Where are hardworking NAMB employees can spend your money? The Ritz Carlton-NO
“In life, we can have results or reasons. If you are not getting the results you want, your reasons are the lies that you keep telling yourself.” – Harald Anderson.
I sat for 2 1/2 years before joining my Lutheran church. I was most interested in how they spend the hard-earned money of the generous congregation. It is relatively easy to figure out where the money is going since the church is a smaller operation. There are about 700 members. An annual budget is well spelled out in regular reports to the congregation. Try as I might, I could not find anything questionable. I know how the pastors and other employees live, and there will never be a report on fancy houses, cars, and airplanes for this church. There is something to be said about a community-based church where folks get to know each other.
On a national level, Concordia Seminary, which trains pastors for my denomination, does not charge tuition for those studying for the pastorate. As for starting new churches, here is how our church was founded in 1996. Local area pastors and leaders decided that there was a need for an LCMS church in our area. The national denomination also agreed. Unlike the Baptists, they do NOT compete with one another. In the Raleigh area, one trips over SBC churches, new and old which vie for the tithe income of the Baptists.
Instead, the local churches all agree on the start of the new church and begin to contribute resources and find a pastor who might be willing to lead the church. Over time, they slowly built a lovely yet simple church on a well-traveled road, and the church grew quickly. Seven hundred members of a Lutheran church sitting in the shadow of SEBTS is an accomplishment!
SBC and NAMB
Where does your money go when given to the SBC or the North American Mission Board? Did you know that you can’t find out? I discovered this while reading this post by Mark Wingfield on Baptist News Global. Does NAMB have no clue?
NAMB has booked the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans for its annual meeting of state Baptist convention evangelism directors next Monday through Thursday.
Today, some of your mission-minded employees are cooling their jets at the Ritz.
One of the cheaper rooms taken from the Ritz website.
One of the en suite bathrooms taken from the Ritz website.
Let me be clear. I used to stay in Motel 6 when we were first married. I have moved up to the Hampton Inn for our road trips and find them comfortable and clean with a good quick breakfast. I do not need more when I travel, and I cannot imagine the laborers at the NAMB need anything more than a Hampton Inn to be comfortable. But is this lavish spending on accommodations something new? I’m not sure since we apparently cannot see the accounting of the NAMB.
Mark Wingfield’s bio is of interest to me since he has incredible experience in the SBC.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He recently served 17 years as associate pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas. Prior to that, he spent 21 years in denominational journalism. His latest book is Why Churches Need to Talk about Sexuality (Fortress Press). He and his wife, Alison, are parents of two adult sons and live in Dallas.
I plan to follow up on this article on Wednesday. So today, I want to outline the problems presented by Wingfield.
- Complaints by many of lavish spending by NAMB which is producing fewer results.
- Stories of file cabinets full of high-dollar gift cards that are handed out like candy to church planters and state convention employees to buy their loyalty.
- Stories of employee buyouts and Non-Disclosure Agreements to buy their silence.
- Documented real estate holdings of NAMB owning extremely expensive residential properties in multiple cities.
- SBC messengers who have requested more transparency are somehow ignored.
- Trustees have refusedto make public financial information: for good or for bad.
There are some other questions/observations that I have.
- Does the NAMB make it a point to hire well-known SBC personalities retiring from their pastorate?
- Is this a way to give cushy jobs to pastors/personalities who are “tired out?”
- Is this a way to pay an unknown amount of money to one of those personalities?
- Is the NAMB very successful in its goals or not so much?
- Why do the state conventions appear to be at odds with the NAMB?
Reform NAMB Now
This is an anonymous group that is seeking to reform the NAMB. Here are some questions/concerns raised by this group.
- Church baptisms are down by 30%
- 50% decline in church plants.
- Spending on church plants increased by 269%.
- The group has over $438 million in total assets.
My question on church planting remains unanswered.
How many church plants fail?
This question was prompted by an SBC church plant I heard about in the mountains of North Carolina. Not only did I receive reports of abuse from the church planter, but I also heard of turmoil in the “congregation.” Supposedly, many people who went from the RDU area to start this church quit and returned. This sort of thing may be happening regularly, especially when you get the authoritarian, Calvinist-Baptist pastors involved.
Guess what? They will not tell you about church plant failures. So think about it. If they spend lots of bucks starting up a church, making sure the pastor has a place to live or is even given a home. due to the flush of cash in this group, they may be wasting your tithes and will not tell you about it.
However, maybe I’m wrong; everything is pristine, and I’m just suspicious. But I get these phone calls telling me stuff.
To be continued…
Dee, this is appalling on so many levels. “Where does your money go when given to the SBC or the North American Mission Board? Did you know that you can’t find out?” And $438 million in church assets? If the DOJ is continuing to investigate the SBC on sexual abuse cases, I sure hope they examine the SBC finances as well.
“Where does your money go when given to the SBC or the North American Mission Board?”
Well, $73 million went toward NAMB’s church planting program (aka reformed theology planting). Millions of non-Calvinist Southern Baptists give millions annually to NAMB, without realizing that funds are being used to plant a theology contrary to mainline belief and practice. The pew ain’t got a clue.
That was the 2022 budget. They have been spending in excess of $60 million annually for the last 10 years to plant reformed theology across North America.
“Does the NAMB make it a point to hire well-known SBC personalities retiring from their pastorate?”
Kevin Ezell, NAMB’s President, was Al Mohler’s pastor before he assumed his NAMB position … think about it, Al Mohler’s pastor … reckon what Ezell’s theological leaning is? Several SBC entity leaders have a direct link to Al Mohler, champion of SBC’s New Calvinist movement.
Where else are they going to go?
Is there a way to find out how much the rooms cost? Even with a group rate they look expensive.
Not providing financial accountability, which quite common in evangelical world beyond SBC, is fundamentally, disrespectful of pew peons… but then, much of the “ ruling class” in fundy/evangelical world is just that.. a ruling class…. Touch not my anointed, and all that jazz..
Chuckp,
I googled it….. the photo of the room Dee posted as one of the cheaper rooms……. I found an identical photo on the hotel website: $299 per night for that one. Not too bad for that one, but that’s only for the room…. There’s the food, the spa, room service, valet service, travel expenses, etc.
Oh, yeah! Each room comes with a fully stocked mini bar, and the hotel is only a 5 minute walk from Bourbon Street. Hmmmmmm?
Nancy2(aka Kevlar),
There is a reason that the word “ritz’ entered the vocabulary and this is it. Tonight, the cheapest room is $319. I bet the SBC crowd pushed up the price.
Max,
Paul Chitwood, President of the International Mission Board, earned his Masters and Doctorates degrees at good ole Al’s SBTS. And, I think Chitwood was on staff there for a little while, too.
I suggest readers go to this post on the Wartburg Watch:
https://thewartburgwatch.com/2020/12/28/pastor-johnny-hunt-drags-the-sbc-into-the-ravi-zacharias-scandal/
It documents some of the questionable financial dealings of NAMB.
Max,
how does the SBC get away with asking people to ‘donate’ to ‘missions’,
and when they do,
then
the money is given to people in THIS country to ‘plant’ neo-Cal ‘churches’ instead of going to international missions?
how is it that the SBC has two such opposing theological faith communities in it? New Calvinism is so extreme that Calvin himself would not have recognized it. Neo-Cal teachings are more cult-like than ‘Christian’.
(?)
This is starting to have the “feel” of John (amusingly, called “the Baptist”) prophesying against the comfortable elite of Judea. Who warned them to flee the coming wrath?
There is so much that is wrong with the SBC. It has been rotten to the core for decades. I for one believe the TAKEOVER of the SBC by the FUNDAMENTALIST started the rot and it continues to this very day. The seeds of destruction planted by Paige Patterson and Paul Pressler continue to come up every day.
There is no one or ones that can save the SBC.
Max,
Not very reformed if they have been allowing female church planters to be pastors. The reformed only plants is not a true or accurate picture of namb. Several Calvinist are ticked off with namb bc they are led by pragmatism. Look at the He Gets Us campaign for example.
Easy. Keep quite about, and make sure everybody else does, too………. just like so many knew about and hid sexual abuse in the SBC for decades.
Will there be an SBC #churchtoo movement for “Christian Leaders” misleading people about how finances are used to push a certain doctrine with which many tithers disagree??? doubt it. I don’t believe that would damage the public image and, therefore, rock the institution nearly as hard as sexual abuse being splattered all over national headlines.
To me the core issue here is the whole idea of “planting churches.” Back in small oil and ranch villages when I was growing up here is how you got an SBC church: a group of people started meeting, no preacher needed, in a home for Bible study. Over time they decided they wanted to use SBC SS materials, and bought them. As they grew too large they debated becoming a church. Usually the answer was yes. So they formed a church and called a preacher, or hired supply preachers. After a few years they contacted the SBC about affiliating with them. Most of those churches are still going strong.
The larger towns around did indeed have many SBC churches. A church would grow to about 300 and decide it was too large. So they would look around town to see who might have a hard time walking to church—what area seemed under churched–and 100 of the people would peel off the mother church and form a new church, call a preacher, and let the cycle begin again. Big churches aimed to have around 200 people. Talk about accountability, and everyone serving, they had both. Most of those churches are still going strong.
What doesn’t work is calling someone a “pastor” when there is no flock, sending them to an area, providing a building and a cushy housing allowance and expecting them to find a flock and create an instant church.
Churches are born, and grow, at the hard working hands and witness of the laity. It just doesn’t work to open a franchise and call it church, declare everyone around should come and give 10% of their income to have you assume false authority over them.
I have come to conclude that most active SBC’ers feel good about giving to missions and after they give their money they have no concern where it goes.
Just from the bathroom (which in itself is bigger than any hotel room I’ve ever stayed in), I’d say well into Four Figures a Night.
See How God Blesses His Predestined Anointed Elect?
More Calvininst than Calvin.
Just like the Wahabi are More Islamic than Mohammed.
Then they may as well be HONORARY Doctorates.
Those MenaGAWD are so fond of being called “Doctor(TM)” that one even required family members to address him that way.
Back in 1996, my company put me up in a hotel in the Quarter. Nowhere near that big or fancy, just a modest-sized single in an old hotel.
Bourbon Street is the draw mainly if you’re into drinking. (And considering this is SBC with the tradition of The Secret Sip…)
Tip: Gumbo Shop on St Peter Street is where you want to go for eats.
And Cafe Du Monde on Jackson Square next to the levee for breakfast Beignets.
There is no “Chirst”, there is Only CALVIN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg7MAacSPNM
I think that you may be right.
In some cases, it’s little more than something to brag about. Nose in the air, big smiley face, “I tithe regularly and my church sends financial support to the NAMB and the IMB.”
When missionaries visit and share stories of progress, it’s just a nice “look what we helped do” self-pat on the back.
I’ve seen it. I can’t unsee it.
linda,
It’s crazy, nowadays.
My husband and I went to a 3-day SBC church planting conference in Louisville, KY back in 2011. Almost an entire day was devoted to the best floor plan lay-outs for a church building……… the sanctuary the pastors office, the child-care area, the classrooms, the fellowship hall ……..
with room for a minimum of 200 members.
Nancy2(aka Kevlar),
PS- particpants paid our own transportation and hotel bills.
Sadly many SBC including myself have never met a SBC missionary. All I ever saw in the SBC churches I attended were fancy articles in a SBC magazine or a 2 or 3 minute video of an SBC missionary that I am sure cost thousands of dollars to shoot.
linda,
Thank you Linda for such a wise observation and comment on the “franchising” of the church!
Not unless the tithers rise up en masse and demand some answers. Right now, SBC’s majority (non-Calvinist) pew don’t seem to be too concerned about it … and won’t be until you start messing with their potluck dinners … then you will have a war on your hands! Yeah, there was a lot wrong with SBC before the New Calvinists came along to finish it off.
When you have a denomination with Paige Patterson’s mug on one side of the coin and Al Mohler’s on the other, you just ain’t got much to work with.
Southern Baptists have this thing called the “Cooperative Program” in which 47,000+ SBC churches across North America contribute to. Faithful members dig deep in their pockets to support home and foreign mission programs, sending a church check each year with those offerings to State and National SBC offices. Unfortunately, they don’t really have any say in how those monies (hundreds of millions each year) are dispersed across SBC entities. The powers that be at the top do that … and right now all those powers that be are members of the ruling party, New Calvinists.
When I was a Southern Baptist (I’m “Done” now), I asked that question a lot after the New Calvinists flood hit SBC. I asked “How can two distinctly different plans of salvation coexist in a single denomination?” No one answered that question to my satisfaction … so I decided to be done with SBC (after 70+ years), but not done with Jesus.
Nancy2(aka Kevlar),
A connect-the-dot graphic could easily be drawn, linking most SBC entity leaders to Dr. Mohler.
“Where else are they gonna go? I mean, what options are there? If you’re a theologically minded, deeply convictional young evangelical, if you’re committed to the gospel and you want to see the nations rejoice in the name of Christ, if you want to see gospel-built and structured and committed churches, your theology is just gonna end up basically being Reformed, basically being something like this New Calvinism or you’re gonna have to invent some other label for what’s just gonna be the same thing. There just are not options out there. And that’s something that I think frustrates some people. But when I am asked about the New Calvinism, I will say just basically, where else are they gonna go? Who else is gonna answer the questions? Where else will they find the resources they need? And where else are they gonna connect? This is a generation that understands, they want to say the same thing Paul said. They want to stand with the Apostles. They want to stand with old, dead people. And they know they are going to have to if they are going to preach and teach the truth.” (Al Mohler, 2010)
Exactly … no accountability … local churches are a cash cow for SBC elite.
Foreign SBC missionaries historically visited local churches in the U.S. when they were home on furlough to explain what they did and interacted with church members. The New Calvinists apparently did away with that practice … after they recalled 1,000 foreign missionaries and their families when David Platt was President, International Mission Board (I suppose they were the wrong theological flavor).
There would not be many dots – mostly straight lines.
Max,
David Platt………….
In late 2015, just before I walked away from the SBC, a family of 9 came to our church (family connection to some of the members)……. a missionary and his 8 little helpers, sent home from Africa by the IMB. The missionary was a victim of the first round of IMB cuts. The family had no place to live, and the missionary had no job skills (Resume- a degree in theology and experience as a Baptist missionary). A church deacon found them a place to live temporarily, and helped the missionary get a low-skilled job while he searched for a job as a pastor.
Note: The 8 little helpers I referred to were his homeschooled 7 children and his wife. ******
Married women are not allowed be missionaries, and women are not allowed to plant churches. When a married couple decide they want to do mission work or plant a church, the women are called “missionary wives” or “planter wives”. The wives are required to sign contracts and expected to work alongside their paid, titled husbands. Those demands are a financial boon for the SBC because the end result is slave labor with a submissive countenance and a Christianese smile.
Affirmation of women? Yeah, right.
Max,
Funny, shouldn’t “Christians”, which if memory serves me right, means “ Christ followers”, want to say the words that Christ said, not the words that Paul says???
Without realizing it, good old Al says right there that his “faith” is in Paul, not Christ… or should I say, the their creation of who they think Paul was..
Al’s faith is in Calvin and Calvin’s version of what Paul said
SBC obviously didn’t take care of their own in that instance. With 1,000 missionaries cut by Platt, there are undoubtedly other sad stories like that. The same year that Platt couldn’t find enough SBC funds to support those missionaries and terminated them, his NeoCal bud over at NAMB (Kevin Ezell) spent $60 million planting 1,000 reformed theology churches. That told me right then what the priority was under NeoCal leaders.
This sounds about right:
” … before joining my Lutheran church. I was most interested in how they spend the hard-earned money of the generous congregation. It is relatively easy to figure out where the money is going since the church is a smaller operation. There are about 700 members. An annual budget is well spelled out in regular reports to the congregation. Try as I might, I could not find anything questionable. I know how the pastors and other employees live, and there will never be a report on fancy houses, cars, and airplanes for this church. There is something to be said about a community-based church where folks get to know each other.
“On a national level, Concordia Seminary, which trains pastors for my denomination, does not charge tuition for those studying for the pastorate. As for starting new churches, here is how our church was founded in 1996. Local area pastors and leaders decided that there was a need for an LCMS church in our area . . .
” . . . the local churches all agree on the start of the new church and begin to contribute resources and find a pastor who might be willing to lead the church. Over time, they slowly built a lovely yet simple church on a well-traveled road, and the church grew quickly.”
– Dee, from the post.
Thanks for sharing – makes total sense!
This hotel may be a bit OTT. I would though say that 1992-2012 I went to an annual software conference for micro business owners like me. Every two years it moved to another (being unkind here) B-list city in USA. We stayed in some beautiful hotels, paing $99 a night for room that would have cost a tourist far more than this. Promise a hotel a thousand room nights and they are very willing to cut a deal.
It’s a Feudal system, plain and simple.
The serfs are so cowed by the Nobles and with the threat of hell from the clergy class, they don’t dare and complain, they just sit down and shutup.
New Orleans is kinda pricey but they have a rich and animated night life for the visitors. One of the best in the US.
We travel with Country Inn and Suites, and such, Stateside. Kinda gross when the little kiddies come down to the breakfast bar in their jammies, but the rooms are clean & comfy enough. Moderately priced. Even in DC, of all places.
Sigh…
Oh yeah … like spokes on a wheel connected to the hub.
Max,
I’m a member of a SEND plant and have been appalled by the amount of swag, conferences, etc. that our pastor received. And no accountability by NAMB. To this new SBC member, it’s a divisive system within the SBC that reeks of favoritism and elitism.
I do not think they will have anywhere close to a 1000 room nights.
Can you elaborate?
They ain’t AnthroCon or San Diego ComicCon.
how very convenient to create someone in your own image to follow!
LOL . . .
reminds me a bit of that saying:
“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
(Anne Lamott)
I’ve stayed at the Ritz Carlton on a work trip. (Not church affiliated employment). To my surprise their group rates were lower than any other major chain hotels in a 10 mile radius.
Rainmaking. Building revenue locally, for corporate.
A more general comment. When a huge housing development was built in our area, several churches came in too. I thought it was kind of normal, like having streets and schools and parks for the thousands of people who moved to the area. Some congregations have their own buildings, and some meet in schools.
No megas came in, and there’s no SBC. Folks do have several choices, and they are not forced to travel to the older parts of the county to find worship communities.
I agree that ordaining some guy and plopping him down somewhere to make his fortune is a very bad model. But it’s not the only one. A church can serve needs. A church can bring a familiar worship form and folkways to people who want those.
Go look on Warren Throckmorton’s latest post.
https://www.baptiststandard.com/news/baptists/wingfield-named-baptist-news-global-executive-director/
He KNOWS SBC.
I personally know a long time NAMB church planter/catalyst.
He will move his whole family to a new area and doing all the ground breaking work – find local church to partner with the church planting, passing fliers, knocking on doors, locate a place to start up Sunday worships, talking to people in public places, and run Sunday worship for a few months/upto a year. After that he will hand over the start up church over to a pastor through NAMB or through the local church partnership.
He said the start up church failure rate was very high. NAMB will taper off the support money to the start up church year by year. If I remember correctly after three years the start up church have to be self-supported. Otherwise, it will be dissolved or merged with the partnered local church.
That’s where you get the glowing number of new SBC churches reported in the Convention. Nobody reports on how many start ups folded!
Maybe it’s a “Let Him Who Hath Eyes to See, See; Let Him Who Hath Ears to Hear, Hear”?
Sowre-Sweet Dayes,
That model seems to be built on the notion that a town is full of heathen sinners who have never heard of Jesus, and who would cling to Him if only someone divulged His existence. Unlikely anywhere in the US.
Meanwhile, probably a lot of folks who turn up at the new place are already Christians, left their old congregation—imperiling its survival—and then the start-up church might also fail.
Lots of wear and tear on the preacher’s family.
Laity are only good for Praying, PAYING, and OBEYING their Priestly Masters who Hod the Keys to Heaven and Hell.
Welcome to The Reformation.
Same model as in those Witnessing Pracitce sessions at Campus Crusade and every work of Christianese Fiction (including Left Behind). Where all those HEATHENS outside the Real True CHRISTIAN bubble have never ever heard the words “God”, “Jesus”, or “The Rapture”, yet all think and speak in fluent Christianese. Even before they run on rails to the Altar Call Ending.
No different than Downsizing(TM) layoffs to free up money for Top Management’s Fat Bonuses.
Most SBC church plants over the past 10 years in my area are no more. They either shut down completely or merged into other SBC churches that existed before they hit town.
Laura, I am sorry that you have experienced this within SBC. I was a Southern Baptist for 70+ years, leaving a couple years ago when it was clear that the New Calvinist movement and its band of elite had accomplished complete control of a once-great evangelistic denomination. IMO, NAMB’s church planting program is more about planting reformed theology rather than Gospel churches. As you note, young NeoCal pastors at church plants have been swept up in the flurry to do whatever they need to in order to climb SBC’s NeoCal pyramid. Such young “pastors” in my area don’t really pastor the flock as they ought, visit members in their homes to get to know them, pray for the sick in hospitals and nursing homes, preach funerals, etc. … but they find plenty of time to tweet their lives away with the dudebros at local coffee shops and locate a canned sermon on the internet for next Sunday. The SBC I knew and served in for over 7 decades is done, it just hasn’t quit yet.
May God lead you to a place where you can find peace, an authentic church, a pastor who loves Jesus more than Calvin, where the pulpit is no more important than the pew, where you will be free to exercise your spiritual gifting without restriction because of your gender, and where the Body of Christ works together to fulfill the Great Commission in your community and beyond. May God bless you, Laura.
Wow. Telling.
Ava Aaronson,
SBC church plants = first jobs for NeoCal seminary graduates … a conduit for the Mohler Machine to plant reformed theology in communities across America. After the NAMB seed money runs out, the young reformers don’t have enough wisdom to keep a church running on their own, so most of the church plants fizzle out after 3-5 years.
Given the preacher-types this blog exposes, this video that showed up in my YouTube feeds sounds so familiar:
“Why Judge Claude Frollo is the Best Disney Villain [The Hunchback of Notre Dame]”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGwrZEMi05o
Which we’ve know about EVER since 1995, right?
I’ve observed this happening in different contexts. What happens is, the incomers “show their communion”, placing the older established ones under “moral obligation” to adapt to the incomers’ mindsets. Hence under pretence of green field evangelising this is a church takeover without the stigma of doing it by stealth.
Which, of course, is still stealth and deception. The New Calvinists have various modus operandi to deceive their way into taking over church resources and assets they didn’t pay for.