Executive Board advances church insurance program

ABILENE—The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board at its May 19-20 meeting advanced its efforts to provide affordable property and liability insurance coverage for Texas Baptist churches.

At the Executive Board’s meeting on the campus of Hardin-Simmons University, BGCT Associate Executive Director Craig Christina announced the Texas Baptists Indemnity Program hopes to begin allowing the first round of churches to apply for a quote for coverage later this summer.

Within the next 10 days, leaders of the program will have completed the process of applying for a certificate of authority with the Texas Department of Insurance, Christina said, and they anticipate receiving approval within 30 days.

Once the insurance program is operational, churches will contract with Texas Baptists Risk Management—a separate nonprofit corporation—to receive coverage through the Texas Baptists Indemnity Program.

Christina explained legal experts advised Texas Baptists to create the two nonprofit entities separate from the BGCT to provide “layers of separation to protect” the state convention.

After major insurance carriers left the Texas market, many churches reported either being unable to renew their policies or had to absorb steep premium and deductible increases.

So, the BGCT conducted a feasibility study last year to explore forming a captive insurance pool for participating churches—a practice already adopted by some school districts and nonprofit organizations.

In response to previous action by the Executive Board last September and a motion approved at the BGCT annual meeting in November, the board in February authorized investing up to $12 million from the convention’s undesignated investment fund in Texas Baptists’ insurance program to fund the necessary insurance reserve.

Begin with churches in the feasibility study

After the certificates of authority are received from the Texas Department of Insurance and other requirements are met, the 241 churches that completed the feasibility study that led to the insurance program’s creation will be the first eligible to apply for a quote for coverage, Christina said.

As soon as possible, the Texas Baptists Indemnity Program wants to expand to receive applications from any church that gives or sets a goal to give at least 1 percent of its undesignated receipts to Texas Baptists’ Cooperative Program.

The Texas Baptists Indemnity Program plans to offer Texas Baptist churches property coverage for facilities, auto insurance and workers’ compensation.

In addition to general liability coverage, the program also plans to offer professional liability insurance to protect ministers from lawsuits, directors and officers liability insurance for lay leaders in their church roles, sexual abuse coverage to reduce risks and help churches with proper responses, and cyber liability insurance to protect against security breaches or data theft.

At its May 19-20 meeting, the Executive Board granted authorization to secure a letter of credit from Inwood National Bank for the capitalization of the Texas Baptists Indemnity Program. Legal requirements demand capitalization of at least 25 percent of the first year’s premiums.

The board also voted to approve ex-officio positions for the Texas Baptists Risk Management nonprofit corporation—the BGCT associate executive director as president and chairman of the board and the BGCT chief financial officer as treasurer and board secretary.

The Executive Board also appointed Keith Warren, executive pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Weatherford as vice president and vice chair of the board of Texas Baptists Risk Management.

Christina reported both he and BGCT CFO Ward Hayes have been certified as risk managers by the State of Texas. In addition, Christina said, he has passed the examinations to become a licensed property and casualty insurance agent.

New relationship with DBU

In other business, the Executive Board approved a recommendation from its Institutional Relations Committee that would allow Dallas Baptist University to relate to the BGCT through a special agreement, pending approval by messengers to the BGCT annual meeting in November.

The new relationship agreement reduces the proportion of trustees directly elected by the BGCT to 25 percent. However, it continues to require 51 percent of the board to be members of BGCT-affiliated churches. The new agreement still requires 100 percent of the trustees to be Baptists.

“Although this reflects a change from the current 51 percent elected by the BGCT, it strengthens DBU’s ability to respond more effectively to external pressures and regulatory changes, while preserving our Baptist identity and shared mission,” DBU President Adam Wright and a group of university trustees wrote in a letter to Texas Baptists sent after the board vote.

“Please know this decision is not a departure from our support of Texas Baptists. On the contrary, we believe this adjustment will strengthen our longstanding partnership and allow DBU to thrive as a Christ-centered institution committed to academic excellence and gospel advancement.”

The letter closes with the “hope and prayer that DBU and Texas Baptists will continue to labor together in the work of the kingdom for many years to come.”

If approved by messengers to the BGCT annual meeting in Abilene, DBU will join Baylor and Houston Christian University as educational institutions relating to Texas Baptists through a special agreement.

Other educational institutions related to the BGCT are considered “affiliated” institutions, meaning at least a simple majority of their governing board is elected by messengers to the BGCT annual meeting.

In other business, the board approved:

• A recommendation to adopt restated articles of incorporation for STCH Ministries to align language in the document with the requirements of the BGCT constitution and bylaws.
• Revised policy statements for BGCT staff regarding retirement eligibility, information technology and services usage.
• A revised policy change for the Hispanic Education Initiative Council.

The board also met in executive session to discuss a personnel matter.