Why does an SBC entity use untraceable gift cards? It looks like an accounting nightmare that makes Bob Reccord seem parsimonious in comparison.
The North American Mission Board (NAMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention is using gift cards to buy loyalty, according to a bombshell allegation included in an 8,000-word story by legendary Baptist reporter Joe Westbury.
According to Westbury, NAMB provides gift cards worth hundreds of dollars to church planters. NAMB confirmed it used them but refused to specify the value range. Westbury’s digging found the range of gifts from NAMB was $100-1,000 in gift cards and sometimes checks.
Further, Westbury documented, “As recently as December at least one staff member in the Northwest received two gift cards from NAMB totaling $450. The employee was instructed that the $300 should be given to his wife as a gift, and the $150 card was to be used to pay for a ‘date night.’”
Also, “Joseph Bunce, who retired Feb. 1 after 15 years with the Baptist Convention of New Mexico, says NAMB overstepped its boundaries by sending gift cards to his own convention employees without his knowledge. And that included staff members who had little, if any, professional contact with NAMB.”
Now the money quote from Bunce: “I was not upset with anyone who received an unsolicited gift card. But it was like someone sending flowers to a neighbor’s wife because the neighbor was doing such a good job of mowing his lawn,” Bunce said. “It is a sly way to buy influence.”
Of course, NAMB chief Kevin Ezell declined to respond to Westbury.
Typical.
These entity chiefs pretend to be accessible and willing to answer questions. However, they dodge every serious attempt to hold them accountable.
“Ezell was provided numerous questions for this article and had agreed to an interview that instead was cancelled the day it was to occur,” Westbury said in the bombshell report.
What does Ezell have to hide?
Was Ezell afraid of Westbury’s reputation?
Westbury is the investigative reporter who exposed corruption at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and forced out first NAMB chief Bob Reccord and the next NAMB chief Geoff Hammond. You should read the story. However, there was on element worth close attention as this new scandal with Ezell follows a similar NAMB pattern—Money.
This raises all sorts of financial accountability questions.
A check can be traced. There is an audit trail. But, how does one trace a drawer full of gift cards?
And yes, I’ve heard specific stories about one stash of gift cards filling a cabinet drawer.
Another specific report that came to our attention was one “pastor” receiving about $12,000 without specific instructions in how to use it.
NAMB’s recklessness hardly inspires confidence.
Who gets these gift cards?
What are they used for?
What controls are in place to make sure gift cards are used for specific God-honoring purposes by the intended persons?
Gift cards provide an easy way to launder money. As such, why would any organization with a budget of about $125 million annually utilize such a dangerous and unaccountable method?
As this Forbes columnist noted, “Gift cards are easy to spend or sell and notoriously difficult to track.” This is what makes gift cards a favorite for money laundering.
I know everyone enjoys playing Santa Claus; however, it is far more rewarding when you do it with your own money and not the resources of Southern Baptists.
It also poses serious questions about the ability of NAMB to use SBC mission funds to build its own base of loyal, financially dependent supporters.
How many of them will make it to Nashville?
How many of them will be qualified as messengers?
And for whom will they vote?
NAMB’s chief Ezell has ties to both Al Mohler and Ed Litton. Ezell was Mohler’s former pastor and Litton’s wife works for NAMB.
Will the SBC have a free and fair election in Nashville?
Church planters and others loyal to the NAMB agenda, including their preferred SBC Presidential candidate, might receive “scholarships” paying their expenses to attend NAMB Conferences the day before the annual meeting. Imagine buying up all the hotel rooms and filling them with voters beholden to SBC insiders who can influence their vote. Furthermore, consider the possibility that the funding for such scholarships might have even come from churches whose messengers favor a different SBC Presidential candidate.
When most SBC voters are either denominational workers on an expense account or church planters who have received scholarships enabling their attendance, then what you have is an electorate incentivized to support the denominational status quo. This problem might be overturned through a populist movement on the part of our churches, but even the most committed laypersons are scarcely motivated to spend vacation money on a two-day Baptist Business Meeting. Perhaps Southern Baptists have a swamp to drain if we wish to put an end to undisclosed entity leader salaries, million dollar severance packages, non-disclosure agreements, and the filing of legal briefs fundamentally misrepresenting our polity.
Too much influence from the denominational bureaucracy.
Absolutely. These things that you list are a regular practice in SBC life. While it used to be part practice to house SBC messengers in the homes of those in the local area as well; that practice has gone by the wayside as more women than ever before work outside of the home, and people are less motivated to extend their hospitality than they have been historically.
If you add together the number of those on the executive committee (and their spouses); and those on the NAMB and IMB boards (and their spouses), along with others who might be holding luncheons (seminaries), meetings and dinners, and exhibitors (usually all of who come with spouses and sometimes family members — it’s not surprising the votes go a certain way if the candidates are “party” favorites.
Sirs:
Why does your website contain advertising for New Age guru Eckhart Tolle?
Because Google is our ad partner. Anyone can advertise until we ban them. We don’t know an ad is running unless someone complains. So, will check and see if we can find the ads. Thanks.
Pingback: NAMB and the Grifting Gift Cards - Protestia
Comments are closed.