Talk:Every Nation Churches & Ministries/mediation

Users involved

Please add yourself if you wish to participate in mediation. If you wish to add another user, please inform that user that his or her name has been added.

Articles involved

Every Nation (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
Victory Christian Fellowship (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Issues to be mediated

Please place a neutral statement of issues you believe need to be mediated here.

EN

Dispute Over Finances: Whether or not this section should exist at all, concerns over weasel wording, biography of living persons, and reliability and potential original research issues with sourcing to "990" forms (primary sources).

Inpop Records: Dispute regarding whether this organization is "affiliated" with Every Nation, or simply shares some membership in common, concerns with sourcing.

Thelma Bowlen^Talk 08:55, 2 May 2007 (UTC) (Note: This comment has been refactored for neutrality of presentation. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 15:55, 6 May 2007 (UTC))

Process of mediation

The mediation will take part in four parts:

Agreement: All parties involved will indicate agreement or disagreement to participation. If any party disagrees, mediation will not proceed.
Facts and principles: Each party and the mediator will have the opportunity to place for discussion what they believe to be facts and principles that can already be agreed upon by all sides. If all parties agree, the fact or principle will be considered agreed to for the remaining discussion.
Finding sources: Each party will present all sources which (s)he believes should be included in the article. After all sources have been presented, the parties will discuss the appropriateness and reliability of each source found.
Suggested edits: Each party will have the opportunity to suggest edits which integrate the found source material into the final article. These edits will be discussed by all parties. If consensus can be reached, the edits will be implemented to the article.

While some suggestions and source material may be appropriate to more than one article, each discussion will take place according to a single article. As multiple articles are involved, separate discussions will run simultaneously for each individual article. If a source or suggestion may apply to more than one article, crossposting is welcome.

Everyone involved is expected to be civil during the mediation process. Uncivil comments may be removed or refactored by the mediator. It is also requested that involved parties refrain from editing the articles in question during mediation, except to deal with blatant vandalism.

Proposals for agreement

In this stage, please indicate proposals of principle or fact which you believe all sides can already agree on, under a heading such as the one below. I've started off with some proposals. Each party should indicate agreement or disagreement with each proposal, if disagreed, it would be very helpful to explain why you disagree.

Proposals by Seraphimblade

As with all articles on Wikipedia, the articles in question should be written with a neutral viewpoint, and should not serve as either a whitewash or an attack piece. Both positive and negative information should be presented in a neutral tone and without undue weight.

Agree

Disagree

All information in these articles should be attributed to reliable sources, and should not be the work of an editor's personal knowledge or synthesis of information.

Agree

Disagree

Primary sources should be used with great caution, and should not be used at all if it is unduly self-serving or negative. If primary sources are used, only purely descriptive claims should be made from them.

Agree

Disagree

Sources with a clear bias should be handled with the same caution as primary sources, and should not be used as the sole source of very positive or negative content.

Agree

Disagree

Issues to be discussed

Please place discussion of the issues under mediation here.

Every Nation issues

Dispute Over Finances: Whether or not this section should exist at all, concerns over weasel wording, biography of living persons, and reliability and potential original research issues with sourcing to "990" forms (primary sources).

Answer: This actually WAS discussed in the mainstream media during the Champions for Christ blowup in 1998.

Florida Times-Union (January 8, 1998 edition): "An Agent for the Lord," by Margie Mason.

Though Feste and Ball deny any business links, Executives for Christ is listed as a related organization on Champions' tax returns. Tax records also show Feste's non-profit group, The Malachi Foundation, gave Ball $16,464 last year. Another $76,000 was given to other ministers and charitable organizations, and Feste said that's what it's all about.

Chicago Tribune (August 9, 1998 edition): "Enis' Agent Says he Goes by Book--The Bible" by Rick Morrissey and Robert Becker. Quote:

"I have no affiliation with Champions," he said last week. Tax records show The Malachi Foundation, the non-profit group he heads, gave Greg Ball a total of $34,015 in 1995 and 1996 and another $1,150 to CFC in that same span. Ball is the president of Champions for Christ. Feste said his charitable foundation helps support about 20 pastors and evangelists around the country, including Ball.

CNN/SI: "An unholy alliance?" August 22, 1998. Several mentions of Feste's donations to Champions for Christ, including a mention at the very beginning that he's a "longtime benefactor."Blueboy 96 19:41, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Mediator comment Blueboy, could you please clarify "Champions for Christ"? I'm not honestly sure what that organization is or what it has to do with anything here. It may, but I don't recall it having come up before. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 05:28, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Champions for Christ (or CFC for short) is Every Nation's outreach to college and pro athletes. It was once part of Maranatha. That's the rub here ... Feste claims he doesn't give to any "disqualified persons," and yet he admits being a member of the board of Executives for Christ, a subsidiary organization of CFC.Blueboy 96 19:02, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Inpop Records: Dispute regarding whether this organization is "affiliated" with Every Nation, or simply shares some membership in common, concerns with sourcing.

There wouldn't be anything to this if it weren't for the fact that Rice Broocks is on the board. Also, what's the issue with sourcing? If this were a supermarket tabloid, that would be another thing.Blueboy 96 19:41, 8 May 2007 (UTC) Not to mention the fact that two of the other shareholders are Mark Brunell and Tony Boselli--prominent CFC leaders. And Wes Campbell is president of EN Productions. Sorry, but I call it as I see it--either you've got one whopper of a coincidence, or you've got pretty strong evidence of a close relationship between InPop and EN. And if you want another source, I've got one--written by a prominent EN leader, I might add: http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2004/10/10/20041010rel01.html Blueboy 96 21:53, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Mediator comment I presume CFC is Champions for Christ, again? Could you please clarify what that is? Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 05:28, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Same thing, see above. Blueboy 96 19:02, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Victory Christian Fellowship issues

None raised as yet.