For the last few years, I have spoken at the XP-Seminar, except for the Snow-Covid Seminar a few years ago. The seminar is one of my few live speaking gigs every year. David and Tami Fletcher do a great job planning and hosting the conference in Dallas.

The audience is usually great with questions and comments. They lean into what I am saying. That’s great for my area of expertise, pastoral succession!

However, I learned a few things from the various 2024 speakers who examined the church from the Executive Pastor’s point of view. For someone like me who primarily works with Senior Pastors, that is a helpful corrective. Three items that gave me some pause this year were from the various speakers, and they all start with the letter I. Mind you, these are from my handwritten notes. I was writing fast and furious, and I may have a few facts wrong here or there. But the direction is correct.

Insurance

An insurance crisis could be on the way. There have been multiple billion dollar loss events over the last few years. While these are weather and natural disaster events, the frequency of the losses has magnified in the past few years. In addition, certain issues, such as roof damage due to hail, have new percentages of value deductibles that are surprising to many of those insured.

Many companies are leaving several states. I heard, In California, many churches are uninsurable. The companies have pulled out, and no one will write the policy. In addition, carriers are leaving certain states due to regulatory concerns in those states. Remember that each state licenses insurance carriers.

As some denominations fragment, the insurance companies that used to write policies for all the churches in that denomination are leaving hundreds without insurance options.

In all of these, insurance rates are rising very fast. Your old policies will probably have changes, such as exclusions, that were not there before. You will have to step up plans, policies, and procedures.

Action item: Start talking with your insurance broker and agent now to rethink how to address. Do not wait for it to happen. Be proactive.

Interest

Interest rates are high. In banking law, churches are commercial institutions. It is much different than a household.

Banks are uneasy because they have to increase their future capital deposits and churches can be risky bets. In general, banks are setting higher bars for credit of all types.

You may be able to get great rates on deposits. But interest rates for debt will be hard to stomach when a loan resets.

Many loans, maybe as many as half of large loans to churches, will be reset in the next two or three years. Depending on your agreement, some will go from under 4% to over 9%. The larger the debt, the more it will mean each month. Do the rough calculations in your head. If you have debt over $1 million now, can you cover the increase with current cash flow?

When you get right down to it, around 80-95% of a church’s budget is pretty fixed. So these increased interest charges must come from somewhere, most likely staffing.

Bottom line: Create margin now. I don’t do generosity initiatives, but I can help you find someone to help in our company, Generis. It’s best to get ahead on this now.

Integrity

It was excruciating to hear from Kimberlee D. Norris, Founder of MinistrySafe, about the ongoing rise of abuse reports in churches. A new church-based report occurs almost every week with a staff, leader, or peer involved. Of course, any abuse brings harm to the cause of Christ. While we tend to worry about “stranger danger,” the abuse is more likely to come from a trusted worker or leader. Victims trusted their abuser and were groomed. Around 1 in 3 is peer-to-peer abuse.

In almost every state, any abuse of a sexual nature is a reportable offense to authorities. Some states don’t require you to report an offense, but only a few. Ignorance of this does not stand up to scrutiny—either before God, in public, or in the courts.

How do abusers groom victims? First, the gatekeepers are groomed through deception, not violence. They groom the ministry leaders by always being helpful and accessible and explaining poor behaviors. Organizations tend to put their brand over victim harm. The worry about false allegations is misplaced, perhaps as high as 3%, but no higher. The number one reason a victim does not tell: No one will believe me.

What is needed:

  • Victim-centric responses
  • Transparency
  • Legal advice
  • Support for victim and family
  • Insurance: For court cases of this nature the current average payment is $ 2.5 million out of court and $10.3 million jury verdict

Takeaway: I would be talking with the MinistrySafe people if I were in church leadership in a larger church. They have some reasonable, tiered plans.

Conclusion

Speaking of Integrity, check out the ECFA Leader Care Standard (Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability). I believe churches should at least hold to the ECFA standards of trust and hopefully become members. Even though Evangelical is in the name, I think they are worthy standards for all Christ-centered organizations.

Check out ECFA’s new draft standard on leader care balances care and accountability for leaders. The standard is now in draft form and will be debated before adoption in a few years.

Learn more from Dave Travis in his Church Leader Insider. It is currently a free subscription.