Tuesday, March 8, 2011

NAMB slashes travel budget, renames DOMs, swears off building buildings

So says Kevin Ezell - Ezell: 'New day for NAMB, states and ADOMs'.

"We're looking at everything at NAMB. We've also just reduced NAMB's travel budget by 50 percent across the board."
This was at the tail end of the Baptist Press article but it caught my eye. An SBC leader who cuts staff and staff travel is an unusual bird. Good for him.

"The staff reduction led to a savings of $6 million," Ezell said. "We cut another $8 million in our internal budget for a total savings of $14 million. Everything we've taken away is flowing back into church planting.

I'd like to know where in the budget he found more millions in cuts than in the cost of the 99 staff who left.

Sure, neither of these are the main thrust of what's going on at NAMB but such things resonate with the folks who give them their money.

Other notable things:

"We're not putting little 'Nambies' out there or buying buildings. We're not building a huge bureaucratic infrastructure in the regions," Ezell said. "It's not very glamorous."
Good. Very good.
Ezell said some 200 jointly funded ADOMs will see their job title change to "church planting catalyst."
NAMB borrows an old but apt mission term - "catalyst," "catalytic."

Ezell did do a little chastising:
Ezell told the associational and church planting leaders that skepticism and negativity must end among NAMB, some of the 42 state conventions and some of the 1,200 associations.

The negativity had a solid foundation in the actions of NAMB over the past decade or so. It is to be expected that our new CEO would like for all to forget the past and be positive about the future.

I'll happily meet him half way on that.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are a lot of announcements coming from NAMB and except for those whose job was done away with, I have not been aware of anything but talk.

For the regional NAMB personalities,I guess it is possible they will get space (free or rented) from a state convention office somewhere.

Makes sense. NAMB will cut funding to some state conventions which will mean some conventions will let go of some people and will have room for NAMB to occupy the empty offices.

I guess the state conventions could rent the space for what $$'s they lost.

And the wheel keeps turning, I wait to see if it hits ground and actually goes somewhere.

jle

William Thornton said...

Let's be optimistic.

Anonymous said...

It would be great to be optimistic, but check out the chapel service at Southern Seminary and the interview between Mohler and Ezell. He threw all that NAMB has done in the past under the bus and He and his new team are the only ones with the answers. He mentions that he has learned how important relationships are, those with most of the trusted relationships "retired" in December. The NAMB report at the convention meeting in June should be interesting.

Anonymous said...

For more ideas on the future of NAMB Check out http://itun.es/i692qn #iTunes interview at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, 106 left NAMB in the past 5 months not 99, more downsizing to come? The De-Nerding of NAMB.

William said...

You'll have to provide a better link. I will be glad to check it.

Ezell is the guy now. I cannot say that the status quo was working pretty good before he came though I do understand the loss of experienced, good, decent personnel.

Anonymous said...

Try following matt_sliger on twitter, it has the better link

"De-Nerding the North American Mission Board" ... interview with @kevezell - http://itun.es/i692qn #iTunes

William Thornton said...

Listened to the interview, a recap of stuff he has said elsewhere, but I'm not sure what Ezell meant by "de-nerding NAMB." This wasn't in the context of NAMB staff but rather NAMB church planters.

Justin said...

I think the "de-nerding NAMB" was used in an analogy of NAMB being the nerd at the cool kid table that no one really wanted around.