Southern Baptists Respond to Critical Report with Remedies
A month after it went under the critical eye of a news journal, the North American Mission Board reconvened with an accountability plan, dealing with the article's allegations and reaffirming a stronger agency.
A month after the North American Mission Board went under the critical eye of a news journal, the domestic missions agency reconvened with an accountability plan, dealing with the article's allegations and reaffirming a stronger agency.
"We want the Southern Baptists Convention to know we've responded to the issues and because of that response we believe that you can trust what we're doing here at NAMB," said Barry Holcomb, a trustee chairman, in a meeting Thursday, according to Baptist Press. Holcomb is part of a nine-member task force that was created in response to an article published in the Georgia Baptist Convention's The Christian Index.
The news journal released an article on Feb. 16 which questioned both the effectiveness of the NAMB and its head, Dr. Bob Reccord. The report was soon followed by a statement from the mission arm of the Southern Baptist Convention that clarified inaccuracies on their church planting strategies and missionary force.
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An investigation was conducted thereafter from which a 19-page report was drafted. The full Board of Trustees approved a six-part plan to provide some course corrections for the agency, including the appointment of a sub-committee of Trustees to develop a set of Executive Level controls to be used as a guide for directing the travel, speaking, and on-campus office time required for the President.
Reccord, who served as the NAMB president since its founding in 1997, had called for the board to study and review the allegations made in the article and assess the issues.
Commending Reccord for his move of integrity, trustee first vice chairman William Curtis said, "I want to affirm Dr. Reccord here today and tell you that we as trustees are privileged to serve with him, and are grateful for his passion and vision."
"Yesterday during the trustee meeting he did what a good leader does. He was transparent, humble, took ownership for issues we were dealing with and said, as president he knows where the buck stops," Curtis added as he noted Reccord's willingness to work with the trustees in dealing with the issues.
The trustees also took responsibility and addressed how to strengthen the agency, which included being more proactive in assisting the president.
Nevertheless, the task force dealt with the issue strictly.
"We did not give Dr. Reccord a pass on anything ... We asked very tough, very pointed, very particular questions, because we want Southern Baptists to know that we want everything dealt with that is an issue," said task force member Tim Patterson, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., according to Baptist Press.
The Southern Baptists admitted they are not perfect, but saw such an opportunity like this one to come out stronger.
"We do not want to give the impression to anyone that we do not welcome criticism," said Holcomb. "As we worked we realized, 'Hey, this is going to make us better, this is going to make us stronger.'"
The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest free church denomination in the world with 43 million members across the globe, including more than 16 million members in the United States.
