Board approves launch of captive insurance program for churches desperate for relief

The Executive Committee of the Texas Baptists Executive Board heard a feasibility study and voted to launch a Texas Baptists captive insurance program during its Monday afternoon meeting in Dallas.

The program is intended to provide relief to Texas Baptists churches experiencing significant insurance premium increases and coverage cancelations and to reinvest earnings to further convention ministry.

Messengers to the 2024 Texas Baptists Annual Meeting in Waco passed a recommendation authorizing executive leadership to “take all necessary steps to successfully implement a Texas Baptists Insurance Program” so long as the executive committee approved the feasibility study and subsequent recommendations.

Executive Committee members entered an executive session on Monday afternoon to receive the report, consider its recommendations, ask questions, and vote on the next steps.

The committee approved the program's creation and brought a recommendation to the full board on Tuesday morning to establish initial officers and a board of directors for the new corporation and authorize a reserve investment of $12M.

After discussion, the recommendation passed. 

Corporate Officers and Board Directors established

Craig Christina, associate executive director, Sergio Ramos, director of GC2 Initiatives, and Ward Hayes, CFO/Treasurer, were named officers of the corporation in the roles of President, Vice-President, and Secretary/Treasurer, respectively.

The three were also tapped to serve as members of the corporation’s five-member board of directors, with the associate executive director serving as Chairman, the member of the BGCT executive leadership team serving as Vice-Chair, and the CFO serving as secretary.

Dennis Young, pastor of Missouri City Baptist Church, and David Bowman, executive director for the Tarrant Baptist Association, were also named to the board.

During his financial update, Hayes said the next steps would be to file as a Texas Captive Insurance Corporation with non-profit status and to seek 501(c)(3) status with the IRS.

Program ‘a better way’ for gospel-focused churches

During discussions around the recommendation, Hayes noted the captive insurance approach represented “a better way” for Texas Baptists churches moving forward.

“Our churches don’t need to be worried about insurance; they need to be worried about sharing the Gospel,” he said.

While the program will sell insurance, Hayes assured the board of its relational design and focus on “helping churches manage their risk.” 

“It’s more of a program in managing risk,” he said, “and we seek to be a risk management partner” with Texas Baptists churches.

As proposed, the program would include all “mainline” coverages to prevent coverage gaps for participating churches. 

Hayes said there is a tremendous opportunity to help churches implement best practices to mitigate risks, including sexual abuse prevention, facility maintenance, and deductible savings. 

The reserve investment of $12M would not impact the availability of Cooperative Program funds or convention ministry in any way, he said. 

Hayes explained that, in preparation for the possible investment pending Executive Committee approval of the study, convention leaders had held a higher-than-normal liquidity position to allow for a strong cash position even after the investment.

“The Lord has blessed us to be able to do this,” said Hayes.

Meeting church needs via ‘kingdom enterprise’

Christina noted that the Texas Baptists Executive Board would exercise indirect control over the captive insurance program’s board by the positions of the corporate officers being members of BGCT leadership and by the election of non-staff board members, including one pastor and one associational leader. 

The arrangement, he explained, allowed for a close working relationship even as the convention and captive insurance program function as separate nonprofit corporations.

Describing the effort as a “kingdom enterprise,” Christina said the goal is to “help meet needs in our churches,” with returns eventually feeding back into BGCT ministries.

“We would not pursue this if we did not think we could actually benefit churches and benefit the BGCT in the long run,” he said.

Hayes shared that the program was on track to be available to affiliated churches by June or July of this year.