Trust the trustees? No thanks.

Just what are Southern Baptist entities doing with the money entrusted to them? Very few people know how the dollars are spent. The financial information like salaries for top officials are guarded like the information were national security secrets. That information is need to know. And the serfs sitting in the pews only need to give. They don’t need to know.

For example, a dispute between former Lifeway CEO Thom Rainer and Lifeway’s current management and trustees revealed Lifeway paid Rainer over $1,000,000 in severance. Yes, $1,000,000. That’s a lot of money to pay someone who presided over the collapse of Lifeway’s retail business.

Protestia reported the stunning number from a leaked Lifeway trustee memo.

According to the memo, “Dr. Rainer entered into a very lucrative transition agreement that was not disclosed to the board’s compensation and executive committees that would pay him in excess of $1 million.”

The memo continued, “Since his retirement on Feb. 28, 2019, Dr. Rainer has been paid in excess of $1 million plus benefits, not including royalty payments.”

The further details are important to the backstory of Lifeway suing Rainer for breach of contract over his non-compete agreement. However, that isn’t the real story. The real story is the huge dollars paid in severance.

It sparks a host of questions.

If, Lifeway paid over $1,000,000 in severance, then what did Lifeway pay Thom Rainer while CEO?

What does Lifeway pay its current CEO?

What do other Southern Baptist entities pay their CEOs?

Why is it so hard to get this information?

Isn’t transparency the best way to conduct business?

This illustrates all the problems of the current trustee system. The SBC Elites run the SBC for their own benefit—as this shocking severance package illustrates.

And this is Lifeway. One can only imagine the troubles at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) which is engulfed in controversy. The Lifeway situation and the troubles over at NAMB illustrate the necessity of a forensic audit.

If SBC Elites want to restore trust, that is the first step.

4 thoughts on “SHOCK: Southern Baptist Lifeway paid former CEO over $1,000,000 severance”

  1. Lots of inuendo without any background. One fact, assuming its verified and I am assuming it is, is 1M in severance for a CEO. No mention of any agreement or settlement or basis for the compensation. Nothing on which to make any judgement as to whether the compensation is appropriate. I will even accept the report that SBC does not disclose the data. But I cannot accept the rush to state without any evidence at all that “The SBC Elites run the SBC for their own benefit—as this shocking severance package illustrates.” We cannot determine if it is shocking. We are talking about a CEO of a major corporation. CEOs are wooed and compensated from a variety of packages and platforms. You’re not going to get a CEO for 100k. So this article then takes the one fact and speculates that one can only “imagine ” a simlarity with NAMB, that does not exist according to fact. Its up to the SBC members to deterimine if the want to demand a forensic audit. Until they do, its really no one’s business but the SBC’s. Capstone didnt even have the courage to attribute a by-line.

    1. Major corporation? It is a nonprofit. There is something scandalous about a nonprofit Christian publisher run by the Southern Baptist Convention paying high six figures to its CEO. If these entities have nothing to hide, then reveal the salary data. Until then, as a Southern Baptist, I will continue to demand the SBC make public this info. Further, as a US taxpayer, I have every right to likewise demand accountability from these nonprofits.

      And my name is on my website–thanks…

  2. Pingback: Leaked Audio Reveals Details about LifeWay & Thom Rainer’s Sweetheart Deal - Protestia

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