The North American Mission Board (NAMB) has responded to claims that it pays its executives exorbitant salaries in light of a lawsuit filed by disgraced Pastor Johnny Hunt in which Hunt claims he received $610,000 in annual compensation while employed at NAMB.
NAMB is the domestic missions agency of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Hunt was the vice president of evangelism and leadership until 2022 when he resigned after credible allegations surfaced that he sexually assaulted the wife of a fellow pastor in 2010.
The revelation was part of a report commissioned by the SBC Executive Committee into whether it had mishandled allegations of sexual abuse across a two-decade period. The investigation was conducted by Guidepost Solutions.
Since Hunt was the president of the SBC in 2010 and thereby an ex officio member of the Executive Committee, the allegations against him were included in the report.
Hunt denies the allegations, claiming that the encounter was consensual. He nevertheless resigned from his role at NAMB shortly after the report was published.
Hunt subsequently filed a defamation lawsuit against the SBC, the SBC Executive Committee, and Guidepost Solutions. He is seeking more than $100 million, including 10 years in lost earnings from NAMB, which he claims amounted to $610,000 annually.
After the details of the lawsuit became publicly known, NAMB was the subject of online criticism and calls from Southern Baptists for greater financial transparency, as the agency is funded by the donations of local SBC churches.
In a recent statement, NAMB responded to the accusation that it has been mishandling SBC funds by awarding its executives excessively high compensation, denying that Hunt received the amount he claims he did.
While the statement did not name Hunt or the figure he has claimed to have received in annual salary and benefits from NAMB, NAMB did refer to “some speculation online about the salary of a former NAMB employee.”
“While NAMB can’t share confidential salary information about any current or former employee or comment specifically on active litigation,” the statement said, “no one at NAMB — now or at any time — has ever been paid anywhere near as much as the salary amount that is being speculated online.”