By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor
ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – On Nov. 17, the Fellowship of Louisiana Churches and Nonprofit Religious Organizations received a $1.45 million check from the Louisiana Department of the Treasury to support the launch of a church self-insurance program.
The program was authorized by legislation in 2023 and a total of $2.9 million was appropriated in 2025, half of which is represented by the check that was received.
With the receipt of these funds, the goal is to open enrollment to churches and religious nonprofits sometime in the second quarter of 2026.
FINANCIAL BOOST
Steve Horn, president of the FLCNRO board of directors and executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, told the Baptist Message that receiving the grant “is an incredible blessing.”
“I received a first call about church insurance companies not renewing our churches in February 2023. Almost immediately, Will Hall, Dale Lingenfelter, and I started working on solutions,” Horn explained. “We are not at the finish line, but receiving this grant is the result of hours of meetings and phone calls. All along the way, God provided us with people who showed us incredible kindness and expertise to navigate multiple hurdles.”
MANY CHAMPIONS
Former state Sen. Robert Mills, a member of First Baptist Church, Bossier City, with co-sponsor Sen. Katrina Jackson (now Jackson-Andrews), championed Senate Bill 147, which was signed into law as Act 259 in 2023.
That legislation authorized the formation of a faith-based self-insurance cooperative.
In 2025, several Louisiana Baptist lawmakers were critical to securing the $2.9 million appropriation to fund the church self-insurance start up: Rep. Julie Emerson (member, First Lafayette), chair, House Ways and Means Committee; Gabe Firment (deacon, First Baptist Church, Pollock), chair, House Insurance
Committee; and Jack McFarland (member, Caney Lake Baptist Church, Chatham), chair, House Appropriations Committee and author of HB460, which Gov. Landry signed into law as Act 461.
Meanwhile, since 2023, Gallagher Risk Management of Monroe has been helping to guide efforts to bring the program online, with a projected start-up date in the second quarter of 2026.
OPEN ENROLLMENT
The Fellowship of Louisiana Churches and Nonprofit Religious Organizations is recognized as a nonprofit by the Louisiana secretary of state and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, and its board of directors includes leaders in six state faith communities (Assemblies of God; Church of God in Christ; Home and
Foreign Missions Baptist; Louisiana Baptist; Missionary Baptist; United Pentecostal).
Serving alongside Horn as FLCNRO officers are Scott Holmes, superintendent, Louisiana District, Assemblies of God, as vice president, and James Proctor, jurisdictional prelate, Historical Louisiana First Jurisdiction, Church of God in Christ, as secretary/ treasurer.
There are no doctrinal components to the program and churches will not be tied to each other religiously.
Each will be an individual member of the self-insurance trust, like a customer of any insurance company. So, when the insurance program is launched it will be open to congregations of any Louisiana denomination as well as religious nonprofits.
2026 LAUNCH
“This grant should expedite the remaining foundational work that must be done to establish a church and faith-based shared pool for property insurance coverage,” Horn told the Baptist Message. “We are still working toward holding informational meetings in the first quarter of 2026 with a launch of receiving members in the second quarter of 2026.”
