For 35 years, Karl Johnson Agency has helped churches, nonprofits, families, and businesses protect what matters with personalized, local insurance guidance.
But Karl Johnson didn’t grow up dreaming about a career in insurance. In fact, his original career plan involved a baseball diamond.
Johnson played minor league baseball before being cut during spring training. Suddenly, he needed to figure out what came next. An unexpected opportunity came through a connection to his father, a pastor.
“My dad was a pastor, and I was connected through one of his board members to become an agent,” Johnson recalls. “I was looking for something to do. I said I would give him a year, and that was 35 years ago.”
That one-year experiment became Karl Johnson Agency, founded in 1991. It also gave Johnson a career closely connected to organizations that have been part of his life since childhood.
Today, the agency works with churches, nonprofits, small businesses and individuals, but serving churches remains a major part of its identity.
Understanding What Churches Need
A church may look like a traditional place of worship from the outside, but from an insurance perspective, much more is happening inside its walls.
Churches are largely volunteer-driven organizations. They may provide counseling, host children’s programs, organize community events, and oversee numerous ministries. Their boards make decisions on behalf of the organization, and their buildings can have architectural details or features that require additional consideration.
“There are slightly different occurrences that would take place than within a different type of business,” Johnson says.
That means church insurance can include property and liability coverage along with cyber liability, workers’ compensation and coverage for boards of directors. Other considerations may involve counseling, misconduct claims, volunteers and the many activities taking place throughout the week.
The goal, Johnson explains, is to address both the property and the activities taking place within it.
“We have a passion to work for churches,” he says. “Our experience is different, as is our service level. We take pride in the service that we have to offer.”
That experience has accumulated over more than three decades. In 2018, Karl Johnson Agency became an independent agency and church insurance broker, giving the team access to multiple insurance companies rather than representing a single carrier.
Putting the Client First
That independent structure shapes how Johnson approaches insurance conversations.
“We have four or five different insurance companies we work with,” he says. “We are not company-based. We are client-based.”
Rather than beginning with one insurer’s products, Johnson can review what a church, nonprofit, business or family currently has and compare it with other choices available in the market. That can matter because insurance companies periodically change their offerings, pricing and coverage.
“We can take a look at your current insurance and compare it against other options in the market,” Johnson says.
Churches and nonprofits remain a specialty, but the agency’s work extends well beyond them. Karl Johnson Agency also insures small businesses, including dental offices and salons, and provides personal insurance such as homeowners and auto coverage.
Johnson says homeowners insurance has become an especially important conversation as families face a changing insurance market. He also encourages clients to consider whether an umbrella policy belongs in their personal insurance plans.
Protection Beyond the Expected
An umbrella policy provides an additional layer of liability coverage above homeowners and auto insurance, often beginning at $1 million. Johnson says it can help when a major liability claim or lawsuit exceeds the limits of those underlying policies, including expenses such as legal defense costs.
“It’s the cheapest insurance you can buy for what you get,” he says.
He points to what the insurance industry calls social inflation, including larger liability claims and an increasingly litigious society. Families with young drivers may have another reason to consider the additional protection because of the added liability exposure that comes with inexperienced drivers.
Yet whether Johnson is talking with a family about an umbrella policy or sitting down with church leaders to discuss their organization, his philosophy remains much the same: understand the client first, then look for insurance that fits.
It is a fitting philosophy for a career that began through a pastor, a board member and a young baseball player willing to try something new for a year.
Thirty-five years later, Johnson still works with churches and other organizations devoted to serving their communities. In a season centered on gratitude, there is something fitting about a career spent helping protect the places where people gather, give back and care for one another.
To learn more about Karl Johnson Agency and its insurance services for churches, nonprofits, businesses and families, visit KarlJohnsonAgency.com.
“We are not company-based. We are client-based.” For Karl Johnson, that means understanding each customer’s needs before looking for an insurance company and coverage that fits.