As I was standing in a restaurant Friday night talking with my dad about the TBN / Paul Crouch debacle, I realized something that needs to be talked about more.

In TBN’s press release from last week that I also posted here, their lawyer Colby May stated that the money paid to Crouch’s accuser in a legal settlement did not come from ministry funds. Here’s the problem with that — there’s no way to know that for sure. The reason why is because TBN is the only religious broadcaster that I know of that isn’t a part of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). ECFA is a group that was founded in the wake of the televangelist scandals of the 1980s to hold ministries accountable for how they handle their funds. Almost every reputable ministry you can think of is a member. There is a pretty rigorous standard enforced on members that requires complete disclosure of financial records for review and some pretty solid guidelines for fundraising and the way funds are handled.

ECFA does a great job keeping ministries accountable and provides donors with a “seal of approval” when they send their money to one of the member ministries. TBN’s abscence from this group speaks volumes. In fact, none of the TBN regulars — including Benny Hinn — have been willing to submit themselves to ECFA’s scrutiny.

Now, there are plenty of ministries that are not members of ECFA. Each surely has its own reasons. But TBN really has no excuse. They handle a LOT of donations. How much?

TBN collects more than $120 million a year from viewers of its Christian programming — more than any other TV ministry. Those donations have fueled its rise from a rented studio in Santa Ana to a global broadcasting system whose programs appear on thousands of channels — via satellite, cable and over-the-air broadcasts — in a dozen languages.

The network’s donors also help fund generous salaries for Crouch ($403,700 a year) and his wife, Jan ($361,000), and an array of perks, including a TBN-owned jet and 30 homes across the country, among them a pair of Newport Beach mansions and a ranch in Texas.

When your ministry rakes in $120 million a year, you need to open your books and tell people where that money is going. If these benefits are any indication, it won’t be pretty.

UPDATE: More financial data about TBN:

Paul, 70, collects a $403,700 salary as TBN’s chairman and president. Jan, 67, is paid $361,000 as vice president and director of programming. Those are the highest salaries paid by any of the 12 major religious nonprofits whose finances are tracked by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

TBN’s “prayer partners” pay for a variety of perquisites as well.

The Crouches travel the world in a $7.2-million, 19-seat Canadair Turbojet owned by TBN. They drive luxury cars. They have charged expensive dinners and furniture to TBN credit cards.

Thirty ministry-owned homes are at their disposal — including a pair of Newport Beach mansions, a mountain retreat near Lake Arrowhead and a ranch in Texas.

The Crouches’ family members share in the benefits. Their oldest son, Paul Jr., earns $90,800 a year as TBN’s vice president for administration. Another son, Matthew, has received $32 million from the network since 1999 to produce Christian-themed movies such as “The Omega Code.”

Overseeing these expenditures is a board of directors that consists of Paul Crouch, Jan Crouch and Paul’s 74-year-old sister, Ruth Brown. Control resides primarily with Paul. In a 2001 legal deposition, Jan said she did not know she was a corporate officer and could not recall the last board meeting she attended.

TBN’s declared mission as a tax-exempt Christian charity is to produce and broadcast television shows and movies “for the purpose of spreading the Gospel to the world.”

Supporters’ tax-deductible donations fund the ministry’s worldwide television network — and keep it growing. Expansion is an overriding goal. Televised appeals seek money for new transmitters, more satellite time and fresh cable deals to bring God’s word to an ever-larger audience.

As more people hear the Crouches’ message, more are inspired to send donations. That pays for further expansion, which brings more viewers — and more donations.

The formula has proved extraordinarily successful. While other religious broadcasters have struggled, TBN has posted surpluses averaging nearly $60 million a year since 1997. Its balance sheet for 2002, the most recent available, lists net assets of $583 million, including $238 million in Treasury bonds and other government securities and $31 million in cash. It has 400 employees across the country.