A Carmel-based megachurch that quietly quadrupled a retirement payout to its longtime senior pastor in 2022 is undergoing a formal compliance review by the Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability, an organization that provides accreditation for religious organizations that agree to adhere to a set of standards that promote responsible stewardship.
Staci Brown, ECFA senior vice president of member accountability and relations, confirmed the review of Northview Church but declined to provide details about what led to the review or specific concerns, directing questions to the church. The review was still underway as of April 25 and has been ongoing since at least December 2023.
Northview officials postponed a meeting with Current to discuss financial matters and then declined to reschedule it, asking for questions to be submitted by email instead. The church posted Current’s questions and responses from church elders in its app in early February and sent the document to Current more than two weeks later.
In the answers posted on the app, Northview elders acknowledged the ECFA’s ongoing compliance review.
“If there are allegations of noncompliance, then the ECFA will conduct a compliance review. The allegations in this matter came from sources taking things out of context,” the document states. “The review was not instigated because ECFA saw something in the financial data that caused them concern and warranted an investigation. Everything requested in the review has been submitted to the ECFA as they are still conducting their review.”
According to ECFA’s website, a formal compliance review occurs “when there is a serious concern of noncompliance.” If ECFA staff determine noncompliance, its board may suspend or terminate the organization’s membership.
Brown said she does not know when the review will be complete, but that ECFA aims in all cases to “conduct the reviews as expeditiously as possible, while being as thorough as necessary.” The results will not be publicly released by ECFA.
Northview has been accredited by ECFA since 2017. ECFA records show that Northview reported cash donations of more than $27 million in 2022 and total revenues of more than $30 million. It reported $26.9 million in expenses.
ECFA and Northview did not provide information about specific concerns being addressed through the review, but a quadrupled retirement benefit provided to a retiring senior pastor caught the attention of the church’s auditor. It is not clear if the retirement benefit is being evaluated as part of ECFA’s compliance review.
According to Northview’s audit report for 2021 and 2022, conducted by Indianapolis-based firm Capin Crouse, in September 2022 the church increased its retirement benefit for longtime Senior Pastor Steve Poe from $700,000 over five years to $2.8 million over seven years, which was noted in the “subsequent events” portion of the document. Poe, now the church’s legacy pastor, retired in October 2022 after working at the church for two decades.
After a second request for comment, Poe responded to an email from Current by questioning Current’s motivations for reporting the story.
“A story about what?” he stated. “I’m having a hard time understanding what your motivation is?”
In response to Current’s questions, Northview’s elders explained the retirement benefit increase, which they stated was instigated with them by Poe “while discussing necessary due diligence/comparisons.”
“In 2015 the board of elders used an outside firm to conduct a salary audit of various leadership roles within the church including the senior pastor. This resulted in the discovery that the senior pastor’s salary and benefits package were significantly lower than other pastors of churches of similar size and had been for 10 to 12 years. This was adjusted in 2015 for future compensation,” the document states. “As Northview began preparations for succession there were multiple conversations regarding the retirement benefit of our senior pastor amongst the elders. In light of compensation lagging behind the rapid growth of our church the elders again consulted with outside sources to help determine the best step forward. The decision was made to adjust the amount to more accurately reflect a complete compensation package both past and present.”
The elders also stated that they handle all compensation-related decisions regarding the senior pastor, which they said is outlined in the church bylaws.
Northview did not respond to questions about Poe’s salary or the salaries of other members of the executive team. Although most nonprofits are required to publicly report the compensation of employees who make $150,000 or more and its five highest-paid employees who make $100,000 or more, churches are exempt from these reporting requirements.
As president of MinistryWatch, an organization that advocates for donors to religious groups, Warren Cole Smith said he has reviewed many retirement compensation packages and that Poe’s “is not normal.”
“Big churches often do pay big salaries, but this kind of compensation is absolutely an outlier,” he said. “My personal opinion is that I consider it outrageous. I would consider it to be doubly outrageous if the congregation did not know about it.”
Northview did not alert the congregation of the compensation package until after Current contacted church leaders for an interview about it and other financial matters.
The elders stated in their response to Current’s questions that “the only person(s) that would be able to assess if this amount was too large would be someone that was able to review all the data and facts surrounding comparable situations/circumstances.”
“For this reason, the church used multiple sources in its review and consultation. Northview also relied on information from various experts in this field in making the decision,” the elders stated in response to Current’s question about Cole Smith’s response.
Cole Smith said he believes all church members and donors should have access to church financial data, including salaries of senior leadership. Although Northview’s website states that it will provide its audit report to those who request it, the audit does not include information on individual compensation.
Northview operates 12 campuses across central Indiana.
A delayed response
In January, Northview officials postponed a meeting with Current to discuss financial matters and then declined to reschedule it, asking for questions to be submitted by email instead. After initially committing to provide a response by Jan. 26, Northview Executive Pastor Jason Pongratz accused Current of using a previous statement from the church out of context and not printing it in its entirety (the full original statement and Current’s use of it are included below).
On Feb. 1, Pongratz emailed to ask if Current would include the elders’ answers to the questions in full with the article but did not provide the answers. Current responded that it was outside of journalistic standards to agree to those conditions but that “we very much want and intend to tell your side of the story regarding all of the questions” and that the paper would consider publishing them in whole. Current did not receive a response.
During weekend services Feb. 3 and 4, Northview Senior Pastor CJ Johnson addressed the matter and said – without naming Current – that “the reporter declined the elders’ request” and that the questions and answers would be posted on Northview’s app. Pongratz didn’t send the elders’ responses to Current until more than two weeks later.
Northview statement regarding previous story:
“Northview’s elders have conducted a full due diligence process in regard to Pastor CJ. This process encompassed the very story you are investigating. The leadership of Northview Church did not take this task lightly. Everyone involved has worked hard to ensure that the selection of the senior pastor was a person that they could confidently stand behind as the person God has for the church for the next chapter in Northview’s history. What has been a great turn in the story is that members of Pastor CJ’s former staff have recently reached out to own their parts of the distortion of truth and have begun the reconciliation process with Pastor CJ. Although Northview Church can understand your desire to make connections with these organizations/individuals to determine a potential story, we believe that it is in the best interest of all involved for our church to respect the former staff members privacy and give them the space to heal with Pastor CJ. We do not wish to reopen old wounds or compromise the privacy of those involved. At this time, and for this reason, Northview will not be commenting further or providing any additional information.”
Current’s use of the statement:
In a prepared statement sent to Current on behalf of Northview’s elders, executive team and Poe, Executive Pastor Jason Pongratz said the church’s elders conducted a full “due diligence process” when hiring CJ Johnson and that church leadership “did not take this task lightly.”
“Everyone involved has worked hard to ensure that the selection of the senior pastor was a person that they could confidently stand behind as the person God has for the church for the next chapter in Northview’s history. What has been a great turn in the story is that members of Pastor CJ’s former staff have recently reached out to own their parts of the distortion of truth and have begun the reconciliation process with Pastor CJ,” the statement read. “We believe that it is in the best interest of all involved for our church to respect the former staff members’ privacy and give them the space to heal with Pastor CJ. We do not wish to reopen old wounds or compromise the privacy of those involved. At this time, and for this reason, Northview will not be commenting further or providing any additional information.”
‘Almost no one knows about it’
According to Warren Cole Smith, president of MinistryWatch, it has become increasingly difficult for donors to some churches to track down financial information.
“If you go back 50 years, more than 90 percent of churches were part of a denomination, especially large churches, so there were systems of accountability, structure, oversight and transparency, at least within the church denomination,” he said. “But what you find now is a nondenominational church is completely independent. It doesn’t have any sort of outside accountability, and that’s why situations like this evolve. You can have these multi-million dollar compensation plans, and they often get put in place when almost no one knows about it.”
Northview was affiliated with the Assemblies of God denomination but left to become independent and nondenominational approximately 20 years ago.
