Call for Southern Baptists to Unite to Hold the IMB Accountable Amid Allegations of Embezzlement

IMB Accountable ^

[IMBAccountable]

Members of North America’s largest protestant denomination are calling for unity to push for further investigation into the recent allegations of financial impropriety at their International Mission Board (IMB) which has an annual budget of $288,900,000.00*. The organization has been under a cloud of suspicion since admitting that more than $350,000.00 of the Central Asia region’s budget remains unaccounted for. Some believe that there may be much more money missing.

Messengers at the June 2006 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Greensboro, NC accepted a motion to require an “external audit” of the books from 1999 to 2005, and automatically referred the motion to the June 2007 convention in San Antonio, TX. Messengers expecting to hear the results of the external audit and to learn what plan the IMB has in place to deal with the discrepancies, may be surprised to learn that it may not happen.

At the January 2007 meeting of the IMB trustees in Ontario, California, the leadership refused to follow the directive from the Convention, stating that they completed an audit in 2004 that addressed the issue satisfactorily.

At issue is the validity of the Board of Trustees refusal to follow a mandate imposed by the Southern Baptist Convention. According to SBC by-laws, agencies cannot refuse to follow requirements placed on them by the Convention. Also, since the motion included the year 2005, any audit completed before that date does not fulfill the directive. Furthermore, the question must be asked as to why the IMB would not want to have their name cleared of any wrongdoing if indeed no transgression took place.

A web site has been created to share some of the concerns that life-long Southern Baptists have with the situation at the IMB (www.imbaccountable.com). Hopefully, messengers to the SBC in San Antonio will not look the other way and let this issue just go away. Southern Baptists need to be confident that when they donate more than $250 million a year to one of their organizations, those entrusted with it will be accountable.

*IMB 2007 budget figures (http://www.imb.org/core/fastfacts.asp)

For more information visit our web site (imbaccountable.com)

[SmithL]

IBTZ?

[Carry_Okie]

This is the right way to handle things, but it isn't breaking news.

[MamaB]

You signed up to post this?

[GraniteStateConservative]

Stop giving money to groups and manage your giving yourself.

[Tijeras_Slim]

What are they doing? Buying expensive cheese?

[Blogger]

The SBC has had a WONDERFUL missions organization with a rich history. Missionaries don't have to worry about raising money themselves. They can concentrate on ministering to the people to whom they are called. If someone has stolen money from the IMB, they need to be prosecuted. The SBC needs to also have safeguards to keep it from happening again.