Peter Youngren – running out of grace?

I know very little about a Canadian named Peter Youngren. I do know he has been on the fringes of pentecostalism for several years, makes big  claims,  and bills himself as an evangelist and healer.

Youngren  applied to the CRTC for a licence for what is now called Grace Television Network in 2009. The CRTC approval is Gazetted here. He is affiliated with Open Bible Faith Fellowship which has been a registered charity since 1982. I’m puzzled as to why this  fellowship would have a front man with so many personal problems which preclude people in most denominations from holding leadership positions. If you head out on forums, people who follow him are well aware of his latest affair with a worship leader and divorce proceedings from wife #2. They are aware he has made a lot of money overseas. Who is Youngren accountable too?

He has an organization called World Impact Ministries and a show called Celebrating Life with Jesus airing on Vision TV.

ChristianWeek was not able to get an interview with Youngren, and word is out Charisma Magazine in the US is going to being doing an investigative piece on Youngren. Moncton Metro News:

Christian Minister Peter Youngren who rakes in millions on TV from gullible donors, is leaving his second wife to marry a third and recently got a young lady in his ministry pregnant who was not his wife this has all been confirmed. Charisma Magazine is presently looking into all of this for those of you who do not believe that Peter could have done these things… nonetheless, he did and has not stepped to the plate to repent and is still seeking millions in donations from gullible Christians.

While we believe in restoration, we also believe that the ones being taken in by these wolves in sheep’s clothing are much more important than anyone’s “reputation”… to rebuke myself or anyone else for asking Peter to step down fro a time of restoration is ungodly and cruel to those who have lost finances that Peter has taken.

Some would say that such a minister should not be brought into the open as is now being done…however, had Peter acknowledged his moral failures there would be no need to go public.

ChristianWeek hit the proverbial brick wall:

I’ve been assigned to interview Youngren for ChristianWeek, but tracking him down proves more difficult than expected.

When I contact WIM, Thurber explains that Youngren is not available for interview personally as he is currently ministering in the U.S. I try again the following week, when he is in the office briefly, but Youngren is too busy with other obligations to take my call or respond to emailed questions. I try again, but the following week Youngren is off to Africa, where hundreds of thousands have attended his speaking events.

I find myself writing an article about a man’s personal vision without having discussed it with him personally—which is hard, considering Youngren’s vision is to impact Christians across the country and shape our spiritual message to the world.

So I call three others in the Canadian Christian media—explaining the breadth of Youngren’s vision and ask if they have interviewed him about it personally; none have. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has heard of Youngren’s ministry, but have no comment to make.

Thurber points me to an exclusive article that ran in in Maranatha News in March. In it Youngren offers written replies to a list of questions.

I found a 2004 Marantha news interview with Youngren here and the March 2009 interview with Marantha is here.
Youngren runs World Impact Ministries. The ‘bible school’ which he runs does not appear to be accredited and the online fees are $170.00. This guy attended in person and spent 3500 dollars.  Just about everything he offers is for sale, from books to tours to courses He also runs a tour group to Israel called Way of Peace. I can’t figure out if the three churches he seems to be a part of in Southern Ontario called Celebrationare run under the authority of Open Bible Fellowship or are independents. Two were registered in 1991 by Youngren, and one of his older sons resigned as a leader from the Toronto church the end of 2009. A daughter left World Impact Ministries.
He gets a mention in a 1993 article in the New York Times as founder of Moscow Christian Center, and appears to be your standard Word-Faith (prosperity) teacher.  He still has a program on Vision TV.

His World Impact Ministries had assets of about 5 million in 2008 according to the tax return. It was registered  in 1976.

Grace TV “Building your gospel voice to the world’ is a  non-profit with grand plans. Most of the programming is prosperity gospel and New Apostolic Reformation. It is cross platformed into Facebook, Twitter, blog, mobile apps and sells merchandise, tours and conferences as Youngren attempts to separate a new group of believers  from their money.

It remains to be seen what Charisma magazine may say about him, it is not a magazine known for investigative articles. However if people inclined believe what they see as gospel are warned about another Canadian charlatan with personal problems, that’s a bonus.