At the March 2021 meeting of the CBF Church Benefits Board (CBB), the board voted to welcome Mrs. Beth Roberts as the new Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer and to affirm the launch of The Financial Wellness Initiative.

The board’s actions come as CBB’s assets under management now exceed $102 million. CBB remains focused upon lower fees, improving service, and leveraging economies of scale for participants and congregations.

Roberts comes to CBB after serving for 22 years as Associate Administrator with Adventist Retirement, a similar 403(b)(9) church retirement plan. Adventist Retirement serves over 46,000 active and retired participants, with defined contribution assets under management of $1.9 billion and $1 billion of assets in their frozen defined benefit plan.

“Beth Roberts is a well-respected and admired colleague within the Church Benefits Association and a veteran plan administrator with Empower Retirement. She brings over two decades of church plan expertise and service to her new role as Executive Vice-President/COO,” said Rob Fox, CBB president.

“Beth has committed her career to investing in the financial well-being of those called to serve the Church,“ said Fox. “Her addition to our CBB team signals our commitment to improved service for our participants and employers. Our CBF family will quickly embrace Beth for her professionalism, expertise, and the enthusiasm she brings to her work.”

“I’m honored to be part of the Church Benefits team and the amazing vision cast by Rob, Jim, and the CBF Church Benefits Board as they continue to enable the CBF ministers and participants to be financially prepared for and through retirement. I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to serve alongside of them as we endeavor to continue bringing that vision to reality,” said Roberts.

CBB also announced the receipt of a multi-year grant to launch The Financial Wellness Initiative (FWI) in October 2021. The Financial Wellness Initiative will build upon the success and learnings of The Ministerial Excellence Initiative by offering individual ministers the opportunity to receive financial relief grants, financial education experiences, financial planning incentives, and financial wellness packages.

Jim Morrison, who currently serves as CBB’s Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, will transition to serve as the part-time grant administrator for The Financial Wellness Initiative. Morrison recently commented on these new developments, saying, “Beth brings a depth of defined contribution church plan experience, a heart for service, and formal training. Her arrival as the EVP/COO will help Church Benefits take a major step forward in accomplishing higher levels of service, greater efficiency, and economies of scale which help all current and future participants.” 

Morrison continued, “As I transition into a new role of focusing on financial wellness and education, I am excited about the opportunity to serve CBF Church Benefits participants in ways that will help them with the current financial issues they face and the prospect of helping them build financial assets for future use.”

Prior to his work with CBB, Morrison served as Chief Operating Officer-Executive Vice President with The Church Pension Group in New York, N.Y.; and as Executive Officer-Managing Director of Retirement Services with Guidestone Financial Services in Dallas, Texas.

For more information about CBF Church Benefits, visit www.churchbenefits.org.

By Jeff Huett

Rob Fox

DECATUR, Ga. — The Board of Trustees of CBF Church Benefits has selected the former head of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia as its president-elect.

Rob Fox, who currently serves as the vice president of advancement for the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, will begin working alongside retiring Church Benefits President Gary Skeen as president-elect on April 1. Fox will assume the role as president on July 1.

Fox earned a Master of Divinity from BTSR and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mary Washington. He served as pastor of Mt. Hermon Baptist Church from 2003 to 2014 and was endorsed as a CBF Chaplain in June 2014.

Skeen, who announced in January 2017 his plans to retire this summer, is the founding president of CBF’s financial ministry that offers Fortune 500-quality benefits to thousands of ministry professionals.

Skeen has led Church Benefits for the past 17 years and has a long history with CBF spanning three decades. In January, the CBF Church Benefits Board of Trustees, led by Jim Hunter, entered into a succession planning process and a national search to choose Skeen’s successor.

The board expressed its excitement and confidence in the new president-elect.

“We’re so excited to welcome Rob Fox as president-elect of CBF Church Benefits. A familiar face to the CBF family, Rob brings years of experience in developing and nurturing relationships within our Fellowship,” the trustees said. “Also a visionary thinker, Rob brings his own style of creative leadership to CBF Church Benefits as we work to build on the secure foundation set by our founding president, Gary Skeen.”

Fox said he looks forward to growing the ministry impact of CBF Church Benefits.

“As a devoted CBF Church Benefits client and pastoral leader, I have a deep love and appreciation for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and its people. Being entrusted to lead our benefits ministry is a great gift and honor,” Fox said.  “I look forward to working closely with our talented CBF Church Benefits board and staff. Together we will grow this ministry to serve a new generation of congregations and partner organizations. CBF Church Benefits will build on our exceptional service that invests in the health and financial wellness of our ministry leaders. “

CBF Church Benefits manages the retirement plans and other benefits for CBF staff, field personnel and churches nationwide, providing a complete set of employee benefit services for ministers and church staff at the local level — from retirement planning services and investment choices, to life and disability coverage, as well as access to experts in health and medical coverage with whom churches may consult.

Assets under management have surpassed the $70-million mark in investments. In consultation with Retirement Wealth Management, CBF Church Benefit’s investment advisor, Church Benefits is able to deliver best in class institutional investments and investment service levels equal to or better than many larger plans.

For more information on CBF Church Benefits, contact Victoria Whatley at vwhatley@cbf.net or 770-220-1638.

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CBF is a Christian Network that helps people put their faith to practice through ministry eff­orts, global missions and a broad community of support. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission. Learn more about CBF at www.cbf.net.

By Gary Skeen

Unfortunately, healthcare has become even more of a political beach ball than when it was first approved by Congress and implemented in 2010. Staying away from any political discussion is our goal with this blog, but there are some very important dates and plan changes for you to know for your own healthcare, or for many people you may serve.

Many ministers rely on the Affordable care act either because it’s the cheapest option, or their churches/organizations don’t provide an affordable group plan option. Also, many church members are relying on the ACA or face no health insurance at all, so let’s catch you up with this year’s changes:

• Open enrollment begins Nov. 1 and ends Dec. 15, the shortest period yet to sign up. For people in South Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey or in Florida affected by Irma, the deadline is extended through December 31.
• If you enroll outside the shortened period, some documentation may be required.
• Some states have extended their enrollment period, so we would refer you to local sites to verify your situation.

 ACA Plan changes:

• Insurers are now permitted to collect unpaid premiums for prior coverage before enrolling in a new plan.
• New regulations expand coverage variations within plan color (metal: Bronze, silver, gold, and platinum) categories.
• The President has indicated that cost sharing reduction payments will cease, but congressional actions are being considered.

The bottom line is if you don’t apply for health insurance during open enrollment period – and don’t qualify for special enrollment (presuming you don’t have access to employer-provided health insurance) – your options are generally limited to purchasing private commercial insurance, short term health insurance, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Gary Skeen serves as president of CBF Church Benefits. For more information about CBF Church Benefits, please contact via email at churchbenefits@churchbenefits.org or 1-800-352-8741.

I wanted to share the good news with all Church Benefits Board members that as of January 1, your life and disability insurance benefits coverage has expanded, without any premium increase.

At CBB, we continually monitor the benefits market and search for ways to expand and enhance benefits on behalf of churches and related entities. We also listen to your concerns and requests related to insurance coverage and plan features. So the enhancements to our benefits are not unusual.

For me, some factors drove the quest to get better coverage:

• Ministers and staff are living longer, on the job longer and there’s a need for benefits to extend longer into to what have historically been ‘retirement years.’
• Every 90 seconds, someone files bankruptcy in the wake of serious illness.
• For today’s 20 year olds, 3 of every 10 will become disabled before reaching age 67.

Armed with these facts, and requests we heard from our members to add options to expanded life insurance coverage for spouses and dependents, we engaged our existing partners with the goal of giving us more options, with this very important bottom line: no additional out-of-pocket money.

The details of the changes can be found at the enclosed links, but some highlights include:

• Up to 8 times annual salary payout for accidental death (an increase from six times last year)
• Four times annual salary payout up to $500,000 for general life insurance.
• Policy coverage for spouse and dependents is included.
• To protect part-time ministers and staff, minimum participation is still only 20 hours a week.

Because the housing allowance is such an important component of compensation for ministers, we have maintained this language benefit in our long-term disability policy as well as “own occupation” language. Since ministerial skills are unique, benefits may be suspended only upon return to your “own occupation,” not another. In some disability policies, employee benefits are terminated when worker is eligible to return to “any” job. We believe this best protects our unique members.

The Standard, our retirement plan provider in retirement benefits, has stepped up to provide these benefits at no additional cost and to enhance other benefits for our participants with minimal change in the detailed provisions. We have also maintained our travel benefits, employee assistance, rehabilitation provision, dependent education, cost of living adjustments and other benefits in the plan.

For more information on our new insurance policy upgrades, click on these links:

• Group Long Term Disability Insurance
• Group Basic Life and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance

One last commercial: If you are not yet a CBB member, I’d like to take this opportunity to personally invite you to find out more about us and how CBB benefits can add value for your employees. We invite you to do a comparison. Have your financial advisor or an independent retirement planner compare our plans to any available. We think you’ll agree that Church Benefits Board provides the best benefits in church life.

If you have questions, or want to find out how you can become a CBB member, contact me at 1-800-352-8741 or email me at churchbenefits@churchbenefits.org.

“The agenda of the world – the issues and items that fill our newspapers and newscasts – is an agenda of fear and power. A huge network of anxious questions surrounds us and begins to guide many, if not most, of our daily decisions. Clearly those who pose these questions which bind us have true power over us. Jesus seldom accepted the questions posed to him. He exposed them as coming from the house of fear. They did not belong in the house of God.”   –Henri Nouwen, theologian

As I approach Thanksgiving, it seems like the opportune time to reflect on a perspective on our world that is often drowned out: hope.  In the midst of constant attention on government spending, huge deficits, foreign ownership of our debt, world terrorism, two wars and potential epidemics, the biggest long-term threat to our culture may be that people are becoming disheartened.  As people of faith and caregivers to our church staffs and congregations, hope is our gift. 

To put my hope in perspective, I’d like to share some facts with you:

• In North America, our average wealth is estimated to be more than $50,000 per capita, while most of the rest of the world is estimated at less than $2,000.

• The Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans only controls about one percent of our nation’s wealth and one-quarter of one percent of the world’s wealth. People like you and me, who own mutual funds, inside and outside retirement plans, hold it.   We control the majority of the capital that is financing the future.

• A recent study of business school graduates tracked the careers of 1500 people from 1960 to 1980.  About 83% wanted to make money first so they could do what they really wanted, whereas 17% pursued their true interests first. After twenty years there were 101 millionaires. Only one came from the first group and 100 came from the people who pursued their true interests.

It is human nature to see reality according to our personal experiences. If you are having a tough time financially, it’s hard to see a silver lining, and the temptation is to believe that this singular circumstance colors everything

As Christians, however, we have the extraordinary gift of having a faith that allows us to see things from the eternal perspective of God.  If you stop and look at the prosperity of our country over the past century, you can actually see the recent recession has been little more than a blip.

In the Garden of Eden, the serpent created in Adam and Eve a sense of scarcity. The serpent’s trick, then as now, is to turn God’s staggering abundance and gracious protection in to frightening scarcity. The serpent lied, and we were taken in. Despite the evidence that they (we) live amidst overflowing abundance, we are made to feel it’s not enough. However, God repeatedly assures us that his grace is sufficient.

As we move into this season of Thanksgiving, I wish you, your family and your church family the true peace that comes from living in a state of hope and gratitude, not fear.

Paul tells us in Colossians 3:16, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom … singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gary Skeen,
President, Church Benefits Board

What is your response to the market fears and volatility?

As the trustee of your retirement plan I always struggle in these times of high volatility with how much and what to say to those of you who have entrusted the Church Benefits Board (CBB) with your investments. With the high volume of messages out there I do not want to be a contributor to the hype and hysteria.

Many of you have heard me say that anyone who tells you they know what the market is going to do is not being honest, and this week if you waited a day, those “experts” would probably have been wrong.

Also with the dysfunction of congress, the mixed signals of the European central bank and weak economic indicators, there certainly is information available to project a gloomy or fearful outlook.

However, history has taught us that not making quick reactions to the volatility of the market has served most long-term investors well. In most years only a few days in the market can have a major impact on your annual return. The problem is that we do not know when those days will occur.

Some of you who are baby boomers like me might be thinking “My time is getting short … does that still apply to me?” Well, by some estimates if you are retiring at age 65 this week, you have a 5 percent chance that you will live to be 100. That gives most of us a pretty long outlook.

The bottom line for me is many people still feel like things are improving, despite all of the wrangling by governments here and overseas. Many people are comparing this recent volatility to 2008, which was the first time in a long time a stock market crisis drove the economy. I believe – and there’s good evidence to support that belief – that a returning recession is more at risk because of fear and panic than any other factor.

My conviction is that for people of faith, whose fear is of the Lord and whose hope is in His return, we need to stay steadfast and be good stewards of what the Lord has entrusted to us and not be contributors to the emotional fears created by others through media sound bites.

Gary Skeen, President, Church Benefits Board

We’re hearing from numerous CBF churches that are planning mission trips overseas later this year. Most people who travel create lists of things to be done in preparation before departure. I’d like to encourage you to make sure international trip insurance is at the top of your list.

If you leave the country, generally your medical insurance will not go with you. If you or someone on your trip should get sick, international hospitals may require payment at the time of service. Hospitalization could change plans, extend stays at hotels, require changes to flight ticketing, or other transportation. And if a sick person needs special transportation, the cost could exceed five or six figures.

That’s why CBF and Church Benefits Board created fellowshiptravel.org, your one stop place to purchase international trip insurance. You can find all of the options your group may need, plus there are discounts for group size, age of participants and even special discounts for students.

Insurance policies are issued by International Medical Group (IMG), which was chosen because it has an entire division devoted to missionary business. IMG offers live claims service 24/7, plus multi-lingual operators who can assist with emergencies in any country in the world.

I know there are many things to do, to pack and to make ready before your international mission trip. Make sure your group has the insurance it needs. Created by CBF and CBB, fellowshiptravel.org can save both time and money. And give you the peace of mind when you travel that if something happens, you’re taken care of!

At the Church Benefits Board, benefits are our ministry. Let us know how we can help you fulfill God’s calling for you and your church.