SBC lawsuit court documents reveal NAMB allegedly paid 'Pastor Johnny' a $610K annual salary
News Analysis
Calls for an extensive audit of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board (NAMB) finances may grow louder after court documents revealed recently that former megachurch pastor Johnny Hunt was paid more than $600,000-plus annually to serve as the entity’s senior vice president of evangelism and leadership.
The Baptist Report reported in December that a civil trial for Hunt v. the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) had been set for June 17 the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, one week following the SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas June 10-11.
Hunt, former SBC president and a prominent pastor in the denomination, sued the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBC Executive Committee, and Guidepost Solutions in March 2023 for defamation, claiming that Guidepost used Hunt as a “scapegoat” in a sexual abuse investigation conducted by the Executive Committee.
A May 2022 report from a Guidepost sexual abuse investigation of the denomination included allegations from an unidentified woman who claims Hunt sexually abused her in 2010, shortly after his two-year stint as SBC president. Hunt, who had served in the position at NAMB since 2018, resigned days before the Guidepost report became public.
Hunt’s lawsuit seeks more than $100 million, a sum calculated that Hunt intended to work 11 more years at the time of his resignation from NAMB, and therefore would have lost $6.7 million for 11 years at an annual salary of $610,000. Additionally, the suit claims the scandal cost Hunt $3.96 million in potential income from future book sales and $3.85 million from future speaking fees, along with $880,000 in other lost income. He is also seeking $45 million for harm to his reputation and $45 million for emotional distress.
According to reports, Hunt pledged to transfer the Timothy Barnabas ministry to NAMB, which was worth more than a million dollars in revenue per year and had assets of about $300,000 in cash assets in 2016. NAMB began a partnership with Hunt and the ministry in 2011.
When it was announced that Hunt was hired at NAMB, Kevin Ezell, the entity's president, said “I am humbled and overwhelmed by God’s favor and blessing to have a leader like Johnny Hunt willing to join the NAMB family. The vision, passion and leadership he will bring will help us motivate pastors to lead out in evangelism.”
Following the release of the Guidepost report on May 22, 2022, Ezell issued a statement saying, “Prior to May 13, I was not aware of any alleged misconduct on the part of Johnny Hunt. I learned the details of the report today along with the rest of our Southern Baptist family.”
Social media reaction to Hunt’s reported salary was stinging. Below is a sampling:
New England church planter Ivey Rhodes @IveyRhodes posted “It’s wild Johnny Hunt was being paid like this. To put this in perspective, when I was planting, the general stipend was $1000 a month (There were some circumstances where people got more). My funding stopped in 2022. But at that rate, Johnny’s annual salary could support almost 10% of churches planted in 2023. I have planters I know today doing really good work in the city, but they are struggling, and 1% of Johnny’s salary added to their current rate would be revolutionary.”
Tom Buck @TomBuck, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Lindale, Texas, posted “If I'm reading this correctly, @NAMB_SBC was paying Johnny Hunt a salary of $610,000 a year. If this is true, then one can only imagine what Ezell's salary is. Just one more reason transparency is needed in the SBC!”
Jason Sampler @DrSampler of the Cornerstone Research Group in Atlanta, Ga., posted “Johnny Hunt claims in his lawsuit against the SBC that his annual salary at NAMB was $610k. I can’t imagine an entity head making that much, much less a VP. What in the world is the SBC doing?”
Sources and Related Links:
Hunt reveals $610,000 salary; seeks millions in relief from CP (Baptist Message)
Johnny Hunt’s Defamation Trial Against SBC Gets New Date Hunt Seeking $100M, Claims His Annual Income at NAMB Was $610K (ChurchLeaders.com)
NAMB Statement about Hunt from 2022 (North American Mission Board)
Questions Loom about the Nomination of Johnny Hunt (Reform NAMB Now)
Timothy+Barnabas in 25th year for pastors & spouses (Baptist Press)
NAMB to partner with Timothy Barnabas (Baptist Press)
What does Gods word saying about going outside the Church body to settle disagreements, doesn’t it say even the least in the Church can exact decisions on disagreements. What have we as the Church come too, I’m totally ashamed.
What is the lawsuit concerning? Is that Johnny Hunt in the picture please explain