ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – Trustees of the North American Mission Board are asking a task force to see if there is any truth to allegations -- first reported in the Christian Index -- that NAMB's evangelism and church-planting efforts are lagging and improperly reported.

But NAMB refused to release a 2003 communications audit that is at the center of a possible conflict of interest involving President Bob Reccord and a NAMB subcontractor.

Trustee chairman Barry Holcomb of Alabama has appointed a task force of trustees – comprised mainly of the board's executive committee members – to review the issues raised by the Christian Index in an analysis published Feb. 16. The task force has already met once at NAMB's offices north of Atlanta.

Trustees have scheduled a special called meeting March 23 to hear the task force report.

The Southern Baptist agency's auditing firm, Capin and Crouse, also has been asked to conduct an audit of the issues raised.

According to the Christian Index, the number of career missionaries funded by NAMB has dropped 10 percent since 1997, when NAMB was formed as the Southern Baptist successor to the Home Mission Board. The Index also cited a lack of a consistent evangelism strategy, a loss of momentum in church-planting efforts, and a drop in NAMB cash reserves from $55 million to $23 million.

The Index also raised questions about NAMB's dealings with subcontractor Steve Sanford, a longtime friend of Reccord's. Sanford was asked to perform an audit of NAMB's communications strategy in 2003, which NAMB officials say led the agency to outsource 40 positions in its communications and Internet areas. InovaOne, a company founded and owned by Sanford, was later hired to perform some of those services.

Sanford told Associated Baptist Press there is no connection between the audit and his subsequent contracts with NAMB. But the agency is not denying such a connection.

Both Sanford and NAMB declined to release a copy of the communications audit. Sanford said only NAMB is authorized to release it, and NAMB declined ABP's request for a copy.

The Index also raised questions about potential conflicts of interest between Reccord's role as head of NAMB and his moonlighting ministry as a speaker and author.

In a meeting Feb. 22, Reccord urged NAMB employees to “keep your heads high, stay on task, pray a lot, and reflect Christ in everything you do.”

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