Today in the Mission Yearbook - Mo-Ranch: A great place to work as well as visit

The Presbyterian camp and conference center provides robust benefits and a 500-acre ‘office’ in beautiful Texas Hill Country

March 11, 2021

Picturesque Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly sits in the heart of Texas Hill Country. (Photo courtesy of Mo-Ranch)

When the Rev. Dick Powell was tapped as a candidate for the job of president and CEO at Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly, he had one demand: “If I can’t stay in the Board of Pensions plan, I’m not coming.” More than a decade later, Powell and every other full-time employee at the camp and conference center in the Texas Hill Country is a member of the Benefits Plan of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

“We’ve got a staff in place, you can’t run them off with a stick,” Powell said. In addition to robust benefits, they have a workplace on 500 acres at the north fork of the Guadalupe River, in Hunt. Pecan and bald cypress trees shade the limestone banks of the clear, turquoise-tinted river, and bald cypress, mesquite and grasses cover limestone bluffs. A variety of lodging and dining choices, water fun, hiking and an extensive ropes course even now are drawing visitors, who have room to social distance. Asked about the weather, Powell, a native of coastal North Carolina, said: “It’s Texas. It’s hot.”

Powell joined Mo-Ranch from Forest Hills Presbyterian Church in Helotes, Texas, where he was pastor and head of staff. He knew firsthand the value of membership in the church Benefits Plan, administered by the Board of Pensions. Before being ordained as a minister, he was a manufacturing executive with plenty of value-adds to his coverage, such as health club memberships. “Even with all of those, our plan is better,” Powell said.

Plan members have access to Board of Pensions programs designed to foster spiritual, health, financial and vocational well-being. Board University provides educational programs for active and retired plan members and their spouses and surviving spouses. There are assistance grants for members in need and housing and income supplements for retired plan members.

PC(USA) congregations, agencies and affiliated organizations are eligible to provide benefits to their employees through the plan. The affiliated employers include educational institutions, retirement and senior housing communities, human services organizations — and camps and conference centers. Mo-Ranch is related by covenant to the Synod of the Sun.

Fred Gamble, chief financial officer at Mo-Ranch, said that “the best compliment I can give the Board of Pensions is that I seldom think about you. No employee complaint has reached me in three years.” The Board crosses his mind once a month, when benefits payments are due, “because I approve all the checks.”

In 2015, before the Benefits Plan was redesigned to provide more choice, Mo-Ranch was poised to switch providers. “We weren’t unhappy whatsoever with service. It was strictly pricing,” Gamble said.

Board leaders acted quickly and, effective Jan. 1, 2016, Mo-Ranch was piloting the forerunner of the exclusive provider organization (EPO). The EPO became a coverage option, along with the preferred provider organization (PPO), in 2017, with a redesign of the Benefits Plan. In 2019, a third medical option was added, the high-deductible health plan (HDHP).

“The EPO was perfect for us and probably perfect for most rural places,” Gamble said of the option, which does not cover care received from out-of-network providers except for emergency services. “Virtually all the providers are going to be part of the network.”

Mo-Ranch pays 100 percent of the cost of participating in the EPO for its approximately 60 employees and 60 percent for family coverage. This year, it also began to offer the PPO; employees who choose it pay the difference in cost between it and the EPO.

Both options include Call to Health, the Board’s well-being program. Mo-Ranch urges employees to participate in the program, which can qualify them for lower deductibles.

This year, Mo-Ranch began providing dental coverage through the Board, and in April 2019, it moved its employees from a 401(k) plan to the Retirement Savings Plan of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (RSP).

Gamble also appreciates the stability of plan coverage — the predictability in rates and coverage.

“Too often, when you go and try to price shop, they take coverage away you don’t know you need until you need it,” Gamble said. Board employees “understand and preach preventive maintenance for the body and soul,” Gamble said. “It’s those kinds of things that are going to help keep my staff healthy.”

Lea Sitton, Agency Writer at the Board of Pensions, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
John Etheredge, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Jennifer Evans, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

May the power of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard our heart and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Strengthening connections: D.J. Lee of the Board of Pensions serves PC(USA) Korean churches

To 400 Korean ministers and congregation leaders, he’s the face of the Board

August 21, 2020

D.J. Lee is the Board of Pensions’ Senior Specialist for Korean Membership. (Contributed photo)

In a small conference room at the Board of Pensions, before COVID-19 led to staff working remotely, D.J. Lee recalled how he chose to travel from his home in South Korea to Philadelphia to earn an MBA. He spread an imaginary map of the United States across the conference table and ran his hands across it, one westward, one eastward.

“I opened up the map, and I had a few choices,” said Lee, senior service specialist for Korean membership at the Board, referring to his university admissions. “Philadelphia, I had never heard of. Philadelphia has the longest spelling. Hmm, Philadelphia is the place to go. I want to explore. I like adventure.”

Today, Lee gives back to his adopted city as a volunteer at Greater Philadelphia Health Action Inc. (GPHA), where he has served on the Quality Oversight Committee and Strategic Planning Committee since 2019. GPHA provides comprehensive health services to uninsured and underinsured people in the region. “It has been a great opportunity to share my knowledge and experiences gained from the Board and my education,” he said. “This is my way to return something back to Philadelphia.”

Dong Jo Lee arrived in Philadelphia in August 1994, his first time in the United States. “When I was young, I always dreamed about America,” he said. “I loved Western movies and World War II movies.” He had no family or friends in the U.S., but he had been introduced to the Presbyterian church in high school by a friend and soon, he was worshiping with a Presbyterian congregation in Philadelphia. “It brought me back to my faith,” he said.

By February 2000, he had two master’s degrees, a wife, a young son and a new job as Benefits Specialist at the Board of Pensions. Twenty years later, he and his wife, Heayoung Shin, share their home with son Nathan, a college sophomore, and daughter Hannah, a high school junior. And D.J. Lee is helping to strengthen church ties with Korean congregations.

His father-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Sang Gil Shin, was thrilled when his son was hired by the Board. Shin had moved to the U.S. from Korea in 1983 with his family — when Heayoung was 13 — for a Presbyterian leadership exchange program. He retired in Korea in 1997 after 30 years in ministry that included serving Presbyterian churches and in validated ministries in Korea, a PC(USA) congregation in the U.S., and as a missionary in Mexico.

Shin saw his son-in-law as a connection between Korean Presbyterians and a valuable church agency. Today, that connection is direct. Since January 2019, Lee has served as the face of the Board for Korean Presbyterian ministers and congregational leaders in the approximately 400 PC(USA) Korean churches. He travels, educating these congregations on the church Benefits Plan and how to use Benefits Connect.

“The people I meet with really appreciate the outreach,” said Lee, who has expanded face-to-face service for the constituency. “The word spread out. I have a total of 18 outreach activities scheduled in 2020, including workshops, Korean retiree luncheons, and NCKPC [National Caucus of Korean Presbyterian Churches],” he said, although COVID-19 has forced schedule changes.

His understanding of Korean culture has been critical to conveying the richness of the Benefits Plan. Korean plan members traditionally haven’t made the most of their benefits because plan information was not always reaching the one responsible for wielding it.

“We used to train the ministers,” he said, but it is the spouse who oversees family medical claims and expenses. “In Korean culture, many spouses are women who have sacrificed their professional careers to support their husband’s ministry and child care. Once I took over this role, I said, ‘Hey, bring your spouse.’ Now, I see more engagement.”

His outreach supports the efforts of the Board, as part of the PC(USA), to strengthen the community of faith. In 2019, for the first time, the Chief of Church Engagement for the Board of Pensions attended the NCKPC. Translations of documents on pensions.org continue to grow, and this year, the Board plans to deliver Healthy Pastors, Healthy Congregations in Korean.

Lea Sitton, Agency Writer for the Board of Pensions

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Dick Liberty, Board of Pensions
Lora Limeberry, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray:

God of warmth and compassion, let us be filled with the light of Christ. Lead us out into the world, where the lost, lonely and hungry can be the face of Jesus for us. Amen.