Ministry Leadership Center
Legal name: Ministry Leadership Center Fka Center for Youth Ministry Training
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 204473859
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Brentwood, TN, US
- Phone
- 1-800-811-8159
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Christianity
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,629,050
- Expenses
- $2,599,681
- Assets
- $7,903,954
- Liabilities
- $114,176
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- DIETRICH KIRK (Executive Dir.): $106,614 total reported compensation
- CORRIE SUMMERVILLE (DIR. OF FINANCE): $31,800 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Ministry Leadership Center equips leaders and faith communities for transformational ministry so future generations embody Christ’s love in the world. Over the years, the Lilly Endowment Inc. generously invested in several new initiatives from CYMT. Among the key outcomes were the development of _Holy Disruptions_ , a curriculum that engages young people in theological reflection, and the launch of the _Ministry Transformation Lab_ , which helps faith communities develop innovated ministries. 2018-2024 CYMT’s mission expanded beyond youth ministry to equip leaders in children’s, college, and family ministries. At the same time, CYMT’s efforts to equip faith communities for innovative ministry grew. CYMT began producing resources to support senior leaders and partnering with various denominations to distribute these tools across the U.S.
What it reported doing in 2024
The center created relationships with new participating partner churches during the year where graduate students were placed to further their youth minstry training. The center continued relationships with partner churches where students have been placed. All these students and churches are building foundation for vibrant and sustainable youth ministry programs.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 85% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 41
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 83
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 28%; rating input score 28
- Program expense ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 65.9%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.04; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.3% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 28% of revenue deployed · 76.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 10 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $107K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 28/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Independent members within voting members did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.