Tentmakers 
The information on this page was last updated 12/6/2022. If you see errors or omissions, please email: [email protected]
Summary
Tentmakers Training is for followers of Jesus Christ seeking to be equipped in order to live their lives on mission & be part of transforming their culture.
Our programs include training on twelve key character building skill sets. Learning is from the modeling, discovery and practice of time tested principles. Some of these learning experiences take place at Wilderness North, a 1500-acre retreat, training and conference center in the Superior National Forest in northeast Minnesota.
Contact information
Mailing address:
Tentmakers
PO Box 84
Chanhassen, MN 55317-0084
Website: www.Tentm.org
Phone: (763) 535-6484
Email: [email protected]
Organization details
EIN: 411315524
CEO/President: Richard Amundson
Chairman: John Dewey
Board size: 7
Founder: Richard Amundson
Ruling year: 1980
Tax deductible: Yes
Fiscal year end: 12/31
Member of ECFA: No
Member of ECFA since:
Purpose
To select and train uncommon leaders.
To raise up and train leaders of integrity with the compassion, courage and faith in Jesus Christ, who have the imagination, moral fiber and tenacity to lead effectively in all walks of life, including: business, family, education, government, the arts, media and the Church.
Mission statement
We equip and empower disciples to be Biblical tentmakers who live out their God-given calling while transforming culture through Christ, one relationship at a time.
Statement of faith
We Believe:
In one God manifest in the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In the three foundational and historic creeds of the Christian Faith: The Apostles Creed, The Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
That salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and that it is a gift of grace, not earned by works.
That the Bible is God's Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and as such is the final authority on all matters of faith and life.
In the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
That for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
In the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
In the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
In the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
In living by The Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-39) and in fulfilling The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
In preparing God's people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up (Ephesians 4:12).
In the Christ-centered lifestyle, understanding that the Christ-centered life is about:
Knowing and loving Jesus the Christ;
Loving and serving others;
Knowing God's forgiveness;
Living out the ten commandments;
Knowing the Word and having a consistent prayer life;
Being in fellowship with the Church; and
Furthering God's Kingdom.
Donor confidence score
Transparency grade
D
To understand our transparency grade, click here.
Financial efficiency ratings
Sector: Leadership Training
| Category | Rating | Overall rank | Sector rank |
| Overall efficiency rating | | 963 of 1022 | 24 of 27 |
| Fund acquisition rating | | 499 of 1025 | 11 of 27 |
| Resource allocation rating | | 997 of 1025 | 27 of 27 |
| Asset utilization rating | | 1020 of 1022 | 27 of 27 |
Financial ratios
| Funding ratios | Sector median | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Return on fundraising efforts Return on fundraising efforts = Fundraising expense / Total contributions | 11% | 8% | 13% | 9% | 13% | 7% |
Fundraising cost ratio Fundraising cost ratio = Fundraising expense / Total revenue | 7% | 7% | 9% | 7% | 9% | 6% |
Contributions reliance Contributions reliance = Total contributions / Total revenue | 95% | 87% | 73% | 78% | 70% | 86% |
Fundraising expense ratio Fundraising expense ratio = Fundraising expense / Total expenses | 8% | 6% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 6% |
Other revenue reliance Other revenue reliance = Total other revenue / Total revenue | 5% | 13% | 27% | 22% | 30% | 14% |
| Operating ratios | Sector median | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Program expense ratio Program expense ratio = Program services / Total expenses | 77% | 57% | 64% | 56% | 63% | 64% |
Spending ratio Spending ratio = Total expenses / Total revenue | 94% | 104% | 127% | 91% | 114% | 100% |
Program output ratio Program output ratio = Program services / Total revenue | 70% | 59% | 80% | 51% | 71% | 63% |
Savings ratio Savings ratio = Surplus (deficit) / Total revenue | 6% | -4% | -27% | 9% | -14% | 0% |
Reserve accumulation rate Reserve accumulation rate = Surplus (deficit) / Net assets | 9% | -13% | -54% | 13% | -19% | 1% |
General and admin ratio General and admin ratio = Management and general expense / Total expenses | 13% | 37% | 29% | 36% | 29% | 31% |
| Investing ratios | Sector median | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Total asset turnover Total asset turnover = Total expenses / Total assets | 1.48 | 0.80 | 0.68 | 0.47 | 0.52 | 0.70 |
Degree of long-term investment Degree of long-term investment = Total assets / Total current assets | 1.17 | 26.25 | 36.43 | 14.71 | 24.70 | 39.19 |
Current asset turnover Current asset turnover = Total expenses / Total current assets | 2.04 | 20.90 | 24.85 | 6.85 | 12.75 | 27.29 |
| Liquidity ratios | Sector median | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Current ratio Current ratio = Total current assets / Total current liabilities | 9.74 | 0.56 | 0.36 | 1.98 | 0.57 | 0.38 |
Current liabilities ratio Current liabilities ratio = Total current liabilities / Total current assets | 0.10 | 1.79 | 2.76 | 0.50 | 1.76 | 2.60 |
Liquid reserve level Liquid reserve level = (Total current assets - Total current liabilities) / (Total expenses / 12) | 5.12 | -0.45 | -0.85 | 0.87 | -0.71 | -0.70 |
| Solvency ratios | Sector median | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Liabilities ratio Liabilities ratio = Total liabilities / Total assets | 13% | 76% | 74% | 62% | 66% | 60% |
Debt ratio Debt ratio = Debt / Total assets | 0% | 56% | 48% | 41% | 33% | 33% |
Reserve coverage ratio Reserve coverage ratio = Net assets / Total expenses | 53% | 30% | 39% | 81% | 67% | 58% |
Financials
| Balance sheet | |||||
| Assets | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
| Cash | $35,364 | $0 | $45,666 | $0 | $0 |
| Receivables, inventories, prepaids | $3,256 | $28,387 | $30,219 | $43,174 | $27,535 |
| Short-term investments | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Other current assets | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total current assets | $38,620 | $28,387 | $75,885 | $43,174 | $27,535 |
| Long-term investments | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Fixed assets | $964,079 | $1,002,523 | $1,037,165 | $1,019,998 | $1,048,485 |
| Other long-term assets | $11,153 | $3,094 | $3,144 | $3,094 | $3,094 |
| Total long-term assets | $975,232 | $1,005,617 | $1,040,309 | $1,023,092 | $1,051,579 |
| Total assets | $1,013,852 | $1,034,004 | $1,116,194 | $1,066,266 | $1,079,114 |
| Liabilities | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
| Payables and accrued expenses | $68,495 | $77,941 | $36,166 | $63,278 | $66,269 |
| Other current liabilities | $632 | $508 | $2,072 | $12,682 | $5,265 |
| Total current liabilities | $69,127 | $78,449 | $38,238 | $75,960 | $71,534 |
| Debt | $565,179 | $499,818 | $455,194 | $352,400 | $355,369 |
| Due to (from) affiliates | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Other long-term liabilities | $139,301 | $184,028 | $203,201 | $271,132 | $216,415 |
| Total long-term liabilities | $704,480 | $683,846 | $658,395 | $623,532 | $571,784 |
| Total liabilities | $773,607 | $762,295 | $696,633 | $699,492 | $643,318 |
| Net assets | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
| Without donor restrictions | $240,245 | $271,709 | $405,561 | $352,774 | $421,796 |
| With donor restrictions | $0 | $0 | $14,000 | $14,000 | $14,000 |
| Net assets | $240,245 | $271,709 | $419,561 | $366,774 | $435,796 |
| Revenues and expenses | |||||
| Revenue | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
| Total contributions | $674,548 | $406,693 | $447,509 | $339,384 | $647,117 |
| Program service revenue | $71,632 | $114,594 | $104,735 | $132,427 | $103,121 |
| Membership dues | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Investment income | $29 | $3 | $4 | $4 | ($999) |
| Other revenue | $29,427 | $36,261 | $20,159 | $9,760 | $5,710 |
| Total other revenue | $101,088 | $150,858 | $124,898 | $142,191 | $107,832 |
| Total revenue | $775,636 | $557,551 | $572,407 | $481,575 | $754,949 |
| Expenses | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
| Program services | $459,848 | $448,214 | $290,467 | $344,176 | $477,268 |
| Management and general | $295,468 | $204,238 | $188,116 | $161,158 | $230,233 |
| Fundraising | $51,784 | $52,951 | $41,037 | $45,263 | $44,021 |
| Total expenses | $807,100 | $705,403 | $519,620 | $550,597 | $751,522 |
| Change in net assets | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
| Surplus (deficit) | ($31,464) | ($147,852) | $52,787 | ($69,022) | $3,427 |
| Other changes in net assets | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total change in net assets | ($31,464) | ($147,852) | $52,787 | ($69,022) | $3,427 |
Compensation
| Name | Title | Compensation |
| Richard Amundson | President | $35,000 |
Compensation data as of: 12/31/2019
Response from ministry
No response has been provided by this ministry.
The information below was provided to MinistryWatch by the ministry itself. It was last updated 12/6/2022. To update the information below, please email: [email protected]
History
Imagine young people who become Christ-centered leaders in all walks of life. Then, imagine a ministry organized for that purpose. This organization, TENTMAKERS, was established in 1977.
Vision and Founding Strategy
Our founding strategy was to invite new college graduates to postpone their career and invest two years serving a church as a youth leader. These leaders had part-time employment in the community to help fund their living expenses while serving a church. Thus, they were called tentmakers named after the Apostle Paul, the tentmaker.
In the mid-1970's, God gave the vision to Dick Amundson, a recent college graduate who was discipled by his football coach. Dick went out and tested the vision by surveying 100 church pastors and sought counsel from respected leaders.
A founding Board of Directors was organized including Gordon Bubloz, the Chairman and CEO of Secura Financial who led major evangelism conferences for businessmen and lay leaders. Paul Youngdahl was also on the founding board, a man that Dick considered as one of the greatest youth leaders in the country. As senior pastor of Mt Olivet Lutheran Church, with 15,000 members, Youngdahl dedicated his summers at their youth camp, relating to young people and calling them to follow Jesus.
The Board asked Dick to lead a pilot, and Londa, his wife, got squarely behind him; later joining the training staff.
Counsel in the Early Stages
Church leaders along with leaders like Bill Starr, the former President of Young Life, Dr. Merton Strommen of Search Institute, Bob Dye from Youth for Christ, Bob Glockner from the Navigators, Dick Borrud from Lee Valley Ranch in South Dakota, and many, many more provided valuable counsel and leadership.
Claude Bowen, one of the top trainers in the world with Dale Carnegie had a "road to Damascus experience" with Jesus Christ on a Chicago freeway. He intensely studied the Bible over the next few years and then invested 10 years of his life into TENTMAKERS becoming known as the "chief architect of TENTMAKERS Training." He brought with him David Cummings, who at the time was the International President of Wycliffe Bible Translators who provided valuable counsel from a world mission's perspective.
Youth Leaders Equipped
The ministry grew and soon youth leaders were being equipped and supplied to churches of 25 Christian denominations,
TENTMAKERS identified seven dimensions of the Christ-centered life after hearing from the heart of God's people through 500 or more workshops provided in churches throughout the Midwest. This provided the framework for TENTMAKERS to focus its training on what churches of different denominations shared in common, centering on the person of Jesus Christ, instead of focusing on differences.
The First 20 Years
During the first 20 years TENTMAKERS developed an extraordinary 40-day training program that equipped youth leaders and young people with the skills to be effective in 8 vital areas.... now 12 areas.
Many of those youth leaders have stated that their TENTMAKERS training was life changing and in some cases even more valuable than their college or university training. Years later they often say the same thing (see Testimonials).
The Hallmark of TENTMAKERS
Skills based, Christ-centered leadership training has become a hallmark of TENTMAKERS and a great compliment to traditional academic schooling. Participants learn in a Christ-centered team-led environment from the modeling, discovery and practice of time-tested principles.
Wilderness North
In 1987, Amundson purchased 60 acres on Lake Murphy in the Lake Superior National Forest in northeast Minnesota. That became the start of Wilderness North (www.wildn.org). a primitive type, summer camp built by college and high school students.
Dick reasoned that if he could bring college students there for a weeklong training event called Discipleship Plunge, they would become friends and introduce TENTMAKERS to their friends in college or university. In addition, the powerful training experience equipped college students to establish discipleship-based ministries in colleges and universities throughout the Midwest and beyond.
Leadership Quest soon followed that was led by the TENTMAKERS youth leaders who brought their high school students. This experience was a "plus-factor" that caused youth ministries to grow because it developed student peer leaders. Students were inspired to dream, set goals, plan and then organize student-led ministries.
Now, Wilderness North, a year-round training, retreat and conference center surrounds Lake Murphy with 1600 acres, most of it built by student and adult volunteers.
In addition, pastors started asking for the training, then church members, then mission leaders from around the world and a variety of courses were created to respond to the demand.
Training for Multiple Audiences
Since 1979, this training has been provided to a variety of audiences:
Business and professional people
Missionaries and national ministry leaders in the developing world
Pastors, youth and adult leaders from 25 denominations
Public school teachers
and of course
High school students, college students and young people
The most successful results have occurred when people participate in 40-days of training followed by coaching for one year or more. The results have been simply amazing....genuine life change with increased productivity, intentionality, and others-focus; stronger leadership, deeper relationships, and more Christ-centeredness.
TENTMAKERS Today
Today, the heartbeat of TENTMAKERS remains the same. It is about helping people, especially young people, to become Christ-centered leaders. What has changed is the culture! So many young people are being shaped by the dominant culture....50 million attend each public school day.