Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
      • #GivingNewsDay
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe to BNG
Support independent, faith-based journalism. Donate
Search Search this site

Spending God’s money

OpinionChrista Brown  |  December 11, 2008

By Christina Brown

The secrecy of Southern Baptist Convention officials about a financial scandal at their International Mission Board wasn’t anything unusual. It’s the sort of thing we’ve seen over and over again.

Southern Baptists need to begin seeing the pattern rather than merely viewing these things as isolated cases.

It’s a very common pattern: Without accountability, power corrupts. Religious organizations are no exception.

The corruption manifests itself not only in the cover-up of financial wrongdoing, but also in the cover-up of clergy sex abuse. For both types of corruption, the root of the problem is a systemic lack of accountability.

That’s the root that Southern Baptists desperately need to remedy. Here are a few more illustrations showing the SBC’s lack of accountability in the financial context.

— North American Mission Board: The president of the North American Mission Board, Bob Reccord, resigned after a state-convention newspaper published an extensive investigative piece about financial mismanagement.

At the time, Mary Kinney Branson was a marketing director for NAMB, and she’s written a book that provides an insider’s account of the extravagance and financial mismanagement there. Spending God’s Money shows how a powerful religious organization goes wrong when it is unaccountable to the people who fund it and when its leaders lose touch with the higher purpose they purport to serve.

Branson provides details that implicate high Southern Baptist officials — and those details are not flattering. For example, Reccord “had a $1 million fund he could use at his discretion, no questions asked and no receipts required.”

Can you imagine any other organization that would allow an official to spend such sums with so little oversight?

When Reccord resigned, 41 Southern Baptist leaders signed a letter praising him and essentially whitewashing his “undisputed misuse of funds.” One of those signers was Georgia pastor Johnny Hunt, who is now the SBC president.

— Baptist Foundation of Arizona: The Baptist Foundation of Arizona was established with the pretense of serving Southern Baptist causes. During its history, it did indeed return about $1.3 million to Baptist causes. But it also “loaned” nearly $140 million to companies owned by three of the Foundation’s directors. In doing so, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona cost thousands of investors their life savings to the tune of $570 million. It was called “the largest affinity fraud in history.” 

Also called “affinity scams,” such frauds target investors who have a similar interest — in this case, advancing “the Lord’s work” through Southern Baptist churches.

Consider just one example: A Baptist Foundation of Arizona subsidiary called Arizona Southern Baptist New Church Ventures “had a stated purpose of financing new Southern Baptist churches in Arizona. Yet it raised most of its money by selling investment products to individuals and invested most of those funds in … an allegedly phony company owned by one-time BFA director Jalma Hunsinger.”

Many of the investors were elderly, and they learned of the investment “opportunity” through their church. They were promised high returns and that some of their money would be used to advance the Gospel. Brochures, distributed in Arizona churches, assured investors  that their money “would be as safe as if kept in a bank.”

“We were deceived,” said a woman who invested $35,000 from her son’s Navy death benefit with the Arizona foundation. She described the foundation’s presentation in her church as being like “the moneychangers in the Temple,” and she complained that Baptist officials were reluctant to discuss the scandal for fear that it  “gives God a bad name.”

— Baptist General Convention of Texas: The “Valleygate” scandal showed the ugly side of the largest state-wide Baptist convention in the country. It involved $1.3 million in lost and mismanaged church-starting funds. According to the Texas Baptist Standard, “The investigative team faulted the BGCT Executive Board staff for poor oversight, uneven management, failure to abide by internal guidelines and misplaced trust.”

Because the investigators’ report indicated that some BGCT staff had “allowed the misuse to occur,” it was determined that recovery of the funds would be difficult.

These are the sorts of disasters you get when an organization gives its leaders power without also insisting on accountability. Without accountability, power corrupts.

 

 


OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
Tags:Commentaries
Christa Brown
More by
Christa Brown
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Embracing the power of story



    We created Storytelling Projects because we believe stories, rooted in the Jesus Story, have the power not only to inform but to transform people and communities.

    We believe in-depth, compelling stories can be sources of spiritual insight, imagination, creativity and hope for all who seek justice and mercy. Read to discover more about our series on:

    Faith and Justice

    Welcoming The Stranger

    Signature Ministries

    Singing Our Faith

    Resilient Rural America

    These series of compelling stories can become vital threads that connect and energize Baptists and other Christians at a time when American culture – and American religion – are increasingly politicized and polarized.
  • Featured

    • Lupe, my friend and neighbor, shouldn’t have died: politicians, preachers and poverty in America

      Opinion

    • The Good News of Christmas calls the Church to embrace the ‘F’ word

      Opinion

    • Mary sings her joyful – and radical – faith. Do we have the courage to join her?

      Opinion

    • Did the Pope compare Donald Trump to King Herod? Should he?

      News

    Read Next:

    Embracing the Simeons and Annas who keep the faith when we cannot

    OpinionKate Hanch

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Former volunteer convicted of abusing preschoolers at South Carolina megachurch

      NewsBob Allen

    • She walked ‘tightrope over portals of hell’ to find God’s grace

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Lupe, my friend and neighbor, shouldn’t have died: politicians, preachers and poverty in America

      OpinionJeremy Everett

    • Mary sings her joyful – and radical – faith. Do we have the courage to join her?

      OpinionMolly T. Marshall

    • The sort-of socialist church is taking a radical approach To Christianity

      CuratedBuzzFeed News

    • Pastor who says Jews are going to Hell speaks at Trump’s Hanukkah party

      CuratedHuffPost

    • The Good News of Christmas calls the Church to embrace the ‘F’ word

      OpinionErica Whitaker

    • Nikki Haley, Confederate memory and the insidious myth of racial ‘reconciliationism’

      OpinionChristopher Moore

    • Did the Pope compare Donald Trump to King Herod? Should he?

      NewsBob Allen

    • Embracing the Simeons and Annas who keep the faith when we cannot

      OpinionKate Hanch

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Disaster volunteers face ‘primitive’ conditions in Dorian-ravaged Bahamas

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Churches need more of Mr. Rogers’s theology of neighborliness

      OpinionAlan Rudnick

    • Tom Ascol, Calvinist leader and social justice critic, hospitalized after collapsing at church

      NewsBob Allen

    • The gospel and the limits of consumerism

      OpinionDoyle Sager

    • Church’s food truck connects with neighbors ‘over a barbecue sandwich’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Don’t succumb to criticism of ‘Happy Holidays’; it can be an expression of God’s inclusive embrace

      OpinionSusan M. Shaw

    • What our Wilshire congregation learned: Have ‘the conversation’ anyway

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Arkansas Supreme Court declines to prevent pastor/judge from hearing attorney general’s cases

      NewsBob Allen

    • New Liberty University think tank aims to revive ‘Christian American culture’

      NewsBob Allen

    • Transitions for the week of 12-6-19

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • What if white Christians had a more realistic image of Jesus, a dark-skinned, religious-minority refugee?

      OpinionLaura Mayo

    • I decided to make a list: 20 actions to cultivate hope

      OpinionMary Hix

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Walker Knight, founding editor of Baptists Today newspaper and former editor of Home Missions magazine, dead at 95

      NewsBob Allen

    • Former volunteer convicted of abusing preschoolers at South Carolina megachurch

      NewsBob Allen

    • She walked ‘tightrope over portals of hell’ to find God’s grace

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Did the Pope compare Donald Trump to King Herod? Should he?

      NewsBob Allen

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Disaster volunteers face ‘primitive’ conditions in Dorian-ravaged Bahamas

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Tom Ascol, Calvinist leader and social justice critic, hospitalized after collapsing at church

      NewsBob Allen

    • Church’s food truck connects with neighbors ‘over a barbecue sandwich’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Arkansas Supreme Court declines to prevent pastor/judge from hearing attorney general’s cases

      NewsBob Allen

    • New Liberty University think tank aims to revive ‘Christian American culture’

      NewsBob Allen

    • Transitions for the week of 12-6-19

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Walker Knight, founding editor of Baptists Today newspaper and former editor of Home Missions magazine, dead at 95

      NewsBob Allen

    • Less TV, more faith needed to help refugees along U.S.-Mexican border

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Judge rules that historically black college and sponsoring denomination share power to name trustees

      NewsBob Allen

    • Franklin Graham terms opposition to Trump ‘almost’ demonic

      NewsBob Allen

    • Trump’s West Bank shocker: are End Times ‘kooks’ running US foreign policy?

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Parting with national body, Tennessee Baptists repudiate Critical Race Theory

      NewsBob Allen

    • Some ministers thrive in the ‘unicorn of church jobs’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Fallen Southern Baptist leader props up pro-Trump pastor

      NewsBob Allen

    • Transitions for the week of 11-22-19

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Half of Protestant pastors say opioid abuse affects a church member

      NewsBob Allen

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • BJC, others, urge Supreme Court to allow states to bolster religious-liberty protections

      NewsBob Allen

    • Trump rhetoric, ICE raids shake Miss. immigrants – but this pastor presses on

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Lupe, my friend and neighbor, shouldn’t have died: politicians, preachers and poverty in America

      OpinionJeremy Everett

    • Mary sings her joyful – and radical – faith. Do we have the courage to join her?

      OpinionMolly T. Marshall

    • The Good News of Christmas calls the Church to embrace the ‘F’ word

      OpinionErica Whitaker

    • Nikki Haley, Confederate memory and the insidious myth of racial ‘reconciliationism’

      OpinionChristopher Moore

    • Embracing the Simeons and Annas who keep the faith when we cannot

      OpinionKate Hanch

    • Churches need more of Mr. Rogers’s theology of neighborliness

      OpinionAlan Rudnick

    • The gospel and the limits of consumerism

      OpinionDoyle Sager

    • Don’t succumb to criticism of ‘Happy Holidays’; it can be an expression of God’s inclusive embrace

      OpinionSusan M. Shaw

    • What our Wilshire congregation learned: Have ‘the conversation’ anyway

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • What if white Christians had a more realistic image of Jesus, a dark-skinned, religious-minority refugee?

      OpinionLaura Mayo

    • I decided to make a list: 20 actions to cultivate hope

      OpinionMary Hix

    • Telling the truth or creating our own realities? (And the wisdom to know the difference)

      OpinionBill Leonard

    • Impeaching ‘the deeply held faith values’ that brought us a President Trump

      OpinionGreg Jarrell

    • People first: The Supreme Court – and all of us – should protect our 1.5 million known transgender Americans

      OpinionRuss Dean

    • Are congregations and seminaries in this work together?

      OpinionMolly T. Marshall

    • Déjà vu: Jewish settlements in Palestine, U.S. policy and support from conservative Christians

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • Rather than ‘surviving’ family conversations this Thanksgiving, here are 4 ways you can thrive

      OpinionAlan Rudnick

    • What testimony in the impeachment hearings said to me about the power of Christian witness

      OpinionRobert P. Sellers

    • Three years after Standing Rock: another oil spill and reminders of indigenous peoples’ fight for justice

      OpinionKate Hanch

    • How the expectation gap creates trauma for white evangelicals

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • This is how despotism works – enabled by conservative white evangelicals and Christian nationalism

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • Baptists under Nazism and Baptists amid America’s current political crisis: a call to ‘disruption’

      OpinionKristopher Norris

    • Sitting in someone else’s chair

      OpinionBrett Younger

    • ‘Have you found Jesus yet?’ The peddling preacher and the pauper

      OpinionCorey Fields

    • Are we finally ready to learn from Glenn Hinson, one of our Baptist prophets?

      OpinionAlan Bean

    • The sort-of socialist church is taking a radical approach To Christianity

      CuratedBuzzFeed News

    • Pastor who says Jews are going to Hell speaks at Trump’s Hanukkah party

      CuratedHuffPost

    • American Jews are terrified

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • J.J. Culver, brother of NBA player Jarrett Culver, scored 100 points in a game for Wayland Baptist

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Behind the rise of evangelical women ‘influencers’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Muhammad appears in top 10 baby name list for the first time

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • How the ‘extreme abstinence’ of the purity movement created a sense of shame in evangelical women

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Palestinians in Bethlehem look beyond religious tourism

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • SMU sued for severing ties with church

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • David Bentley Hart’s polemic against the alleged doctrine of eternal hell

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Georgia’s legislature endorsed Bible classes. Twice. Why aren’t schools teaching them?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • House Speaker Pelosi rebukes reporter: ‘Don’t mess with me’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Holt Street Baptist commemorates bus boycott anniversary, converts former church to museum

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • What does a fair trade logo actually mean?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Resurgence of nationalism is a ‘setback for humanity’, says German theologian Jürgen Moltmann

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • How bad theology makes the opioid crisis worse

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Refugee ministries fight new resettlement requirement

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • At Bishop Barber’s NC church, Pete Buttigieg works to woo black voters

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Former U.S. President Carter hospitalized in Georgia with urinary tract infection

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Dallas pastor’s book sheds light on painful discussions that led Wilshire Baptist to embrace LGBT members

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Seven years after his story went viral, a former Baptist minister continues to advocate for the LGBTQ community

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • How many Americans believe Trump is anointed by God?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • The generous gospel of Mayor Pete

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Advent calendars have exploded with gift-worthy options

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    • Thanksgiving reveals more about us than about 17th century events

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageCurated Content

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2019 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS