Corruption must be addressed at future conventions says CBN co-founder.
The Southern Baptist Convention has a ‘serious corruption problem’ as one of its largest mission agencies used tithes and offerings to turn out voters for the Woke SBC Presidential candidate, according to Rod Martin of the Conservative Baptist Network. Martin made the comments on the Todd Starnes Show in response to a bombshell Washington Post report showing that NAMB used tithes and offerings through the Cooperative Program to pay for voters to attend the Convention meeting.
“It is scandalous. We wanted to believe the best of them,” Martin said.
The key allegation is that Kevin Ezell used the North American Mission Board and its money in collusion with the Ed Litton presidential campaign.
“The Washington Post reported that the North American Mission Board was spending a shocking amount of your tithe money to recruit people to come vote for Ed Litton and pay their way out of CP (Cooperative Program) dollars,” Martin said. “It is really not OK. The Washington Post reported it was several hundred. I had people close to NAMB brag to me that they were bringing more like 2,000-3,000. Paying their airfare. Paying their hotel. We are fighting the denominational machinery.”
He then explained the huge budget of the North American Mission Board that comes from the tithes and offerings to form the approximately $125 million per year budget.
“It is fair to say they are kind of swimming in money. And for them to spend that money, not just to turn out messengers…but for them to do what we heard they were doing across the country, which was to recruit them to vote for a specific candidate, Ed Litton, and then to see that reported and confirmed by the Washington Post tells us that we have a serious corruption problem in the SBC,” Martin said.
Martin said that Southern Baptists must turnout at future conventions to address this type of corruption.
Specifically, what needs to be addressed is the ethics of using tithes and offerings to turn out voters for one specific candidate.
Todd Starnes pointed out this bombshell revelation is from reporting of the Washington Post and that the Todd Starnes Show reached out to NAMB asking for clarification.
“So, if the story is not true, they should demand a retraction. They should demand a correction. But I think it is important for people to realize first of all that has not happened. No one has refuted that story and the author of that story is very close to the former head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission as well as the son of a former Southern Baptist Convention president.”
What is next for the Conservative Baptist Network?
The Conservative Baptist Network co-founder urged conservatives not to give up yet on retaking the Southern Baptist Convention from the Woke hordes. His message was that this fight is not over—not by a long shot.
“The best analogy is that we organized for about a year and we got in the Super Bowl in our first year and lost by a field goal,” Martin said. “It was an incredible effort. Mike Stone was a tremendous candidate. And it is just On to Anaheim. We clearly have the sentiment of the Baptist in the pew with us.”
The CBN theme is that it must have greater participation among rank-and-file Southern Baptists.
“The Baptist in the pew isn’t Woke, doesn’t believe in abortion, doesn’t believe this is the direction the Southern Baptist Convention should go,” Martin said. “If the Baptist in the pew shows up at these meetings, they will win. They almost won this week. They will win in years to come.”