Dallas’ emergence as a major financial hub is creating opportunities for Southern Baptist financial ministries, including GuideStone Financial Resources and the Baptist Church Loan Corporation, according to Baptist Press. Opportunities include expanded access to investment expertise, talent, and banking partnerships.
The financial boom also brings challenges, including rising salaries, competition for talent, and higher costs for church construction and expansion, Baptist Press acknowledged at the end of their report.
HighGround Advisors, formerly known as Baptist Foundation of Texas, echoed these cautions and others, while also pointing to increased generosity that should follow whatever increased individual wealth results from Dallas’ financial boom.
Texas leads the nation in Fortune 500 company headquarters, with companies including Tesla, Oracle, AT&T, and Charles Schwab, NPR reported. The state’s growing corporate presence has helped attract financial institutions and stock exchanges to the region.
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley are among the investment banks establishing or considering major offices in Dallas. Goldman Sachs plans to open an 800,000-square-foot campus in the city in 2028.
GuideStone
GuideStone Chief Investment Officer Brandon Pizzurro said he believes the growth of North Texas’ financial sector will create a stronger financial system with long-term advantages.
The arrival of major investment banks and stock exchanges, including the Texas Stock Exchange and Dallas outposts of the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, is contributing to a broader financial ecosystem supporting innovation and industry collaboration, he said.
“Those opportunities help us recruit, retain, and develop professionals who both bring deep industry experience and share our faith and values,” Pizzurro said, noting Dallas has been home to Southern Baptists’s financial ministry for more than a century.
When asked how long it would take for these benefits to be realized in an individual’s or an organization’s account, Pizzurro cautioned the impact of individual market developments on GuideStone’s participants cannot easily be measured. He emphasized the organization remains focused on “prudent stewardship, disciplined investment management, and excellent service.”
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He said Southern Baptists chose Dallas to headquarter what was then called the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention “in part due to the opportunities presented by the growth in Texas and the Southwest. … Those considerations were part of our heritage, and they remain relevant today.”
Baptist Church Loan Corporation
The growth also benefits the Baptist Church Loan Corporation by expanding access to banking partners and helping keep borrowing costs low for churches, BCLC President Landon Yeager told Baptist Press.
In response to follow-up questions from Baptist Standard about how the growth in Dallas’ financial sector will benefit churches, Yeager said: “BCLC being headquartered in Dallas has always been a strategic advantage from a banking partner standpoint. The continued investment in the North Texas region by financial institutions is good for BCLC and indirectly impacts what we can do for the church.
“More than 60 cents of every dollar BCLC loans comes from our own accumulated capital,” Yeager continued. “The remaining 30-plus cents is borrowed from banking partners.
“BCLC steps in for churches that maybe don’t have a relationship with the bank, and our ability to get funds from these banks that have business [in Dallas] helps us keep our costs low to pass on to our customers,” he said.
“Churches are seeing the benefit now [of Dallas’ financial-sector growth],” Yeager said. “The additional liquidity from our lines of credit with banks makes it possible for us to continue serving churches’ financing needs. Over the past three years, BCLC has funded more than $150 million in loans.”
HighGround Advisors
Helge Rokenes, HighGround Advisors vice president and chief investment officer explained Dallas’ financial-sector growth does not directly benefit client accounts. “There are real benefits to us as a firm, like talent and access to managers and partners,” he said. “Those help us serve clients well over time, but they don’t add measurably to returns.”
Baptist Foundation of Texas became HighGround Advisors in 2016.
“The more meaningful upside is generosity,” Rokenes continued. “A growing regional economy should create wealth, and some of that should flow to churches, foundations, endowments, and planned gifts increasing the endowments and charitable assets of the ministries we serve. Hopefully, over time, the assets we manage for them will grow.
“A larger asset base helps us create efficiencies and serve our clients and ministries well. But that’s a long-term, possible benefit to the mission and to HighGround as an organization. It isn’t a boost to current account balances, and any long-term benefit will depend on people choosing to give,” Rokenes said.
When asked what individuals, churches, and other Christian organizations should be watching in relation to Dallas’ financial-sector growth, Rokenes said: “Rising land, construction, and housing costs, which can affect church building plans. Borrowing: more lenders can mean more options, but rates depend on national policy and the borrower’s financial strength.
“Local excitement shouldn’t drive investment decisions. Texas has seen booms turn before, such as the late-1980s real estate and banking downturn. Stay diversified, keep costs low, and think long term,” he advised.
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