For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.    I Timothy 6:10

In the early days of March 1998, most Way followers had the impression that The Way was doing well financially.

This impression had originated from Martindale's numerous references to the fact that Way followers now "abundantly shared" more per capita, than at any other time in the history of The Way ministry.

The Way Badgers Money From Followers

While Martindale, president of the Way International, felt that this news merited special announcing at a  Sunday Service, the real truth behind the seemingly joyful giving in The Way was that Way followers had been brow-beaten into increasing their weekly donations to help keep the ministry afloat (for some documentation of this, listen to audio clips on the topic of percentages required for giving in our Real Audio section).

Through the 1994 - 1997 years, Martindale had repeatedly and incessantly badgered Way followers to increase their financial giving and to fully support The Way International, the only ministry that God Almighty supported.

Get out of Debt or Get out of The Way

Martindale forced all followers who had debt to get out of debt or get out of the ministry. Those with home mortgages were instructed by local Way Corps leadership to sell their homes and rent instead.

College students were told not to get in debt for college education. Rather, they were told to either find something cheaper to study (switch from medicine to something less expensive), pay cash for their education, or not go to college at all.

In all of this, the Way Corps leadership did give Way followers any common sense suggestions or alternatives on obtaining homes or college education. They simply reiterated Martindale's position and enforced the rules.

Numerous Way followers moved out of homes where their mortgage payments had been considerably lower than what they were now faced with paying for rent. They were also losing all other benefits of home ownership in the process.

Under the watchful eyes of the local area Way Corps, many followers felt duty bound to send in their prescribed 15% abundant sharing of the proceeds from their realized home equity to The Way International. A nice unexpected windfall for The Way.

Many Way followers left The Way or were kicked out, as a result of this "Debt Purge", and were summarily dismissed by Martindale as being slothful and wicked for turning their backs on the ministry instead of doing God's will.

Financial Interviews Carried Out by Way Corps

For those that remained, there began a series of "interviews" by their local area Way Corps overseers.

The Way Corps overseers had been instructed by Martindale to help people with their finances. Help them get out of debt. Show them how. Get in there with their finances and get involved. Teach them how to budget, how to identify what a real need in life is, as opposed to "youthful lust," the desire for "stuff".

Martindale's purpose was to help drive people to the "plurality giving" phase in life (where all income, beyond their genuine need is given to The Way).

The Way Corps began asking their followers intimate questions concerning their finances that they had not had permission to ask before.

Many people gave them the answers. Many felt violated in doing so, but to refuse the Way Corps was to refuse a request from Reverend Martindale, the "Man of God of Our Day and Time". Not many wanted to refuse him.

Some didn't cooperate. They choose instead to keep their private financial business to themselves and many of these people were subsequently invited to leave the Way household. 

As a result of these interviews, the Way Corps had gathered a significant amount of very detailed information pertaining to their followers.

The Way Corps now knew more about Way followers finances than they'd ever known before.

With the Way Corps now knowing the gross and net earnings of many Way followers, there was no longer any question as to what dollar amount those people were to give in the abundant sharing.

Martindale has on many occasions made clear that he believes that ten percent is the minimum amount of giving tolerated - and that would only be tolerated if it was a brand new believer.

For those who had been around for a while, Martindale has been very clear. He wanted proportions of giving "way above eleven, twelve, thirteen, or fourteen percent." (listen to actual audio clips of Martindale making these demands of Way followers in the Real Audio section).

Due to the measures that have been outlined thus far in this article, The Way began to realize more giving per capita than at any other time in The Way.

That picture still holds true today. Whether or not the giving is from joyful givers or because it's brow-beaten from followers is another story.

The Full Time Way Corps Ministers

Simultaneous to all of this badgering of followers for money, Martindale had added about 600 Way Corps to the paid staff of The Way International. That six hundred and their families were proving to be a massive drain on the ministry finances.

When Martindale had received the revelation from God on putting the Corps full time with The Way in 1995 - 1996, his closest advisors Howard Allen and Don Wierwille had not argued the case that The Way couldn't afford it. They too, along with many others in The Way think twice about contradicting Martindale especially in matters where Martindale claims to be acting by Divine guidance.

In one single act (putting the Way Corps full time), Martindale was committing over 60 percent of the abundant sharing of The Way International.

He believed it was a good bet

With 600 full time Corps on the field to recruit for his brand new Way of Abundance and Power class series eight hours a day, and also to ensure that those classes were run according to his standards, how could he lose? The money was sure to roll in.

Martindale never counted on his class not being received well.

Currently, almost all of the graduates of the W.A.P. class are followers who were required to "upgrade" from the Power For Abundant Living class taught by Victor Paul Wierwille.

The Way has not been able to generate much new income from the W.A.P. class as it can't get many of the new class graduates to stay around afterwards and begin abundantly sharing.

Most of the current Way grad base are carry overs from the P.F.A.L. days. Those who have hung in with the Martindale regime.

The drain on Way coffers due to the Way Corps being on the payroll finally grew to alarming proportions.

Even though Way followers were giving far more per capita than they'd ever given before, the full time status of all the Way Corps and the disappointing response to Martindale's W.A.P. class had taken their toll. Martindale began to back pedal.

Emergency Declared

In mid March of 1999, Martindale and the other Way trustees came out on stage at a Way Corps meeting and addressed the Financial Emergency that the ministry had found itself in.

Faced with a $2,000,000.00 FICA tax bill and the depletion of nearly all of the savings that The Way had socked away for a rainy day, Martindale handed out the "Emergency Cutbacks Handout" ( PDF format document), which outlined the strategy that was to be used to help get the ministry back into financial health.

A ten percent pay cut for all employees was the first mandate. Luxuries in life such as cable tv and many activities for children were also getting chopped. Way HQ staff would receive twenty percent less food in their entrees at meal times. The list went on.

Martindale had in effect driven The Way to the brink of financial ruin with the ill fated revelation that the Way Corps should go full time. But he wasn't willing to concede that defeat until several months later. For now, this was a call to arms for every Corps grad and Way staffer, to tighten the belts and go on a "fast" in order to help keep the Corps in their full time status.

Martindale stated many times that it would be a major spiritual defeat if the Way Corps had to resume secular work. God wanted the Way Corps to work full time in the ministry and that was what was best. Anything less was a defeat!

The Way's stated goal in finances, Martindale reported to the Way Corps later on, was to get to the place where the Way could survive and function from the earnings alone from its investments and savings. Martindale wanted to ensure that The Way was a functioning organization into the future and not just a collection of books.

Re-Building the Treasury

The current financial austerity measures in place in The Way International are in place to help The Way rebuild its treasury - not so that The Way can pay next months electricity bill.

The financial emergency is directed towards putting aside money for the future. Doing without now, so that The Way can have a big savings account and a large portfolio.

While there is good to be said about planning for the future, The Way is taking planning for the future to levels that George Mueller of Bristol (founder of many childrens orphanages - Mueller was famous for his trust in God's ability to provide for the future).

With the Way Corp now working secularly again (since December 1st, 1998), the drain on Way coffers and the abundant sharing has been lessened by 60%. But the austerity measures are still in place.

It is the intent of The Way trustees to set aside as much as $50,000,000 or more in their savings in order to survive what Martindale has described as the next category of major attack on The Way - that of finances.

The Way is slimming down and cutting staff. As many as 50 staff people are being released from TWI HQ this summer. About 100 more are to follow next year.

Abundant Sharing

The Way claims that in the "Fog" years many of its leaders and most of its money dissappeared.

Since 1989 Way abundant sharing has been on the increase. It is said that it dropped to a low of about $5 million dollars in 1989 - 1990 and has been on a steady climb since then.

By 1997, abundant sharing to The Way International had risen to almost $17,000,000.00.

This number does not include revenues from class registrations, bookstore sales and other functions such as registration fees for Advanced Class specials.

Conferences, Classes and Bookstore revenues bring in approximately another $2,000,000.00 annually.

Current annual revenues of The Way International therefore are in the order of $19,000.000.00.

Since the current financial woes, Martindale has told the Way Corps on several occasions, that his number one criteria for determining whether or not The Way will host an event or function is now "Will it make a profit?". First and foremost, he has said, "it's got to make a profit!"

The Way Followers Are Tapped Out

While the numbers cited above appear healthy, the truth is that The Way has now reached the maximum it can generate in revenue.

Way followers are not going to increase their percentages of giving. Most are already up at the fifteen percent level.

The Way ranks now number about 5000 working adults.

$17 million in abundant sharing divided by 5000 adults comes to about $3400.00 per annum per believer, or about $283 per month. That's a large amount of money monthly from an average person!

What could you do with $283 extra per month?

Martindale in a Way Corps meeting this year stated that The Way needed to win more people. He went on to say something that alarmed some of those present - WE NEED THE RESOURCES THAT THEY BRING TO THE MINISTRY! - the topic of discussion was clearly financial, and many left the meeting wondering where we were going from here....

Martindale retracted his comments about two weeks later and said that.... we don't want to allow our motivations to be tainted.....

Martindale has already backed off on demanding that followers live up to the "plurality giving" standard. It seemed that no-one had responded anyway.

In his effort to ensure the financial  future of The Way,  Martindale now feels that the only way for the ministry to realize more gain financially is to cut expenses and become a "lean, mean, fighting machine".

The Way HQ staff will be the primary target for more cutbacks, with higher cost staff being the first to get dropped.

The Way will agressively hold on to young staff members, young couples with no children or only one child and will try and release all others in their attempt to become more "profitable".

Staff who have already served with The Way International for ten and twenty years will be relocated to the field and encouraged to get jobs and start saving for retirement (something that The Way has never provided for its staff)

This will leave some of the older staff and those in the forty and fifty year old age bracket in a position where they are starting from "scratch" again - competing with twenty year olds for entry level jobs and facing the prospect of working until they are well into their seventies in order to make ends meet.

The Way is not required to pay social security for its employees - therefore many long term Way workers will be hard hit in retirement as they have accrued little or nothing in their social security accounts.

Conclusion

Surprisingly, through-out all these financial hardships that The Way is battling through, Craig Martindale has repeatedly said that he does not intend to sell his private plane "Athletes."

The plane is currently valued at $1.7 million dollars, and has been used in the past to fly the trustees to locations such as the Bahamas, Florida for special meetings.

(Subsequent to the writing of this article, TWI has sold it's "Athletes" private plane and it's Rome City, Indiana Campus in an effort to shore up the treasury.)