I don’t know what’s worse, a tornado that wrecks your entire building or having to sit through a three-hour board meeting about tornado insurance.
They say insurance is important. They sure don’t say it’s any fun. Most people would rather get a root canal without anesthesia than talk about liability coverage or eroding limits. And trust me, I get it. I’ve been in those pews. I’ve sat in those deacon meetings. I know exactly how dry the conversation can be.
But I also know what it’s like when the storm hits and you aren’t ready. That is the exact second the insurance conversation stops being boring. That is the moment the PDF sitting in your email inbox becomes the only thing standing between your church’s mission and a total financial crisis.
The fact that you are reading this tells me you’re a different kind of leader. You’re the person who shows up before the clouds turn green to make sure your church is protected. This isn’t just about paperwork, it’s about leadership, stewardship, and a clear-eyed look at the risks facing Texas churches in 2026.
These are all principals that you can read more about in our book, The Promise of Certainty.
Most leaders are familiar with the idea of positive thinking. We pray for growth, we hope for safety, and we believe in the best. I’m all for that. But as a preacher's kid from a dusty Panhandle town with streets made of sand, I’ve learned there is power in sober, clear-eyed negative thinking, too.
It isn't cynical to ask, "What if this goes wrong?" It’s biblical. It’s the ability to look at a possible downside and build a plan before the pressure cooker turns up. That is what good insurance actually is, it's financial literacy in action. It’s protection with a purpose.
When you lead a church, your responsibility goes beyond the Sunday morning sermon. You have to think about tomorrow. It is not fear, it’s wisdom.
People love to talk about acts of God like they are all impossible to anticipate. The truth? There’s no mystery about where hail hits hardest in Texas. We have maps for that. Flood plains are charted. Sexual misconduct risk is tied to access, process, and screening. The problem isn’t a lack of information; it’s the belief that bad things only happen to that church down the road, and not to us.
Take the EF4 tornado that tore through Garland and Rowlett on December 26, 2015. People said a tornado wouldn't hit a major metro area in the middle of winter. They were wrong. The atmospheric conditions were there. The heat was unstable. It was predictable, even if the severity was a shock.
In North Texas, we have the heat dome around DFW Airport. For years, the jet exhaust and concrete heat would break up storms as they rolled in from the west. People got comfortable. They thought the heat dome made them invincible. Then, eighteen months ago, a storm punched right through it and hammered the suburbs.
Nature carries uncertainty, but patterns exist. The real danger isn't the storm; it's ignoring the warning signs we can see coming.
I call it dumb risk because it is avoidable, obvious, and devastating.
Risk exists on a scale. If you walk outside without an umbrella, you get wet. That’s minor. But other risks cost you more. For example, think about what’s easier, installing a $500 security camera or dealing with a multi-million dollar lawsuit because of a lack of oversight?
Now let’s think about a tragedy that everyone knows something about. Camp Mystic is a girls’ summer camp nested in the Hill Country along the Guadalupe river. In July 2025, the forecasts warned of 10 to 15 inches of rain. Flash flooding was a risk that was known along the banks of the mighty Guadalupe. It became a certainty in the early morning hours of July 4, 2025. Many nearby camps heeded the warnings and evacuated before the water started falling from the sky. The leaders at Camp Mystic waited. By the time they acted, roads were submerged and counselors were carrying terrified children through chest-high currents.
Many young lives were lost that night. Families were shattered. No insurance policy can repair that. Smart leaders kill dumb risk early. They don't wait for the perfect time to act. They anticipate known risks ahead of time.
Some lessons only stick when they cost you something. I remember a client named Wayne. When we first met, he only cared about the price of his insurance policy. He wanted the cheapest premium possible. But we slowed down and I asked questions. What I found out was that he had many valuable family heirlooms. As we continued our discussions, Wayne agreed to cover these valuable items with extra coverage.
Three months later, a battery charger in his garage sparked a fire. Forty percent of his house was destroyed. The destruction was devastating. His vintage Ford Bronco melted to the ground. But because we had built a solid foundation of proper insurance coverage, his house was rebuilt to its original condition and his heirlooms were restored.
If he had gone with a cheap policy, he would have lost millions.
This applies to your church, too. You do not want to be figuring out your liability limits or flood exclusions while you are standing in ankle-deep water or looking at a legal summons. Build the foundation now.
Most people approach insurance with what I call “triangle mode.”
A better model is the “funnel” model. This is how we operate at Insurance for Texans. We ask a lot of questions up front. Get to know your church. Understand your specific risks. It feels slower. It feels tedious. But it narrows down into a plan that offers stability for your church’s mission.
We’ve seen the fallout when you don’t start the process with questions. We’ve seen an East Texas church get rejected by carriers because they kept a deacon in the congregation after he embezzled funds. The carrier didn't care that he wasn't in charge anymore, they saw a risk that hadn't been removed.
We’ve seen churches in San Antonio take mission trips to Mexico with zero international coverage, despite advertising the trips on their website. They were one bus accident away from total financial disaster.
Good questions create better coverage. Better coverage protects your people.
In my line of work, success is invisible.
Nobody gives a standing ovation for a renewed property policy. But when a crisis hits and the church doors stay open, that's the kind of quiet leadership that keeps ministries moving forward.
Our local church in Grapevine, TX is a great example of this principal in action. We take safety training for our children's program seriously. Volunteers are required to learn the safety protocols and abuse prevention strategies every single year. It’s repetitive. It’s boring. But it works.
A few years ago, this boring routine of prevention stopped a predator before anyone was hurt. A routine technology check at a church-owned missionary house uncovered a hidden camera. Because the church had boring systems in place, they acted instantly. They called the police, quarantined the device, and protected the people involved.
The details that feel slow and inconvenient are the very things that prevent your mission from being derailed.
Whenever I think about church leadership, I think of Joseph in Egypt. He had a dream of seven fat cows and seven skinny cows. Most people would have spent wildly during the seven years of abundance. Joseph didn't. He built barns. He stored grain. He prepared.
When the famine hit, Egypt survived. More importantly, Israel survived. Nations were saved because one leader saw the risk ahead and refused to ignore it.
Your church is a place of holy ground. The ministry shouldn't stop because the roof caves in or a lawsuit shows up. The mission has to keep going. That’s why we do what we do at Insurance For Texans. We aren't just selling policies, we are protecting the sacred rhythm of your Sundays.
You’ve seen the principles. Now, it’s time to move from the what to the how. You don't have to navigate the 2026 insurance market alone. You need a partner who understands that your church is more than a policy number, it’s a calling.
Are you ready to see where your church stands? See how our True Texas Church Insurance program can ready your church for the future.
Click the button below to start a review of your church’s current coverage.