GuideStone expanding to include five new subsidiaries

The Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Executive Committee approved legal documents Sept. 18 to allow GuideStone Financial Resources to set up five new subsidiaries providing, among other things, investment financial advice, its own property and casualty insurance and its own life insurance.

GuideStone will offer churches property and casualty insurance directly, which it now provides through a third party. With its own insurance company, GuideStone will be able to lower costs, GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins said. Other denominations have followed that model, he said.

And GuideStone would have its own life insurance company, which will allow it to expand what it offers participants, Hawkins said.

GuideStone’s present subsidiary named GuideStone Financial Services will be renamed GuideStone Trust Services, and its old name will be used for the formation of a new subsidiary.
Five new provisions

The new subsidiaries will be named:

• GuideStone Risk Management Co. — a nonprofit Vermont corporation to serve as a property and casualty insurance and risk management affiliate. GuideStone officials chose to make it a Vermont corporation because of favorable laws there.
• GuideStone Life Insurance Co. — a for-profit Texas corporation, which may be newly created or acquired substantially.
• GuideStone Agency Services — a nonprofit Texas corporation designed to distribute the insurance products and services for GuideStone Risk Management and GuideStone Life Insurance.
• GuideStone Advisors — a nonprofit Texas corporation that will serve as an additional registered investment adviser.
• GuideStone Financial Services — a nonprofit Texas corporation proposed as a broker dealer affiliate.
• All five subsidiaries will have GuideStone trustees as their trustees, with the possible exceptions of GuideStone Risk Management and GuideStone Life Insurance. In the first instance, someone who is a member of a Vermont Southern Baptist church and who is not a GuideStone Financial Resources trustee may need to serve as a trustee on GuideStone Risk Management. Vermont law states that at least one trustee of the subsidiary must be a Vermont resident; GuideStone currently has no Vermont trustees. The exception for the life insurance subsidiary is to allow, in the event the subsidiary is formed by substantially acquiring a life insurance company, the election of unencumbered minority shareholder trustees, but the majority of trustees would be GuideStone trustees.
• Two attempts were made to end discussion and vote on the recommendation. The first vote to end debate took place about 20 minutes into the hourlong segment and fell short of the required two-thirds majority. The second vote to end debate met the two-thirds requirement, and members subsequently passed the recommendation.

In other business matters, the Executive Committee:

• Stated its agreement with a motion referred from the SBC annual meeting in San Antonio that the Executive Committee “give serious consideration in the future to select cities as sites for the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting that have not hosted the annual meeting for the past 20 years.”
• Approved LifeWay Christian Resources’ request to publish a new magazine named LifeWalk, a daily devotional for reading through the Bible in one year. (BP)