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John W. Kennedy's Christianity Today cover story, "The Not-for-Profit Surge" [May], was right on. While data on the recession's impact on churches and Christ-centered organizations are scant—the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability's (ECFA) data are based on members' year-end reporting, and thus lag significantly—the anecdotal information supports Kennedy's excellent article.

Have some organizations seen declines in giving, and have a few organizations felt major impacts? Yes. But over and over, stories have poured in of how God prompted someone to make a significant gift that a ministry did not expect. And many ministries have been blessed with an increase in unrestricted gifts—the best kind. One of our members received a promise of a $350,000 unrestricted gift if it could be matched. The ministry watched in amazement as the goal was more than met in record time.

Once again, God has been faithful to his people, and God's people have faithfully supported his work.

Dan Busby
President, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
Winchester, Virginia

I'm grateful that CT's May cover story highlighted the reality that, even in a difficult economic environment, God's work continues, and God's people remain generous. However, in mentioning Wycliffe Bible Translators' relational style with its partners, John W. Kennedy described our mission as having "little to do with fighting poverty."

While it's true that Wycliffe's mission does not specifically speak about poverty, Bible translation—and the language development foundational to it—often is the starting point for solutions to some of the world's pressing humanitarian issues. Many are surprised to discover what begins when Bible translation takes place in a community: literacy, education, improved health care, government relations, and community empowerment. All of these work to combat poverty.

 Literacy and education help communities deal with social justice issues and combat the spread of diseases like hiv/aids and malaria. A United Nations study found that a 1 percent rise in women's literacy is three times more likely to reduce deaths of children than is a 1 percent rise in the number of doctors.

Wycliffe believes everyone has a right to know through Scripture the One who is the source of eternal life—and to have access to information that provides them ways to overcome painful conditions in this life.

Bob Creson
President, Wycliffe Bible Translators USA
Orlando, Florida

As a longtime member of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (CRPC) and co-author with the late D. James Kennedy of several books, I was surprised by one assertion in Collin Hansen's fine profile of Tullian Tchividjian ["Out of Step and Fine with It, "May]. He wrote, "Once visited by as many as 7,000 on Sunday mornings, Coral Ridge shrunk to 1,400–1,500 regular attendees as Kennedy's attention turned to national politics."

This implies that a shift in Kennedy's preaching and ministry resulted in a major drop in attendance. Kennedy held a Kuyperian, Reformed worldview and discussed biblical stances on key issues—some of them controversial. But such hot-button sermons were relatively infrequent, he never endorsed candidates or political parties, and he did not adopt a new emphasis at some point in his ministry.

Furthermore, I think the statistics regarding the decline were somewhat exaggerated. The CRPC sanctuary seats 2,200. Since there were regularly two morning services in the sanctuary at the height of weekly attendance, the zenith of 7,000 weekly attendees cited in Hansen's story seems overstated.

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July 2009, Vol. 53, No. 7