The Marketplace Magazine January/Feburary 2023

Doubling down on generosity and innovative ways to serve

Everence stays true to faith values, grows during pandemic

Everence enjoyed “remarkable growth” during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, the company’s CEO says.

Everence had a plan for a pandemic emergency to pull off the shelf, Ken Hochstetler said.

Fortunately for the Indiana-based financial institution, a consultant had led it through a disaster recovery exercise in 2019.

Still, “the real-world case had a lot of real wrinkles that went beyond the exercise,” he said.

Hochstetler made the comments at MEDA’s annual convention in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Hochstetler, who has led Everence since 2014, has a long history with MEDA. He credits it with helping him to “better understand my work (in the banking industry) as faithful and purposeful.”

Hochstetler was involved in the Delaware Valley (Souderton, Pennsylvania) MEDA chapter board for 19 years. He served on MEDA’s international board of directors for nine years, several as treasurer.

“MEDA helped me to both invest in what lasts and to seek growth, to make an impact on the lives of others … and to grow as a business professional and a person of faith.”

He considered becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business after college. Instead, he chose a career of “helping entrepreneurs and business owners in a variety of ways.”

His skills were tested over the past 32 months. He described it as “filled with extraordinary challenges that have been both disrupting and uprooting” for many leaders.

Everence has a practice of selecting a Bible verse every year to help focus its organizational efforts. Proverbs 16, verse three reads: “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

That verse’s reminder, that God is a guide through times of upheaval if we commit our concerns and matters over to God, was helpful to Everence through two pandemic years, he said.

Everence responded to the pandemic by “doubling down on time-tested principles and making some adaptations in some practices with twists due to the new realities,” he said.

Everence is committed to a mission of “helping organizations, churches, and individuals integrate their faith values with their financial decisions,” he said.

But the organization also uses the word faith as an acronym that describes its service values. Everence seeks to be focused and accountable, trustworthy, and helpful in serving members in 50 US states, he said.

When the pandemic struck, Everence doubled down on finding innovative solutions to serve.

Its credit union quickly applied for and received US small business administration status as a Paycheck Protection Provider. Almost one-third of its pandemic loan production was made to churches and faith-based nonprofits.

Realizing that churches would be substantially affected by pandemic lockdowns, Everence doubled its 2020 sharing fund grants to $1.5 million to help pastors and others in need.

It developed financial education and wellness seminars for racially and ethnically underrepresented pastors, and pastors serving small congregations.

Hochstetler praised the efforts of Everence’s staff while noting the challenges that the new normal of remote work poses for many organizations. Forty-four percent of CEOs would like employees back in the office. But companies don’t feel they can mandate it due to tight labor conditions.

As a people business, Everence is somewhere between these two opposing realities, he said. “Face-to-face human interactions create energy, cooperation, trust, and creativity that are difficult to replicate virtually.”

Everence has done two iterations of flexible and remote work guidelines. “More adjustments may be needed as we continue what was previously a pandemic-forced solution to what is now an ongoing employee expectation and program.”

Hochstetler takes none of Everence’s recent successes, including record charitable giving to its foundation in 2021, for granted. “In a world that is struggling with uncertainty, disturbances, greed, and polarization, our work community is growing together to make a brighter future.”

“Our mission — our calling — is tending to Christ’s ministry of love in very genuine, open and sincere ways.”

While many things will continue to change, he challenged his audience to focus on the positives change can bring.

Disruption can also be a powerful catalyst for innovation, “and an inspiration for growth, as people in community,” he said.

“Entrepreneurship embraces the tests and trials that come our way, and uses them for development, creativity, and innovation.”

Hochstetler encouraged everyone to consider how they have stepped up to fill needs in their communities and worldwide.

“This year will be a time of further mobilizing for all of us, in many ways. But one thing that can remain constant is our commitment to aligning our faith with our work values, so that — together — we are cultivating and growing the resources that enrich our communities and the lives we share.” .