Many years ago, I realized my calling to a very special ministry:

Starting, Advising and Protecting Christian Churches And Ministries

Not many lawyers know the first thing about serving churches, and even fewer are committed to serving them on a daily basis. So, as an attorney with a significant, long-standing, and ongoing commitment to serving Christian churches, that leaves me in extremely rare company.

In early 1994, I began serving as In-House Counsel of an international fellowship of more than 500 Christian churches. It was my privilege to serve these churches for over 9 years.

Among many other responsibilities, I oversaw the incorporation of the central organization, its mid-level associations of churches, local churches, and their integrated auxiliaries and support organizations... And secured their 501c3 tax-exemptions, including group exemptions.

In addition, I supervised the corporate, tax, intellectual property, and nonprofit legal work over the fellowship's churches and support organizations worldwide. And, I conducted many legal audits of very large churches all over the U.S.

I helped establish and wrote policies and procedures on all issues important to churches.

And, I developed workshops and seminars which I used to train church boards, officers, administrators, staff and ministry personnel on nearly every legal, business, employment and ecclesiastical issue that impacted them.

Perhaps more importantly, we planted many new churches throughout the nation and the world each year.

So, I had the benefit of all those years in practice to research, learn and perfect exactly what it takes to start a church, secure its "church" status with the IRS, and ensure 501(c)(3) tax exemption approval, efficiently and affordably.

Before attending law school, I worked professionally in San Antonio as a crisis intervention counselor and psychotherapist for children and adolescents, and as a counselor and mentor for college-bound high school students.

As an attorney, I've worked in civil litigation and corporate, tax, intellectual property, non-profit, and of course... church law.

I served as professor of corporate law and legal reasoning and writing at a Los Angeles-area law school, where I was also appointed Associate Law School Dean.

As an L.A. County Bar member, I frequently served as Judge Pro Tempore in Los Angeles Superior Courts, which is one of the largest and most diverse judicial districts in the world.

And through the years, I've represented numerous clients as Pro Bono Counsel to help them adopt children, take guardianship of children in crisis, secure social security disability benefits, and the like.