American footballer, wife sue popular ministry for alleged misusing donated funds

An American footballer, Derek Carrier and his wife, Dora, have sued the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), for allegedly misusing the money the sowed into the ministry.

Carrier, a tight end for Las Vegas Raiders, claimed he and his wife, listened to the RZIM podcast and gave the ministry $30,000 in January 2020, Christianity Today has reported.

They are seeking jury trial and asking for compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages, the newspaper said.

RZIM was founded by Ravi Zacharias, who died in 2020.

The ministry slipped into controversy after an investigation revealed that Zacharias had a history of sexual abuse.

Its Board also apologised to donors and others for failing to “ensure the accountability of Ravi Zacharias.”

In the suit filed in Atlanta by their lawyers, Carrier and his wife asked the federal court to certify them as representatives of a class of donors hurt by the ministry.

The lawyers categorised the class as not only the Carriers and others who gave large sums of money to the ministry, but also those who supported it with $5, $10 and $100.

“I would imagine the vast majority of donors gave under $100. Nobody is going to file a claim for $100. Nobody can bear the cost of going to court for such a small amount. A class action allows us to represent all the donors and hold this ministry accountable for what was really a sham,” Kim Johnson, counsel to the Carriers told Christianity Today.

The Carriers alleged that the world largest apologetics ministry “deceived faithful Christians” and “bilked tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars from well-meaning donors.”

He said they backed the ministry to touch both the heart and the intellect of the thinkers and opinion makers of society with the truth of the gospel and trusted the integrity of its authorities but little did they know that Zacharias was sexually abusing employees.

CT reported that Carrier and his wife who are based in Nevada began to support RZIM after years of listening to its daily programmes like “Just Thinking” and weekly “Let My People Think.”

The couple had Zacharias requesting $300,000 in November 2019 and resolved to give $30,000 to the ministry, apart from sending part of their tithe.

Before Zacharias died, his daughter, Sarah Davis, had taken over the leadership of RZIM.

According to CT, Davis had announced in March 2021 that RZIM would reorganise as a grant giving ministry, distributing funds to other groups with the mandate of defending the truth of the gospel and caring for victims of sexual abuse.

CT also reported that RZIM has an estimated $30-$45 million though it has not reported donations to the Internal Revenue Service because it classified itself as a church in 2015. At the time, it was receiving about $25 million in gifts annually.