Guidestone announces new chief insurance officer
By Roy Hayhurst
DALLAS (BP) — Dr. Chu Soh, a long-time health care industry executive and retired Air Force officer, has joined GuideStone Financial Resources as chief insurance officer. In the role, Soh will oversee all of GuideStone’s health and welfare plans as well as its property and casualty lines of business, including product development, sales and customer service.
Before joining GuideStone, Soh served as chief operating officer for a large health sharing organization, growing it from 23,000 households in 2013 to more than 150,000 households last year.
“Our goal at GuideStone is to find Christian professionals who are best-in-class in their industry to serve our 250,000 participants and 50,000 churches and ministries,” GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins said. “Chu Soh checks every box we had hoped for as we searched for the right person to fill this role. We believe his unique experience on both the care side and the insurance side will provide benefits for GuideStone as we develop health plans that benefit our participants.”
Soh earned his Bachelor of Science in biology from the United States Air Force Academy, a Master of Science in sports medicine from the University of Florida College of Medicine and a doctorate in physical therapy from Baylor College of Medicine. He retired after 21 years in the Air Force; in his last role, he served as deputy group commander — equivalent to a civilian vice president — where he led 115 professionals in 10 departments at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.
Soh’s experience includes leading a digital modernization strategy to transform customer experience, driving down urgent care visits and creating a “Total Fit” injury prevention wellness program recognized as an Air Force unit best practice. In addition to serving at Patrick AFB, Soh served in Germany, Japan and South Korea.
Soh came to Christ as a fifth-grade student. After moving to Kansas from South Korea as a 5-year-old boy, he began attending a Southern Baptist church each Sunday and on Wednesday evenings through its bus ministry, as his parents, Buddhists, thought it would be a good way for their children to learn English. A fifth-grade Sunday school teacher provided him with his first Bible and prayed over him and encouraged him to give his life to Christ. Ultimately, Soh’s parents came to know the Lord as their Savior as well.
“The love that Baptist church showed my family and me was a big thing the Lord used to draw me to Him,” Soh said. “I am so thankful to have the opportunity to serve the kingdom through the Lord’s calling on our life, using the gifts and skills He has given us at GuideStone.”
He and his wife, Karyn, will relocate to the Dallas area from Florida this summer. They have four children, ranging in age from 21 to 6.
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LifeWay camps provide free digital worship experiences
By Aaron Wilson
NASHVILLE (BP) – LifeWay Christian Resources is hosting online worship events to enable kids and students to experience a taste of camp at home this year.
Alongside these events, which consist of worship and age-specific Bible teaching, LifeWay will provide free digital resources to allow parents and church leaders to lead multi-day devotions, games and mission activities. These resources are meant to assist children’s and student ministry leaders in discipling their groups this summer. LifeWay’s traditional summer camps were canceled due to concerns stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak.
“I’m so proud of how LifeWay’s camp teams have poured themselves into creating and developing these resources,” said Ben Trueblood, director of student ministry. “While we understand there’s no way to replace the live camp experience, we hope these resources will serve student ministries well this summer. We look forward to seeing everyone back live in summer 2021.”
Livestream dates for each camp’s free, hour-long event are listed below. No registration is needed, but access to the livestream and supporting digital resources can be found through the following links.
CentriKid Online Mass Chaos – streams June 16.
Student Life Night of Worship – streams June 18.
The FUGE Gathering – streams June 22.
Student Life for Kids Night of Worship – streams June 25.
Following each livestream event, a video recording and downloadable resources will be available on their respective websites throughout the summer. This will allow churches and families to build a flexible online worship experience that fits their schedule or adapt the experience to dates a church had previously reserved for traditional camp.
The livestream events and downloadable resources are available for anyone, free of charge. Churches and families do not need to have registered for a LifeWay camp in 2020 to participate in the online camp worship experiences.
“We are praying for churches and church leaders as they navigate this season,” said Trueblood. “We know God uses camps to impact the lives of kids and students in incredible ways, and we are looking forward to serving churches through our [traditional] camps ministry in 2021.”
More information about LifeWay’s 2021 camps can be found at LifeWay.com.
