Texas Baptists Indemnity Program offers additional options for church insurance coverage

Texas Baptists leadership offered the opportunity for churches to learn more about the new Texas Baptists Indemnity Program during a luncheon held on Tuesday to close out the Texas Baptists Annual Meeting. 

Craig Christina, associate executive director for Texas Baptists, opened the luncheon with a quick overview of the program created to help churches obtain more affordable insurance coverage. He said while the initial plan was to enroll 100 churches and add more over time, the partnership with a national company and the financial backing and underwriting will allow for much more.

“One way to be able to give you a competitive quote is because we won’t have agents out there knocking on doors to get your policy,” Christina explained. “We have been to associations around the state to promote this, and most directors of missions have welcomed this discussion because it helps all churches.”

Christina said the program was open to start writing policies as of Nov. 1, and personnel are already in place to answer the phones for applications and questions. While he noted that the program is available for churches regardless of their affiliation, he added that Cooperative Program-supporting Texas Baptists churches will receive an additional discount as a thank you.

John Uminski, senior vice president for KingsCover, the partnering agency, fielded questions during the luncheon, along with Michael Conover, executive vice president of underwriting. Uminski started with a simple promise to churches.

“We will be a full-service brokerage. Our first and foremost priority is protecting your church with a property solution and a liability solution. There is no risk you face that we can’t take care of,” he said confidently. “What you can expect is trusted advice and doing the right thing for your church. That may mean we don’t have that solution, but we can go to the brokerage and help you get that.”

Uminski noted that since many churches face policy renewal with the start of the new year, KingsCover will be prioritizing applications with the earliest renewal dates and those without current coverage in order to serve those with the most immediate needs. He said ideally churches would reach out 30-45 days in advance of renewal, and quotes may take 15-20 days to generate based on the church’s complexity of coverage needs.

Uminski said the best way to start a quote request is to email info[at]kingscover.com. A request form can also be found at kingscover.com to start the same process.

“We want to be both affordable and sustainable. You’re experiencing double-digit increases over and over again. This program understands what we need to underwrite to be sustainable,” Uminski said. “What we love about this program is churches protecting churches, so there will be loss controls in place. You will see that we are a manage-repair policy, with hassle-free claims to protect the ministry. We will get an experienced contractor to visit the property within 48-72 hours to inspect it and start the process. We will become sustainable through service.”

Clarifying coverage, Uminski said KingsCover will take care of both rural and urban churches across the state, and any property the church owns can be included in coverage, such as a parsonage and church vehicles. Policies can include property, general liability, workers' compensation, umbrella coverage for wider liability, directors and officers coverage, and liability for pastoral counseling, employment practices, cyber issues and sexual abuse and misconduct.

In response to questions about insurance challenges such as churches in fire zones, Conover said that there are a multitude of factors that can make churches difficult to insure, but he said there were few exclusions to underwriting a policy. 

“A number of factors weigh into the risk assessment that impacts the cost to insure. There are many companies that are exiting Texas or the religious institution market entirely, so they may be looking for any one guideline that prevents coverage,” he said. “We are looking for policy guidelines that cover everything we may encounter.”

Conover also noted that if some issue with a given property was too much to overcome, the policy could include specific exclusions so the church could still obtain coverage. The company can also recommend risk management strategies that can help with coverage, he said.

Uminski noted that payment of policies is typically expected up front for the year, but churches can also put down 15 percent and then do 10 monthly equal installments at a five percent annual percentage rate. But they emphasized that sustainability was key to the success of this program, providing important peace of mind. 

“The beauty of insuring churches in the state of Texas is that we get a magnitude of instances that give us a diversification of risk. The sharing of that risk allows us not to make a massive hit to the overall pool,” said Uminski. “The way we handle and manage claims and these factors gives us confidence that we can be sustainable and maintain a reasonable price over time.”

In responding to one pastor in the audience, Conover acknowledged that for too long, churches have had to make personnel decisions based on drastically increasing insurance rates. 

Through Texas Baptists Indemnity Program, he said, pricing stability should afford churches the opportunity to bring on that part-time children’s minister so that the focus can be on ministry.