Send Relief’s Boston Ministry Center Took Federal Money for “Missions Work” in Violation of Baptist Statement of Faith; Gets Run by Government Rules, Unaccountable to SBC Churches.
Why is the least-accountable Southern Baptist ministry using Biden Administration-dispensed grant money to fund Boston “missions?”
The Center for Baptist Leadership discovered that the Southern Baptist Convention’s Send Relief, Inc., took nearly $70,000 in Biden State Department funds as a subcontractor to the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
The cooperative agreement included the refugee resettlement NGO World Relief as the primary contractor.
Evangelicals were shocked this week to learn that many parachurch “ministries” are, in fact, heavily funded by the government or liberal interest groups. These findings confirmed Megan Basham’s reporting last year in Shepherds for Sale, which revealed how evangelical groups had been persuaded to take leftist positions on issues like climate and open borders immigration. It was also widely reported that World Relief, an organization that attempts to present itself as an “evangelical ministry,” actually received hundreds of millions of dollars to aid the Biden Administration’s push for mass migration into the U.S.
Until now, SBC organizations had only provided lip service in support of dubious immigration programs. As part of the Soros-funded Evangelical Immigration Table, the SBC’s ERLC regularly signed letters in support of more globalist-leaning immigration policies.
However, just in the last few weeks, the ERLC’s President, Brent Leatherwood, signed two letters on behalf of Southern Baptists, one calling on President Trump to maintain a Biden Administration immigration policy of turning a blind eye when criminal illegal aliens attempt to shelter in churches and schools, and a second demanding that Trump turn back on the taxpayer-funded cash flow to these so-called charities. It’s worth noting that a former ERLC staffer left in 2022 to work in World Relief’s government relations shop, further showing the close link between ERLC and these taxpayer-funded refugee resettlement and immigration NGOs.
But now we know that Baptist “missionaries” were actually taking government money and obeying the instructions of the Biden Administration’s State Department.
The funds, issued in 2024 to Send Relief for work in Boston, were not merely a check; they came with strings. Classified as a “cooperative agreement,” the contract “is characterized by extended involvement between recipient and agency.” “It requires substantial oversight by the agency and includes reporting requirements,” according to government definitions.
Perhaps this explains why Send Relief’s Boston Ministry Center is posting graphics like this one.
Also of note, during the time that the Center for Baptist Leadership was investigating this matter, Send Relief removed a story from their website about the Boston Ministry Center’s involvement with a daycare that employs refugee women.
The story was initially put up at this URL: https://www.sendrelief.org/story/put-to-good-use-send-relief-helps-a-boston-businesswoman-care-for-refugees/
You can still find a preview of the now-defunct page on the “Send Relief Stories” landing page.
However, when you visit the page itself, this is what you find:
The relationship between Send Relief’s Boston Ministry Center and this refugee employment initiative (called Dovely and run by Karyn Becker) can also still be found advertised on the Boston Ministry Center’s Instagram page and seen below, where Send Relief Boston Ministry Center’s Director, John Ames, is listed as one of Dovely’s board members.
Finally, since we are concerned that a spotlight on the Send Relief Boston Ministry Center’s activities will lead to a further “erasure of the record,” we want to draw Southern Baptists’ attention to certain radical remarks made by Send Relief Director John Ames in an article on how “Send Relief Boston Ministry Center Continues Legacy of Restorative Ministry.”
In this write-up, Ames negatively refers to Send Relief (and, by extension, other SBC ministries) as “primarily white organizations,” explaining that Send Relief needs to take a backseat to other organizations run by minorities because “We don’t want to be counterproductive to fellow believers or play further into the power dynamic of white privilege.”
A Dark New Chapter for the SBC: Violating the BF&M By Taking Federal Funds for “Missions” Work
The fact that Send Relief took federal grant funding from the Biden State Department, laundered through World Relief, is shocking.
Southern Baptist entities have never taken government money for missions before.
The Baptist Faith & Message is clear that Baptists believe church efforts should not depend on government money. Article XVII on Religious Liberty says:
“The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends.”
For decades, SBC messengers have passed resolutions opposed to government money in religious causes and warned others. In 1936, Messengers warned that the ministry should not become “entangled” with government money, and Baptists should seek “at all costs to abstain from borrowing money from the government, receiving the financial endorsement of the government and receiving appropriations of funds from the public treasury, whether national or state.”
Yet here we are—Send Relief, a Cooperative Program ministry, has taken taxpayer dollars for its Boston Ministry Center, making it unclear when it is engaging in missions or fulfilling government obligations.
Southern Baptist churches giving their hard-earned mission dollars can no longer have confidence they are funding a purely church-led effort.
Southern Baptists Deserve Answers
This revelation raises serious concerns about Send Relief’s financial practices and whether it is truly operating as an independent Baptist ministry or simply functioning as an outsourced humanitarian branch of the U.S. government.
Southern Baptists across the country must ask:
- Why is Send Relief using government money instead of trusting God’s people to fund its mission?
- How can an SBC entity claim to be distinct from the government while cashing checks from the State Department?
- What theological compromises are being made—or will be made—to keep receiving this money?
This is not some theoretical debate. If Send Relief continues down this path, it will fundamentally change how Baptist churches think about missions. Southern Baptists give through the Cooperative Program because they want their money going toward church-driven, gospel-centered relief work, not government-funded initiatives wrapped in Baptist branding.
If Send Relief gets a pass on this, what’s next? How can we speak clearly to the government if we are worried our ministries will falter?
When you open the door to government money, don’t be surprised when they start calling the shots.
A Direct Threat to SBC Cooperation and Missions Giving
For over a century, the SBC has thrived because of its cooperative model—millions of faithful Southern Baptists pooling their resources to advance the Great Commission. But cooperation depends on trust. When Southern Baptists sacrificially give, they believe they are supporting Baptist work—not a shadow branch of the just-departed Biden Administration.
This raises an unavoidable question: How many churches would stop giving if they knew part of their mission funding was being supplemented and ultimately controlled by federal dollars and federal priorities?
Would faithful church members continue to tithe, thinking they’re funding the church’s work, only to discover their money is propping up a government mass immigration efforts?
The answer is obvious: No, they wouldn’t.
What is Send Relief?
It is no coincidence that this is happening at Send Relief, which is the SBC’s most secretive agency. Send Relief tells the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability that it’s a ”collaboration between the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board,” started in 2017 and headed (until recently) by President Bryant Wright.
But almost every element of the story is misleading. According to the Texas Secretary of State, Send Relief was started in 1983 as “Familynet, Inc.,” the former SBC broadcasting entity later sold to the Hallmark Channel.
Government reports never list Bryant Wright as a leader or manager; Kevin Ezell is listed as the President or CEO every year. IMB apparently has no official part in the governance. Each of the ten “Send Relief Trustees” are also on the board of NAMB.
SBC Messengers never voted to create Send Relief. NAMB used the shell corporation, the old FamilyNet, to avoid submitting the plan to Messengers.
SBC Messengers don’t vote on the Send Relief Trustees. The Convention may elect NAMB Trustees, but it does not control who NAMB puts on the Send Relief Board.
SBC Messengers don’t vote on Send Relief’s funding, and its financials are not independently reported. Rather, they are lumped in with NAMB’s financial reporting, making it difficult to distinguish what is really going on at Send Relief.
There have been signs that NAMB was seeking to benefit from government contracts before. From 2017-2020, government reports disclosed that Send Relief had spent $600,000 lobbying on disaster relief bills, especially the “Puerto Rico Economic Empowerment Act of 2018.” Shortly thereafter, Send Relief began a massive rebuilding of a “service and training” complex in Puerto Rico, and dramatically expanded its Puerto Rico “missions.”
Southern Baptists Must Take Action
This is not a moment for silence or bureaucratic excuses. If SBC churches do not take decisive action, the Convention risks losing its credibility, cooperation, and theological integrity.
What can Southern Baptists do?
- Demand Answers from Send Relief. SBC churches must call on Send Relief to disclose all financial records related to government funding. No more hidden contracts. No more backdoor deals.
- Call on SBC Leaders to Take a Stand. Pastors, church leaders, and state conventions should publicly demand that Send Relief cease accepting government money immediately.
- Support Separation of SBC and State. The ERLC should cut ties with the Soros-funded Evangelical Immigration Table, and all our entities should immediately stop working with World Relief. The SBC’s missionaries should give no appearance of working for the government, shouldn’t be taking federal grants at all, and certainly not for dubious “refugee resettlement” programs.
- Hold Entities Accountable. Churches should seriously evaluate their support of SBC giving until entities are transparent and accountable.
- Vote in Dallas for Full Financial Transparency. As many Southern Baptists know, South Carolina pastor Rhett Burns is leading a charge to secure financial transparency from our entities. Thus far, he has been stonewalled by the SBC Executive Committee, including Finance Subcommittee Chairman Adam Wyatt and the new SBC EC President and CEO, Jeff Iorg. Rhett intends to force a vote on real financial transparency again in Dallas. Plan to be there and be ready to support his effort and to stop the EC from offering half-measures. Read more about this initiative in his recent article, “The SBC Needs a DOGE—Now.”
The Southern Baptist Convention is still at a crossroads. If this issue is swept under the rug, it will only embolden further compromise.
Send Relief must make a choice:
Will it be a ministry funded by God’s people, accountable to Southern Baptists, and governed by biblical principles? Or will it become just another government-funded NGO, indistinguishable from the rest?
Southern Baptists—you must decide.
The future of our cooperation depends on it.
