World telethon takes place during Sukkot, the annual Feast of Tabernacles.
Is it Legal for American Non-Profits to Purchase Military Supplies for Foreign Soldiers?
Since October 2023, Daystar’s telethons have raised money to purchase body armor and night goggles for the Israeli military as well as bomb shelters for Jewish civilians.
(Screenshot: June 15, 2024, re-broadcast of March 3, 2024, episode of Heart for the World telethon.)
The IRS recognizes donations to foreign militaries as a charitable activity so long as the recipient is not involved in terrorism or in wars which the United States opposes.
After 9/11, President George Bush issued Executive Order 13224 and Congress passed the USA Patriot Act to prosecute Americans providing support to individuals and organizations involved in terrorism.
The Treasury Department maintains the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (usually referred to as the SDN List), an official list of individuals, organizations and government agencies which Americans are forbidden from donating to or doing business with.
While Hamas and the Israeli government have both killed innocent civilians, only Hamas is listed on the SDN List.
Because none of Daystar’s Israeli partners are on the SDN List, these donations appear to be legal.
Exaggerated Charity?
In 2014, National Public Radio (NPR) investigated Daystar with assistance from Trinity Foundation’s lead investigator Pete Evans.
Journalists reviewed financial data obtained from the unsealing of court documents and questioned if Daystar’s then-president Marcus Lamb was exaggerating the amount of charitable aid the ministry was providing.
NPR’s report featured a 2009 quote from Marcus Lamb: “In the last five years, Daystar has written checks of donations to others, to ministries, to churches, to missions, to hurricane relief, to tsunami relief, to hospitals, etc., to the tune of $30 million cash!”
According to NPR reporter John Burnett, “NPR analyzed six years of Daystar balance sheets. They show the network gave away $9.7 million dollars in direct grants to outside recipients. Not $30 million. That works out to charitable giving of about 5 percent of donor revenue.”
Daystar responded to NPR that “international mission work” included satellite transmission expenses.
Financial Transparency
Word of God Fellowship, the parent organization of Daystar Television Network, is not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, does not have an independent board of directors and does not provide to donors a Form 990 or audited financial statement disclosing fundraising and management expenses.
Word of God Fellowship avoids the Form 990 filing requirement by claiming church status. Meanwhile, secular non-profits have higher standards to meet.
The Association of Fundraising Professionals Code of Ethical Standards is 25 items long and requires its members to “ensure proper stewardship of all revenue sources, including timely reports on the use and management of such funds.”
For comparison, the National Religious Broadcasters Code of Ethics is only six items long and does not address the prosperity gospel, fundraising or financial transparency.
However, Daystar is not required to meet these six requirements because it is not an NRB member organization. Daystar avoids being a member of organizations that would subject it to oversight.
Televangelist Perry Stone served as one of Daystar’s special guest hosts during the Heart for the World 2024 telethon. On October 13th, the first day of the telethon, Perry Stone flew to Fort Worth, near Daystar’s production studio, on a Super King Air owned by his ministry Voice of Evangelism. The twin turboprop aircraft travels slower and cheaper than a jet.
(Screenshot: Trinity Foundation’s Pastor Planes project uses the website ADSB Exchange to track the aircraft by its tail number N942CE.)
While Daystar claims all money raised by the telethon will be spent on charity in Israel, it does not disclose if the network paid the guest hosts a speaking honorarium or paid for travel expenses.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a non-profit organization, donors should closely examine Program Services Expenses which are determined by subtracting management expenses and fundraising expenses from total expenses.
Charity Navigator recommends that non-profit organizations spend at least 70% of their total revenue on program services.
Trinity Broadcasting Network, Daystar’s biggest competitor, has provided this critical financial information to its donors through 2022.
(Screenshot: Column B lists 2022 program services expenses for Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana, better known as Trinity Broadcasting Network.)
Pre-Recorded Telethons
Daystar airs video clips from previous telethons during some of its Heart for the World broadcasts and appears to be in violation of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules requiring disclosure of pre-recorded broadcasts that appear to be live.
The law requires:
“Any taped, filmed or recorded program material in which time is of special significance, or by which an affirmative attempt is made to create the impression that it is occurring simultaneously with the broadcast, shall be announced at the beginning as taped, filmed or recorded. The language of the announcement shall be clear and in terms commonly understood by the public. For television stations, the announcement may be made visually or aurally.”
In 2020, Salem Media Group, owner of the Salem Radio Network, was fined $50,000 for violating the live broadcast rule.
A June 2024 rebroadcast of Heart for the World included a clip of former Daystar TV personality Suzy Lamb. Suzy stopped working for Daystar in 2023.
Toxic Theology
Pastor Larry Huch was one of Daystar’s special guests during the fall 2024 Heart for the World telethon. Huch has received critical attention for rejecting and/or distorting Scripture.
During the telethon, while on a TV program raising funds for Israel, Huch told viewers, “Listen to me. I will never use standing with Israel as a gimmick of raising funds.”
About 15 minutes later, Huch told the TV audience, “Keep blessing the nation of Israel. This is a window that is passing by and once it’s passed by it will never open again for one whole year.”
In 2008, during an appearance on televangelist Paula White’s TV program, Huch claimed, “Jesus is not the only begotten son of God.”
Huch contradicted one of the most well-known Bible verses. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Postscript
Trinity Foundation emailed Daystar the following questions on Friday, October 22nd but has not received a response by publication time.
- Perry Stone flew to Fort Worth for the fall Heart for the World Does Daystar reimburse travel costs of televangelists appearing on telethons?
- Does Daystar give a speaking honorarium to Perry Stone, Jonathan Cahn, Larry Huch, and others appearing on the telethons?
- Daystar promised that all money given to or pledged during this year’s fall telethon will go to Israel. Why did the network not raise money for victims of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton?
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The Roys Report – Investigative Series
