Faith, Stewardship, & Insurance: Protecting Texas Churches

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans wraps up week three of a series from the book The Promise of Certainty, focusing on protecting Texas churches from cyber and media threats. He explains that churches using online giving, email newsletters, and cloud-based member databases are targets for hackers. Data breaches can generate rapidly escalating costs for regulatory reporting, forensics, legal d...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans continues step three of his framework: what you need. Today, he is focusing on abuse and molestation coverage and directors and officers (D&O) insurance. He explains that churches serving children, youth, or vulnerable adults need strong abuse coverage because even a single accusation can cause severe financial and reputational harm. He urges higher limits a...

Host Ron Wadley continues step three of his church insurance framework from The Promise of Certainty. Today, he is focusing on general liability and pastoral (professional) liability coverages. He explains general liability as baseline protection for routine third-party injury claims at church activities. He recommends tightening basics through additional insured status, written event checklists,...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans begins a deep dive into step three of his church protection framework. He emphasizes stewardship through wise planning and understanding coverage needs based on current ministry activities. He outlines four purposes of church insurance—protecting the building and contents, protecting leaders and volunteers, guarding against unexpected events that could stop...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans continues with a series taken from the Promise of Certainty. This week, he is moving from step one (where you are now) to step two, the visionary side of stewardship (where you’re headed). He explains that churches have different callings and insurance planning should support what the church is becoming. He highlights core risk realities: buildings need cove...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans wraps up week two of a series on church growth by covering phases three through five and how insurance needs change as churches expand. Phase three, the seven-day church with a permanent lease and weekday activities. This phase requires coverage beyond general liability, including pastoral liability for counseling, abuse and molestation coverage for youth pr...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans explains how a church’s risk profile changes through its life cycle. This episode is focused on the first two growth phases. In phase one, the “living room church,” gatherings are small and informal with no building, payroll, or corporate structure. Risks are largely personal and typically covered under the homeowner’s insurance, so commercial church insuran...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans continues a risk tour of Texas in step one of his framework: understanding where your church is now. By mapping where a church is located, we can understand risks before building coverage. He highlights East Texas Piney Woods humidity and red clay that won’t absorb water, leading to floods. Gulf Coast South Texas heat that accelerates roof and AC wear plus t...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance For Texans introduces the first step of a three-step framework: understanding where a church stands today. He explains that insurers often start with a church’s zip code, but relying only on that can leave churches incorrectly insured because Texas risks vary widely by region. Wadley outlines key regional exposures: the Texas Panhandle’s extreme heat and cold, wildfire...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance For Texans introduces week two of a series based on the book The Promise of Certainty. This week, he is shifting from principles of risk to a practical three-part framework for church insurance: where your church is now, where it’s headed, and what it needs to get there. He explains that when these elements align, insurance becomes a tool that supports a church’s missi...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans wraps up foundational principles from The Promise of Certainty, emphasizing two rules for church leaders: ask questions and boring is beautiful. He contrasts triangle mode, where churches make fast, premium-driven insurance decisions with little information that lead to major fallout when claims occur, with a “funnel” approach. That approach front-loads deta...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans shares the third core principle from his book The Promise of Certainty. You can’t buy peace of mind after the fact. He emphasizes that stewardship requires preparation before disaster strikes. He contrasts treating insurance like a “fire extinguisher” with building a solid foundation early. He illustrates this principle with client Wayne, who initially focus...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans continues the “Promise of Certainty” series with the second principle: there’s no excuse for dumb risk. Building on the idea that risk follows patterns, he explains that risk exists on a sliding scale and defines dumb risk as avoidable, obvious, and potentially devastating. He stresses that identifying and removing dumb risk is not fear-driven but an act of...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance For Texans introduces the show’s first core principle from the book The Promise of Certainty: risk isn’t random. He challenges the “acts of God” mindset by noting that hail-prone areas and floodplains are known. The bigger issue is people assuming disasters happen to others. Using the Dallas–Fort Worth area and the December 26, 2015 EF4 tornado as an example, he explai...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans introduces a multi-week series covering core principles from his book, The Promise of Certainty, about Texas church insurance. He explains that while insurance topics like tornado and liability coverage can feel tedious, being unprepared can leave a church facing a severe financial crisis when a disaster occurs. Drawing from his upbringing as a Baptist preac...

Host Ron Wadley continues his conversation with Executive Pastor Liam, shifting from building risks to the church’s most vulnerable areas: people and data. He stresses that children’s outreach creates high legal exposure without a documented safety plan, strong screening practices, two-adult supervision, and a six-month membership rule, plus abuse and molestation insurance. The episode covers trai...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans begins a two-part series on assessing church risk. The episode uses the story of Liam, who is an executive pastor in Fort Worth. Ron walks Liam through physical-infrastructure risks in Texas. He talks about the need for proper property coverage, roof durability, and how hail claims, high deductibles, actual cash value payouts, and roof age depreciation can a...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans explains church insurance coverage through the story of a church trustee in Plano. He reviews key coverages, starting with property insurance that properly defines and values buildings like the sanctuary, fellowship hall, and parsonage. Generic commercial policies may have sub-limits on steeples and stained glass and therefore those items require specialized...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans explains why choosing the right insurance broker is one of a church board’s most important decisions by following the story of a trustee named David in Abilene. He is frustrated with the transactional, generic nature of Texas church insurance. David meets with a captive agent from a national firm and sees the risk of being limited to one carrier, leading him...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans explains what church insurance typically covers through the story of Annie, a Fort Worth church secretary. Annie learns that actual cash value coverage would only pay the depreciated value of property after damage, leaving the church to fund the replacement-cost gap. A comprehensive commercial property package should cover the building and contents, with spe...

Host Ron Wadley explains why Texas churches need specific sexual abuse and molestation coverage. General liability typically covers accidents like slip-and-falls and excludes intentional abuse without an endorsement or standalone policy. Using a story about children’s ministry director Penny, the episode highlights that sexual misconduct policies are often written on a claims-made basis, making th...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance For Texans explains how Texas church leaders can secure roof coverage and avoid common policy pitfalls. Through the story of Ted, the listener learns about the deductible trap, where roof deductibles are often a percentage of the building’s insured value instead of a flat amount. A potential solution is using a deductible buy-down policy to reduce risk while keeping pr...

In this episode of Faith, Stewardship, & Insurance: Protecting Texas Churches, I delve into a critical yet often overlooked aspect of church insurance: workers' compensation. Join me as I recount a real incident involving a church janitor who faced a life-altering injury, exposing the risks that come with opting out of coverage. Texas laws allow churches to forgo workers' compensation, but this de...

Host Ron Wadley of Insurance for Texans addresses a finance committee’s concerns about unfamiliar insurance carriers, using Phil from an Austin church as an example. After a 2024 non-renewal forced a survival policy during a hard Texas market, Phil wants to take a new look at his church’s insurance. Now in 2026, as the market softens and capacity returns, Ron explains that strong options continue...

In this episode of Faith, Stewardship, & Insurance: Protecting Texas Churches, I, Ron Wadley, guide church leaders through a critical decision that could impact their ministry's future. As we delve into the complexities of church auto insurance, I emphasize the importance of proper coverage for church-owned vehicles. Learn why simply adding a vehicle to a pastor's personal policy is a risky move a...