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What a pastor's fight over financial transparency in SBC achieved despite his latest loss
DALLAS — South Carolina pastor Rhett Burns set out to change how the Southern Baptist Convention thinks about financial transparency, and the denomination's top policymaking body defeated many of his hopes.
But Burns' advocacy didn't fall on deaf ears, as his congregation at First Baptist Church (FBC) Travelers Rest can attest to.
'It's God's money and we want to have an open hand and be up front with everybody,' Ron Tweedy, a deacon at FBC Travelers Rest, said in an interview. 'And at the end of the day, I just have the same expectation for our denomination as I do for our church.'
Tweedy was one of five parishioners to accompany their pastor to Dallas this week as delegates, called messengers, on behalf of FBC Travelers Rest, a congregation of no more than 100. The FBC Travelers Rest delegation cheered on their pastor at the SBC annual meeting as Burns called for stronger requirements for SBC-affiliated agencies to publicly disclose more details about spending, including the salaries of top executives.
Burns advocated for the same basic SBC policy changes at the 2023 and 2024 SBC annual meetings, and this year he yet again he faced resistance.
Almost none of the legislative proposals that Burns and his allies pushed for moved forward in any meaningful way, and a June 11 floor debate highlighted the differing views among Southern Baptists about how to strengthen financial accountability. Though divided, messengers at the Dallas meeting displayed a greater interest in the denomination's financial health and how to best monitor that health going forward.
These differing sentiments emerged when Burns brought a proposed measure that dealt with reporting requirements about executive pay.
Burns argues that requiring SBC-affiliated agencies, called entities, to publish detailed financial information like executive pay helps promote trust between those entities and everyday Southern Baptists. The Nashville-based denomination's collective budget, called the Cooperative Program, receives income from church giving and supports 10 major entities.
'I wish we could get back to a point where we trust one another more,' Burns said in an interview.
Burns believes having the right guardrails in place instills more confidence in Southern Baptists that entities are responsibly spending that income received from church giving. But a legislative debate dealing with one of Burns' proposals faced fierce opposition from other messengers.
'Is there anything significant to be gained by simply knowing how much money certain people make?" John Piwetz, pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, said during a June 11 debate on the floor of the convention. "It would inevitably generate disagreements, envy and division.'
'I've learned that what matters more than transparency is integrity," Piwetz said. "Publishing salaries is not a solution, it only causes more issues.'
Piwetz was speaking against a proposal from Burns to amend a new SBC Business and Financial Plan. The SBC Executive Committee, which is the denomination's administrative arm, put forward a new Business and Financial Plan this year for messengers to adopt.
Executive Committee staff said this new version is a step toward greater transparency. But Burns saw the plan as a farce, and he tried to amend it.
'They did it in such a way to try to … take the bullet out of the chamber of those who are pushing for more transparency," Burns said in an interview prior to the June 11 floor debate.
Ultimately, messengers strongly rejected Burns' proposed change and adopted the new Business and Financial Plan as presented by the Executive Committee.
"I'm disappointed, but this isn't the end of the world," Burns said. "What I'm excited about is going back to Travelers Rest. … We have a lot of work to do at our church."
Burns' motivation for his advocacy across the SBC started with his experience at his small-town church.
Burns became the pastor at FBC Travelers Rest in 2023 after a ministry career that included seven years serving as a missionary in central Asia. But he long knew of FBC Travelers Rest from his grandparents, who had been longtime members there.
There are two members at FBC Travelers Rest who have been there for 70 years, since their baptisms in May 1955. Other members are descendants of the forbearers who founded the church in 1913.
'They have been faithfully giving to this church and faithfully giving to the Cooperative Program,' Burns said. 'There's a gravity there for responsibility with our money. As pastor, I feel a sense of responsibility.'
Since Burns' appointment and the addition at around the same time of members like Tweedy, the congregation has been more engaged with SBC news and governance concerns. For this year's convention in Dallas and last year's in Indianapolis, FBC Travelers Rest has sent more messengers than it typically has.
Meanwhile, the same virtues have guided the congregation to re-examine its own financial practices.
'Some of the newer members were thinking, 'Hey, we need to be better stewards of what we're actually giving to the Cooperative Program, and making sure that money is being used properly,'' Tweedy said.
The church formed a study group to review potential changes to the church's giving to national Southern Baptist ministries. That study group gave a report in April, and the congregation waited to make any final decisions until Burns and Tweedy report back from Dallas.
Historically, 10% of FBC Travelers Rest's budget has gone toward the Cooperative Program, which in 2024 totaled $11,508. Now, the church is considering separating out that 10% share and selectively giving to some SBC entities and withholding from others.
This model of targeted giving to certain entities is gaining popularity, and recent policy changes at the state level are allowing more churches to do that.
There has been growing distrust toward certain entities in the wake of different controversies, causing churches to carefully consider whether their giving is consistent with their values. One example is that more churches are withholding giving to the SBC Executive Committee due to legal fees the committee is paying for abuse-related court battles.
'We're living in this moment where authority is being decentralized in some ways,' Burns said. 'The gatekeepers aren't gatekeeping in the same ways.'
Related: What Southern Baptist budget debate says about denomination's precarious funding
Elements of these deliberations in Dallas echo those of the 2019 and 2021 SBC annual meetings following a recommendation for financial accountability introduced by Morris Chapman, former chief executive for the SBC Executive Committee.
'It is our desire that we who are administrators and executives … be just as trustworthy and as honest as those serving in the field giving a report to us,' Chapman said at the 2019 meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. 'This year, the light has shined on our cooperative work in ways that revealed our need for reform.'
Two years later, the SBC Executive Committee proposed changes to the Business and Financial Plan but faced fierce opposition, including from prominent Southern Baptists who today are top executives at SBC entities. Many were concerned that the proposal gave the SBC Executive Committee too much authority over other entities and their compliance with financial guidelines.
The merit of that proposal aside, the fundamental concerns behind it are more prescient than ever. Cooperative Program giving has decreased by 6%, or $12.9 million, since the 2021-22 fiscal year, and many entities have reduced staffing totals since then.
Also, the SBC Executive Committee, North American Mission Board, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have faced scrutiny for separation agreements between those entities and former executives who resigned, some in scandal. Southern Baptists have often wondered in those cases how much severance the entities paid those ousted executives.
Amid this turmoil, Burns' congregation at FBC Travelers Rest has responded differently. Tweedy said some of his fellow parishioners think it's simplest for the church to leave the SBC altogether.
Though sympathetic to that unease, Tweedy and Burns support a more balanced strategy. For example, the church can potentially change its giving practices to the national convention without jeopardizing its ability to send messengers to the SBC annual meetings and to continue to advocate for policy changes.
To Tweedy, the best way to honor the church's legacy of financial support for the SBC is not to give up.
'Our folks have been giving faithfully for decades,' Tweedy said, 'and it would be irresponsible of us just to take our ball and go home.'
Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at ladams@ or on social media @liamsadams.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Southern Baptist Convention: Pastor fights for financial accountability
