The year was 1923. The place was Columbia, South Carolina and the South Carolina Baptist Convention General Board was meeting. The Reverend J. Knox Hair was continuing his plea for the Board to approve the formation of a mutual insurance company. His vision was to provide for the many rural churches of South Carolina that simply could neither find nor afford the fire insurance protection they desperately needed.

Move forward five years to January 30, 1928. A petition for incorporation was finally approved and a new insurance company, Southern Mutual Church Insurance Company was born. According to Reverend Hair, this was an answer to prayer.

Today, 80 years later, our company insures churches from many denominations and is licensed to transact business in six southeastern states. In 2007, our direct written premium passed the $25 million mark. We now have assets totaling over $41 million and policyholder surplus of $22 million. This financial success allows us to continue growing and serving God's church.

The history of Southern Mutual is one of risk-taking, confident decision-making and dramatic advances. It is the story of a small insurance company, founded in faith, that has evolved into one of the region’s premier church insurance providers. Through it all, we have succeeded where others have failed by keeping focused on our strengths. We have differentiated ourselves from our competition and built relationships with our church policyholders that have lasted for years. In fact, we still insure our first policyholder!

We have a team of dedicated people who understand what we stand for and bring the full force of their talents and abilities to their work every day. We continue to attract new church customers and build even stronger loyalties within the church community. We continually improve our insurance products to respond to the ever-changing needs of today’s church. We provide prompt, accurate and fair claims service as well as risk management and loss control services. Our motto of "Savings, Service and Security" is our point of focus.

As we celebrate our 80th anniversary, we pledge to continue to be the best we can be as we serve God’s church. We work for you. We thank you for your continued loyalty and remain excited about serving you in the years ahead.