Bitcoin Forum

Cross of Christ Ministries
http://www.crossofchristministries.org/ (http://www.crossofchristministries.org/)

This is a bona fide and seasoned Christian ministry in Nigeria. Their web site gives really good information about the work there. They just added the bitcoin donation option through BitPay. I sent my first bitcoin donations yesterday; maybe others here will join me? Here's their donations page: http://www.crossofchristministries.org/#!donate/c1hgf (http://www.crossofchristministries.org/#!donate/c1hgf)

As long as it isn't a Nigerian Prince, I'm alright with donating a bit to them. :)

You should donate here: http://www.princefoundation.org/ (http://www.princefoundation.org/)

We need to know where we are donating before making a donation 8) 8)

Maybe I will once they start accepting bitcoins as donation. ;)

Has someone verified who is the owner of this website?

Is this Nigerian church affiliated to Nigerian royalty, princes perhaps?

What are you basing your statement upon? Because it is Nigerian as in those 'Nigerian Princes'?
Could you provide us with some details? If it is not a scam I have some funds that are left for donations and could send it their way.

The word 'Nigerian' has earned numerous negativity for no wrongful reasons. As soon as I hear 'Nigerian', I want to run into the opposite direction as fast as I can, as soon as I can.

Even if this is legit, the word 'Nigerian' puts me off.

Are you associated with this "charity"?

crossofchristministries.org
Registrar Info
Name    Network Solutions, LLC (R63-LROR)
Status    clientTransferProhibited
Important Dates
Expires On    September 15, 2014
Registered On    September 15, 2013
Updated On    November 15, 2013
Name Servers
ns1.wix.com    216.139.213.90
ns2.wix.com    95.211.144.195

Registrant Contact Information:
    Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC
    City: Jacksonville
    State: FL
    Zip: 32258
    Country: US
    Phone: +1.9027492701
    Email: Email Masking Image@domaindiscreet.com

Administrative Contact Information:
    Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC
    City: Jacksonville
    State: FL
    Zip: 32258
    Country: US
    Phone: +1.9027492701
    Email: Email Masking Image@domaindiscreet.com

Technical Contact Information:
    Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC
    City: Jacksonville
    State: FL
    Zip: 32258
    Country: US
    Phone: +1.9027492701
    Email: Email Masking Image@domaindiscreet.com

http://nccsweb.urban.org/orgs/profile.php/201086409?popup=1
http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/orgs/profile/201086409?popup=1#overview

http://www.trulia.com/homes/Illinois/Champaign/sold/20015335-3201-Amy-Dr-Champaign-IL-61822

Unfinished new site, documenting accomplishments that preceded the sites registration. Residential home in IL acting as "Headquarters". Site Uses repeated images purchased or taken from Getty Images instead of their own images :

http://static.wixstatic.com/media/5dfc53_f45ce5d4c9d04210b48ee962e3a5dee0.png
http://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/western-africa/2014/08/07/ebola-update-health-minister/
http://www.hausa.rfi.fr/najeriya/20140717-boko-haram-sarakunan-hausawa-sun-yi-gargadi-ga-mazauna-lagos


Hmmm... ???

better donate somewhere here:

http://bitcoin100.org/charities/

As you can see from the donations page, the ministry is a U.S. registered non-profit organization. "Cross of Christ Ministries is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. All donations made to the Cross of Christ are tax deductible." The husband and wife directors of the mission live in Champaign, IL. But they stay in constant contact with the African outreach, often travelling there to work for extended periods of time. The director lectures at the University of Lagos.

How did you come across this charity if you don't mind me asking? Do you work for them or are they friends of yours?

Yes, the owners are the directors of the ministry. http://www.crossofchristministries.org/#!people/ctep (http://www.crossofchristministries.org/#!people/ctep)

NO.  You can verify that in their non-profit documents filed with the IRS.  It's all in the public record.

That's what I assumed this would be as soon as I saw it  :D.

Yes, the concern is anyone can start a nonprofit. I could create one in 15 minutes for 70usd and get an EIN number shortly after. Getting 501(c)(3) takes longer as You must file with the IRS first and wait for them to grant the status. Christian religious non-profits are much more easily awarded 501(c)(3) than other non-profits as well.

These ministers could be individuals with good intentions of fraudsters as is very common with these types of operations. There is no history and open reports with BBB or Give with this charity - http://www.give.org and they are not openly disclosing their financials on their website either.

The circumstances of this couple running a charity remotely half way around the world is suspicious as well as all the problems with their website.

No. I just found out about it recently myself, from this article in a local newspaper..
http://herald-review.com/news/local/medical-missionary-to-nigeria-travels-in-shadow-of-ebola/article_78918451-4b79-59a4-b43b-e24638ec3091.html (http://herald-review.com/news/local/medical-missionary-to-nigeria-travels-in-shadow-of-ebola/article_78918451-4b79-59a4-b43b-e24638ec3091.html)
I've corresponded at length with the director and his daughter, and directed them toward setting up to accept bitcoin with BitPay.

Cool, thanks for clarifying. It is great that you are putting in effort getting Bitcoin adopted by charities.

For how long have you been helping the director and daughter setting up Bitcoin?

Understood. I'm a cautious person myself.  That's why my donations yesterday were only small "seed" amounts -- showing good will to begin with, while I wait for our relationship to take fuller form.  Sunday I want to visit the directors' home church in Urbana; and I'm planning to get together with the director next month, when he returns from his present trip abroad.

Was it difficult to convince them to accept Bitcoin? How long did that take to educate them and get Bitcoin integrated?

It happened very fast! I first read about the work in the newspaper on Tuesday morning, and immediately opened correspondence with the director and his daughter (who manages the web site and other ministry functions).  I connected them with Elizabeth Ploshay at BitPay [elizabeth@bitpay.com] and the account was all set up by Tuesday afternoon.  By yesterday afteroon, they had increased the BitPay maximum daily contribution amount to $1000.

This is actually the second charity I've helped set up with BitPay.  Even before Elizabeth joined the staff there -- http://www.coindesk.com/elizabeth-ploshay-joins-bitpay/ -- I helped Emmanuel Ministries in Cd. Juárez, Mexico.  http://emmanueljuarez.org/about-us/

Not difficult at all, as you can see from the time line in my previous post.  I'm not sure how much they already knew about bitcoin, but Blessing and Michelle both seem at home with Internet technology.

Most of the nigerian companies are scam, in terms of lottery or donation. Not sure about this one, never heard about it.

Sounds pretty good..But first we need to know where we are donating before donation..good luck nigerian!!

Seems good, all those Paypal donation buttons were useless for my anyways.

I will donate 0.2 BTC now :)

Yeah, I know what you mean.  Starting in January, I decided I would start doing ALL our charitable donations in bitcoin (or litecoin).  I was giving to a couple of places each month and maybe four or five once a year.  I contacted all those about starting to accept bitcoin so they could continue receiving our donations.  One did start, the rest did not.  So that one has received almost all my donations this year!  Gradually I've found other charities I want to support and that take bitcoin.  I'm glad to be adding this one to my list.

Never heard of it, won't donate even a penny without confirmation. Looks like a scam.