After closing its young adult missionary and boot camp program due to allegations of emotional, financial and labor abuse, a Montana ministry has rebranded as a feeding program for children. The couple heading the ministry — former Calvary Chapel pastor Mike Rozell and his wife Pam Rozell — also has started two restaurants, called Mudman Burgers, which advertises itself as giving a portion of its proceeds to missions.

“In Montana, the two Mudman Burgers locations in Columbia Falls and Whitefish serve more than just delicious burgers, fries, and shakes. They serve hope,” states a Sept. 19 press release. “Under the leadership of Pastor Mike Rozell, these restaurants channel a portion of their profits into Potters Field Ministries, fueling programs that reach underprivileged children worldwide. Every meal purchased at Mudman Burgers becomes, in the words of Pam Rozell, ‘an insurance policy that some child, somewhere, will hear the life-changing message of Jesus.’”

Sin embargo, The Roys Report (TRR) found that less than 30% of the revenue of Potter’s Field Ministries, founded by the Rozells, goes to program expenses. TRR also asked Mike Rozell how much of the income from the Mudman restaurants goes to missions, but he declined to release Mudman’s donation records.

A stream of glowing press releases also fail to mention the Rozells’ troubling back story, but instead tout the alleged worldwide impact of their ministries’ feeding programs.

“Through feeding programs, Christian education, and discipleship, children in East Africa, Cambodia, and Guatemala are being transformed,” an Aug. 1 press release states. “And at the center of this mission are two humble servants — Pastor Mike Rozell and Pam Rozell — using burgers as a bridge to the Gospel.”

‘Humble servants’ or unrepentant abusers?

The Rozells were once famous among prominent Calvary Chapel churches with their combined pottery (hence the name “Mudman”) and singing ministry. Then Mike Rozell became infamous when abuse allegations at the couple’s Potter’s Field Ranch in Whitefish erupted in 2019.

But now, the Rozells are reinventing themselves via targeted public relations for work they’re doing overseas.

Besides dodging questions about finances, Mike Rozell didn’t give an on-the-record answer to The Roys Report’s (TRR) questions about any safeguarding policies for the children the ministry is reaching overseas. Nor has he publicly responded to past abuse allegations.

But last week, Rozell asked employee Harrun Onunga to call TRR from Uganda on the Rozells’ behalf.

Onunga said that Potter’s Field Ministries partners with local churches that provide “covering” and do their own background checks. Onunga, who has a law degree, said he also oversees the work to make sure it’s done safely.

Some onlookers, such as Michael Newnham, are concerned. Newnham, a former Calvary pastor-turned-whistleblower who runs the Phoenix Preacher website, has collected about 50 stories of survivors who alleged abuse by Rozell.

“Why would I have confidence in people caring for our foreign children when they didn’t care for our own?” Newnham asked TRR.

What Newnham is talking about doesn’t faze Mike Donovan, the PR representative behind the campaign to repair the Rozells’ reputation. Donavan unapologetically states he’s using search engine optimization and “extreme ranking power” to change the public’s perception of the Rozells. After personally investigating Rozell, he believes Rozell is innocent, “betrayed” and the target of a smear campaign by Calvary Chapel.

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” said Donovan. “I just felt God wanted me to fix all the negative narrative going on.”

The Rozells used to run a discipleship school, boot camp, Ignite missionary intern program and a child sponsorship program all under their Montana-based Potter’s Field Ranch and Potter’s Field Ministries. The Rozells also started Mudman Burgers, ostensibly to help fund it all.

But starting in 2019, the media y el Phoenix Preacher began reporting on Rozell’s alleged cult-like and abusive treatment of young adults, along with Acoso sexual. The allegations also included overworking staff and interns in the Rozells’ ministries and burger business.

Prominent Calvary Chapel pastors accused Rozell of misusing hundreds of thousands of child sponsorship funds. Also, Patmos, a boot camp spin-off from Potter’s Field that was started by former Potter’s Field leader Chet Lowe, ha sido acusado of simulating torture and mistreating students.

In July of 2019, Calvary Chapel ended its support of Potter’s Field. Rob McCoy, pastor of GodSpeak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks, California, came to “wind the ministry down.”

The Rozells resigned. And in 2020, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry gobernó the Rozells had to pay former employees of both Mudman and its nonprofits $150,000 in back pay.

Donovan told TRR this was a “hostile takeover built on fabrications” by Calvary Chapel pastors trying to get access to a “multi-million dollar” child sponsorship ministry.

Instead of completely shutting down, Potter’s Field announced in late 2019 it would be reorganizing, partially due to a two-year state requirement to stay open in case anybody wanted to sue them, los medios informaron.

In a scathing open letter to Rozell, Craig Linquist, missions pastor at GodSpeak, wrote that Rozell hadn’t truly repented. Linquist also said Rozell had been dishonest, manipulative, and distorted facts about a recent audit.

Linquist also accused Rozell of spending only 25% of sponsorship money on children who subsequently were in a “funding crisis” because of Rozell’s actions.  As a result, Linquist determined that Rozell had “disqualified himself” from being a pastor. (On his website, Rozell still refers to himself as a pastor.)

A comeback or more of the same?

This past May, the Rozells wrote En facebook that they started a new Potter’s Field Kids Club in Entebbe, Uganda.

“We had 50 children show up the first weekend and now it has grown to over 80 kids,” the Rozells wrote on their joint Facebook account. “Please pray for these precious children and that more will be touched by the Lord, taught the Word of God, fed a nutritious meal and experience the love of Jesus Christ.”

So, is this work overseas a comeback for the Rozells?  Both tax records and Donovan say: Not exactly.

“They never stopped,” Donovan told TRR.

These records show the Rozells have kept doing the sponsorship and feeding ministry, even after allegations surfaced, and the other programs closed down. The child sponsorship program — while advertised on its website as being part of Potter’s Field Ministries — is listed in tax records as Potter’s Field Ranch (PFR). The child sponsorship and kids’ feeding program is listed as PFR’s primary mission, along with some stateside evangelism, in tax records beginning in 2020.

The Rozells restarted their Mudman Burgers chain in mayo 2020. In 2019, they had three locations, but now they have two.

From 2020 to 2023, PFR spent only 24% to 29% of its total expenses on its programs overseas, the rest mostly going to overhead. In contrast, Compassion International sends 80% of funds to its programs overseas, according to CharityWatch. Similarly, World Vision spends 82% on its programs for kids and communities overseas, CharityWatch reported.

CharityWatch gives nonprofits spending less than 35% on programs an F-rating.

In 2020, the year Montana was investigating the Rozells for labor violations, Potter’s Field Ranch brought in more than $500,000 in grants and contributions, PFR’s 990 shows. About $154,000 of $529,000 (or 29%) in total expenses went to five countries overseas, their 990 states. PFR didn’t report a salary for the Rozells that year. 

In 2021, the ministry brought in $426,000 in grants and contributions and $430,000 in investment income. Rozell took a $21,000 salary with an additional $57,000 in other compensation. About $168,000 of $629,000 total expenses (or almost 27%) were sent to the work overseas, the 990 tax form shows.

In 2022, Michael Rozell’s salary shot up to $110,000 in total annual compensation for 35 hours a week and Pam was paid $62,000 annually for 10 hours a week, tax records show. A total of $146,000 of $596,000 total expenses (or 24%) was sent to Uganda, Kenya, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Guatemala for “missionary support,” PFR’s 990 tax form shows

About $445,000 came in that year from donations and grants and $28,000 came from investments, but they still ran a deficit of $122,000, the ministry’s 990 tax form shows. Salaries made up the bulk of their other expenses.

In 2023, the ministry brought in $314,000 in grants and contributions and sent $153,766 of its $523,602 (or 29 percent) total expenses to the five countries overseas, that year’s PFR 990 tax form shows. Rozell was paid $42,000 that year.

In three of the past four years, the four-member PFR board has included Mike as president and Pam as vice president. Other board members have included long-time Potter’s Field supporter Steve Miller and Anthony Croteau.  In 2022, there was a fifth board member, Thomas Matson.

According to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, at least half of a nonprofit’s board should be independent — not staff members or people related by blood or marriage to staff or other board members.

Mike Rozell’s response

Potter’s Field Ministries publishes regular newsletters with stories of the impact of the overseas ministry but doesn’t publish annual financial audits on its site. Rozell wouldn’t release any audits to TRR.

But Rozell told TRR the Internal Revenue Service spent five years auditing PFR’s finances and “exonerated” the ministry. He read a letter to TRR that he said described the IRS’s findings but didn’t provide TRR a copy. According to Rozell, the letter states that the only fee PFR must pay is a settlement payment of $1,470.

Rozell said the letter states he must also close the PFR nonprofit that once held the ranch’s discipleship school since the primary purpose was a school not child sponsorship. However, the child sponsorship could be moved to another nonprofit, such as Potter’s Field Ministries of Montana, which is in good standing with Montana’s secretary of state.

Rozell said the reason why the IRS was investigating him in the first place was because Rob McCoy “betrayed” him, his wife, and the PFR board by interfering with its ministry in 2019. McCoy is a co-founder, along with the late charlie kirk, of Turning Point USA.

Onunga told TRR that he’s worked for PFR in Kenya, the DRC, and now, Uganda. He said the allegations were made by interns with “personal issues” and were “absurd.” He said he’s watched the scandal — fueled by “gossip” — damage PFR’s ability to provide for children in Africa.

PR representative Donovan provided his own statement of support of the Rozells to TRR, accusing the Calvary Chapel pastors who publicly criticized PFR of choosing “politics and power over truth and the call of God.”

TRR reached out to McCoy and Linquist at GodSpeak for a response, but a staff member said they are both traveling overseas.

TRR also reached out to Don McClure, a leader in the Calvary Chapel Association at the time. McClure spoke out in 2019 and 2020 about “heartbreaking” stories from Potter’s Field and Rozell’s “terrible fits of anger.” McClure also wrote about Rozell’s propensity to deceptively blame others for his problems.

McClure did not respond.

Rozell told TRR that he’s confident money from sponsors and Mudman Burgers donations are going to feed needy children.   

“I have fought with my life to keep down what others have taken,” he said. “I will tell you this; if you harm and hurt what we have left, it’s children who will (be in) need.”

As of Friday, Rozell declined to release financial records saying how much the for-profit restaurant Mudman has donated to overseas ministries, only consenting to release numbers of meals PFR has provided to children overseas. It is unclear whether these meals were bought with PFR funds from sponsors or Mudman proceeds donated to PFR.

Onunga and other staff told TRR that PFR (Mudman’s nonprofit) has never missed a promised financial transfer to overseas PFR field accounts to provide kids meals.

Since 2015, PFR has provided at least 182,000 meals for kids in DRC, Onunga said. In Uganda, PFR has provided about 429,000 meals in Uganda since 2019, said PFR staff Chris Annunziato. Since 2013, PFR has provided more than one million meals in Cambodia, according to Rozell.

But Ashley Ruiz, a paralegal in Fort Lauderdale representing clients trying to get justice for civil cases against various companies, had concerns after attending Potter’s Field as a student. She’s skeptical of Rozell’s latest endeavors, worried Rozell will exploit vulnerable kids like he allegedly did young adults at Potter’s Field Ranch.

“They conceal their grift behind a veneer of humble service to Christ and the church and make excuses for their bad behavior by chalking it up to being imperfect sinners saved by grace,” Ruiz told TRR. “The folks who are left in their wake know better.”

Rebecca Hopkins es una periodista radicada en Colorado.