Messenger Ministries

Legal name: Messenger Ministries Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
834133202
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Louisville, KY, USA
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$45,629
Expenses
$133,820
Assets
$134,101
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOSEPH MACK STILES (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOSEPH MACK STILES (PRESIDENT): $71,923 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Messenger Ministries is a church-centered missions think tank devoted to strengthening and emboldening gospel proclamation among all nations for the establishment of healthy, indigenous churches. The Great Commission Council is a coalition of long-term missionaries from around the world who are dedicated to helping sending churches and mission agencies understand the greatest needs in modern missions. Though we come from various backgrounds and serve in different ways, we all agree on one central thing: the greatest need on the mission field today is to establish healthy indigenous churches. Bringing missionaries, mission leaders, and pastors together to reclaim the local church as the heart of missions for the glory of Christ.

What it reported doing in 2025

Edited articles from the missionary council into a book on missions that will be published in 2026. Began planning for a conference to take place in october 2026 to introduce churches, missionaries and intersted parties to material the book presents.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 73% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 62
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -193.3%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 53.7%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -36.1% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -13.8% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $112K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $72K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 17 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.