The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth on my 990-Level Financial Transparency Motion, so Help me God
Over the last two years, I’ve worked to advance a major reform issue on behalf of the “forgotten man” in Southern Baptist Convention life: the local church. My mission has been singular and simple—secure non-profit, industry-standard financial transparency from our SBC entities for our SBC churches.
The need for this increased level of financial transparency is, in my opinion, glaringly obvious. Cooperative program giving is down. Financial scandals at various entities have made national headlines. The Executive Committee has incurred over $12 million in legal fees related to the Guidepost Solutions Report. It now plans to sell the SBC headquarters and ask messengers at the Convention for an additional $3 million to continue paying legal fees. This time, they intend to allocate those funds from the Cooperative Program.
In short, we’ve reached the point where we’re taking money from missionaries and giving it to lawyers. Houston, we have a problem.
As it stands today, most entities don’t even follow the financial disclosure rules outlined in our current Business and Financial Plan. The information that the B&FP instructs entities to provide to Baptist churches isn’t a suggestion; it’s a promise. And they’ve broken that promise. If you don’t believe me, look at all that red. This is what I received (or, sadly, didn’t receive) when I attempted to obtain the information that entities are supposed to provide to the churches funding their work.
Now, the EC is offering a revised B&FP that codifies obscurity and enshrines increased secrecy, rather than enhancing transparency, as they claimed they would.
At its most basic level, the SBC is a financial partnership for missions and ministry. It’s a pot of money that we divide up and disperse to various entities to accomplish the Great Commission together. It’s time to do what’s right in the eyes of God and man. We need to rebuild trust in the CP through an honest and open accounting of how our mission dollars are being spent and stewarded.
So, for the third year in a row, I intend to offer a motion to amend the B&FP to require entities to provide 990-level financial transparency to the local churches, also known as the actual headquarters of the SBC.
What does this include? On the Form 990, a non-profit organization discloses detailed financial information and describes its mission, significant activities, and governance. Organizations report their revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities, accomplishments, the number of employees, their three largest program services, top contractors, and select compensation information. Additionally, Form 990s require organizations to answer questions about policies related to conflicts of interest and, related to this, to disclose transactions with trustees and other interested persons.
Unfortunately, entity heads and the denominational bureaucracy are resisting these efforts. Many false claims have been made about what this would or would not entail. As we prepare to (Lord willing) finally have an open debate on the need for more openness, allow me to set the record straight one more time.
Fact vs. Fiction on Financial Transparency
Fiction: “We already have transparency because we have audits.”
Fact: Audits are a great internal accountability tool, telling you the receipts add up. But they don’t give us external transparency.
Let’s start with NAMB’s favorite objection. Just because you do an audit does not mean you have transparency. Those are two different tools that serve two distinct purposes.
Fiction: “Everything is fine.”
Fact: The CP is in a multi-decade decline, churches are leaving, and we have a trust deficit.
So much of what you’ll hear this week is some version of how great things are (and praise God for the good things!). But all is not well. Let’s not pretend it is. Let’s not ignore our problems and hope they go away. Let’s fix them with real solutions—like 990-level transparency.
Fiction: “There are legal reasons why entities can’t tell you what’s on a 990, or it will endanger our tax-exempt status.”
Fact: Legal reasons don’t keep the WMU from actually filing a 990. Same for our state Baptist universities. And they are still tax-exempt.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: This will in no way endanger the SBC’s status as a tax-exempt religious organization. Garett Robinson, another Southern Baptist who has called for increased financial transparency and studies this subject for a living, made this point abundantly clear on a live X space conversation we did together a few months back.
So don’t let anyone scare you with unspecified “legal reasons.” What, specifically, is the legal reason, and why does it apply to SBC entities but not to the WMU, Baptist universities, and every other religious non-profit that does file a 990? No one can answer that, because there isn’t an honest answer. The concern is unfounded.
Fiction: “It will endanger missionaries.”
Fact: The motion explicitly has protections for missionaries.
As a former IMB missionary in a high-security region of the world, I understand and take this next concern personally. But the motion clearly says: “An entity or Committee may use pseudonyms or note the withholding of information to the extent the majority of its Trustees or Committee Members determines that disclosing such information would pose a threat to the life, safety, or effectiveness of international missionaries.”
Fiction: “This undermines our trustee system.”
Fact: It strengthens our trustee system through accountability.
We love our trustee system! We also love our messengers. A healthy, functioning trustee system is best for messengers. This effort will strengthen the trustee system through accountability, ensuring that our entities are held in trust on behalf of churches for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Also, when have you ever heard of accountability destroying something rather than strengthening it? And again, the WMU and Baptist universities still have functioning trustee boards even though they file 990s.
Fiction: This is “radical transparency.”
Fact: This is a very modest, very normal level of transparency. The kind every other nonprofit already discloses to the public.
Beware the straw man! This attack line is, unfortunately, one that Dr. Iorg regularly uses. But it’s an argument against something that no one is proposing. We are not advocating that every messenger be a functional trustee. We are advocating that every messenger be given the tools to be a faithful and wise messenger and to evaluate the trustees accordingly. We can do this through the standard means of the 990.
Fiction: “The best days of the Cooperative Program are behind us.”
Fact: “The CP’s best days are ahead of us – if we can restore trust.
I believe with all of my heart that the SBC can continue to be a force for the good of our neighbors and the glory of God if we can restore trust and return to our mission: Reaching the whole world with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
I’m not trying to hurt the SBC or our entities; I’m trying to help it. My motion is simple, normal, and Baptist. More importantly, it’s the right thing to do.
So let’s do this, SBC, right here in Dallas, and put this debate behind us so we can revive the Cooperative Program for the next hundred years!
