NAMB issues response to Index article

ALPHARETTA — A 19-page report – nine of which deals with issues raised in an Index story in mid-February – assures Southern Baptists that church planting and evangelism will remain priorities at the North American Mission Board.

“Because dollars are so precious in today’s economy, the Trustees believe that the Board must look more carefully at the way in which NAMB uses those dollars,” the report continued. “Given the need to fund more missionaries and plant more churches, perhaps the Board needs to prioritize even more carefully to insure that the most amount of money possible goes to these two areas.

 

Evangelism

Concerning the Index article’s assertion that NAMB seems to lack a cohesive evangelism strategy, the report also stated, “The recent hiring of Dr. John Avant as Vice-President of Evangelism has already re-energized the evangelism area. He and his new team are working diligently with NAMB's state convention partners to address this very issue with a goal of strengthening partner relationships and developing a more syncretistic approach to evangelism with our state partners.”

The Index maintained that several missteps, including the failed “What Now, America?/Canada?” emphasis which cost NAMB $343,700 before it was pulled, lead to a lack of a national evangelism strategy. In fact, a 2004 letter from the Ardor Group, which surfaced during the investigation, described NAMB during the period as “as an organizational nightmare as far as project decision making.”

In the letter the group, a highly regarded Christian media-consulting firm which was hired to produce the campaign, effectively fired NAMB for its lack of vision and constant reorganizing. Ardor has produced campaigns for group such as Campus Crusade for Christ and Focus on the Family.

 

Church planting

Regarding church planting, the trustee task force took issue with the paper, which asserted that church plants during NAMB’s eighth year of existence were just 132 over the last year of the former Home Mission Board, which NAMB replaced in the SBC restructuring in 1997.

The trustee report reiterated the response NAMB issued immediately after the Index article was published, that NAMB has averaged “277 more church plants per year than in the eight years prior to NAMB's existence.”

Beyond evangelism and church planting, the 19-page report addressed the numerous other issues raised by the Index.

 

Outsourcing

The trustee task force recommended “an immediate study of Board policy regarding the use of RFP’s [Request For Proposals, i.e., bids], and that the process of outsourcing be subjected to those guidelines as soon as possible.”

The staff member previously charged with bidding out NAMB’s print and related projects was among those terminated in the fall. Trustees expressed concern that adequate bidding procedures were not being followed in the letting of contracts, especially to InovaOne.

While the report affirmed the value of outsourcing as an accepted business practice, it admitted that NAMB had stumbled in the area, especially in relation to InovaOne and a perceived conflict of interest.

The trustee task force detailed expenditures for media outsourcing work provided by InovaOne, which is owned by a friend of NAMB President Bob Reccord. While Reccord maintained that Sanford was not a close personal friend, Sanford claimed him as a spiritual mentor on the InovaOne Web site.

Among those expenditures:

• InovaOne's media strategies audit: $35,000.

• InovaOne's consulting contract for implementation of the audit: $300,000.

• Outsourcing media: $745,000.

• InovaOne video: $1,700,000.

• InovaOne private airline hours (through Airshares): $142,374.

Total: $3,300,000.

The report also noted that “equipment in the video suite at NAMB has been sold to InovaOne for $480,000. This money has not been received as cash. The current agreement is for a $20,000/per month equipment purchase credit against the monthly media outsource fee of $200,000 per month.

Money from the $200,000 that is not spent on the production of materials in any given month is refunded. The ‘refund’ for January 2006 was in excess of $44,000. Also, InovaOne is using NAMB’s video facilities rent free for the work they do for NAMB.”

In the public relations area, the task force reported that two public relations firms have been on retainer: Shirley & Bannister at $8,000 per month and the Demoss Group at $4,000 per month.

“The Trustees were unaware of the fact that two outside firms were on retainer to provide PR advice to NAMB, especially given the fact that there are two NAMB employees on staff who are tasked with this responsibility,” the report stated.

 

Strategic reserves

Concerning the decline in NAMB's strategic reserves, as noted in the Index article, the trustee task force reported that NAMB had $51 million in reserves when it began in 1997 and, at the end of 2005, had $32 million.

NAMB’s FamilyNet cable TV channel has accumulated a loss of nearly $10.9 million and also has a loan of nearly $9.6 million, the report stated, while poor stock market performance resulted in an estimated $5.4 million loss from 1999-2000.

“[T]he reserves are now rebounding nicely, as a result of improved market conditions, and they are heading back in the right direction,” the report added.

 

Missionary count

The trustee task force reported that its missionary count as of March 13 stood at 5,154, including 66 fully funded national missionaries; 2,730 jointly funded missionaries with various state Baptist entities; and 2,358 Missions Service Corps (MSC) missionaries, who are affiliated with NAMB but raise their own financial support.

The task force cited a number of factors that had led to a decline in the number of jointly funded missionaries, including health insurance costs that were absorbed by NAMB and not passed on to the missionary force.

The Index article raised concern that NAMB’s missionary count declined 10 percent under the current administration.

 

Discontinued/struggling initiatives

• A media resources initiative titled “See Who Cares” has been delayed by the shift last year “of personnel and resources in order to handle the immense scope” of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief coordinated nationally by NAMB in response to Hurricane Katrina, the report stated, suggesting that InovaOne should not have been the lone vendor to handle the outsourcing of both See Who Cares and NAMB’s disaster relief media needs.

• NAMB’s “Elevate” 2004-05 conferences “were poorly attended” and thus canceled early in the 2005 schedule, resulting in a loss of just over $1 million from NAMB's reserves, the task force stated.

• NAMB spent $1.4 million to create a new 316 Network initiative to help churches gain access to web-casting technology and, to date, has received only about $30,000 in revenue.

“The Trustees believe that it may be too soon to tell if the 316 Network can succeed financially,” the task force report stated.

“In their opinion, the Board should monitor it carefully this year and be prepared to make a decision regarding its viability in the near future.”

 

Reccord’s speaking engagements

Reccord is a featured speaker at the 19 Promise Keepers rallies this year, another of the points of contention in the Index article. The task force gave those appearances a split endorsement.

The report stated, “While this is a substantial amount of speaking engagements, they do provide NAMB with a platform for expanding the awareness of Southern Baptist life across America and helping to mobilize men to assist in the build-up in the wake of Hurricane Katrina,” the report said.

“The Trustees believe this can be beneficial for NAMB, but they also believe that it must be monitored to insure that the Agency does not suffer as a result of these events.”

 

 

Related articles and information:

NAMB trustees place controls on president for greater accountability

NAMB trustee response to the article in The Christian Index (PDF, 19-page report)