26 Miles Across the Sea

In February of 1999 the company got a request to bid on a group of camps, including one on Catalina Island, 26 miles off the coast of Los An...

The Crazy Guy

This story isn't about an insurance situation, but a guy I encountered one day while on the road in my territory. I had an appointment ...

The Entrepreneur in the Middle of Nowhere

Almost every year I would get a card or a call from a pastor whose church was located about as far away from my office as you could get and ...

The Environmentalist Preacher

I was having lunch with the pastor of a church and we were talking about his plans for a new church complex on some raw land they owned. We ...

The Arrogant Preacher

I've spent 35 years dealing with pastors as a member of a traveling music ministry, and nine years in the church insurance business. Mo...

Loss Run Surprise

Loss runs are documents prepared by insurance companies to show the claims experience of a particular client. They're often required as ...

Stupid Agent Tricks

Well, they're not really stupid. I just wanted to borrow the title from Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks. Training (sort of) I did not ...

The Lady Preacher

I didn't run into too many lady preachers in my nine years of church insurance work. If I did they were usually pastoring some new age ...

Liars and Cheats

One of the frustrating things about working in the church insurance business was dealing with liars and cheats. You wouldn't expect that...

The Cults and the Weirdos

Part of being in the church insurance business was dealing with every kind of church, including many which were pretty much cults. There are...