This is a problem that will not go away. Not only because of the mental shift toward secular humanism that is apparent in our society, but also because of the pervasive ignorance among so-called "educators," and the powerful resolve of atheist activists. I'm talking not merely about religious discrimination, but about the cynicism, skepticism, and increasingly apparent hatred directed at Christianity in particular.

It goes like this: Public School officials in America today, allow and promote all sorts of vile, vulgar and destructive expressions of self throughout the educational setting, dismissing them as nothing more than where our society has progressed to and the innocent truths of today's youth. You know what I'm talking about: sexual promiscuity, championing gay lifestyles, drug-addicts turned heroes simply because they go clean, pagan-satanic rituals, and of course, evolution and humanism that deny the truth and existence of God.

At the same time, they prohibit a 10 year old boy from wearing a Jesus costume as his way of saying "NO" to the pagan message he believed was inherent in the school's holloween activities. Not only was he told he could not wear a plastic crown of thorns, he was not allowed to mention the name of Jesus. (See, Boy Who Wanted To Wear Jesus Costume Sues at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17266174/)

The legal problems with the school's actions are many and obvious. It's fairly well settled that an individual student's expression of religion may not be suppressed simply because it is religious. That holds true whether the religious "speech" (and it's obvious that wearing a Jesus costume to protest holloween school activities is most definitely religious speech) is expressed outside of organized school activities, or in the context of non-curricular expressive activities in which students are given freedom to choose their own speech, and then are censored when they choose something with religious content.

This happens often. The instant case is a good example of allowing school children the freedom to choose their own speech… so long as it is not Christian in nature. But most champions of religious rights and protectors of the Christian faith can point to many other examples, often perpetrated by public school officials against children with a strong Christian faith. I can recall off the top of my head the case where an elementary public school teacher assigned a report to her students on "Who Is My Hero." When a Christian boy in her class turned in a report on Jesus, not only did she give it back and give him a failing grade, but the school district backed her up with a "scorch the earth" mentality and resolve. In a more recent case, an elementary school student chose a Christian song for a school talent show that was held in the evening. She was censored because of the Christian message it sent.

These are blatant violations of our children's First Amendment rights, on many levels. Not only is it apparent from legal precedent, but it's also apparent from a simple, logical review of the facts. I doubt that, in organizing holloween activities, school officials first asked whether the organizing administrator had a leaning toward the occult or satanism. There is no indication that they censored any other costumes, including those of witches and devils, as expressive of a religion. (Of course, that would defeat the purpose of the activities at hand.) And I strongly doubt that had someone shown up in a costume of Buddha or Hare Krishna anyone would have batted an eye.

But, should anyone even suggest the name or idea of Jesus, public school officials come out fighting with all guns blazing. It signifies a pervasive and disturbing ignorance about what separation of church and state in America means. School administrators seem to think it means "do not allow expressions of Christianity in any form and in connection with any school setting or activity whatsoever." Nothing could be further from the truth.

Let us not forget where much of this comes from. There are many negative, destructive and evil forces at work in this world. It is, after all, the work of the darkest of enemies. But he works through ignorance and hatred. I believe that when public school officials so blatantly and mercilessly discriminate, not against religion, per se, but against Christianity in particular, it had to start in another place and another time. Too many people today have turned their backs on Jesus because they're more attracted by the lies of the world. They believe the answers to life lie in their own discoveries and inventions. Many think psychology and philosophy are the supreme theories that will solve humanity's problems.

When people's lives go awry, they blame God. When the world beats them up, they blame the Lord. When they can't escape their own slavery to sin, whatever form it takes, they blame it on Christ. When they don't want to face the fact that their lives may at times seem meaningless and purposeless, they try to deny the meaning and purpose of the cross. It's the loss of faith and the lure of the world. More than ever, people worship the idols of money, beauty, success, pleasure, and possessions. It isn't convenient to believe in a Christ who teaches us to deny ourselves.

And then there's the atheist movement. What else can we say about atheism, except that it's everywhere, even in public school administration. But here's a telltale sign that even atheists, despite their activism, fear Jesus Christ. They fight with all their might to keep His name out of every place imaginable. I suppose the good news, aside from the fact that Jesus cannot be denied, is that He cannot be stopped. Have you heard the one about the convention of atheists who were in the middle of singing their denial song when a mighty earthquake struck and the walls began to tumble? Well, they all knelt down to pray that their lives be spared.

And that is where much of the problem lies. Somewhere deep inside, people know the truth and power of God, but cannot stand the fact that it convicts their soul. So they do their best to prop up a secular system, purporting to lean on the power of law and the authority of policy to deny what is really going on in themselves and in society.  They deny that God is watching. That he cannot be mocked. That He cannot be denied. That Christ is what's missing.

Does anyone really believe that public school officials really thought that by allowing a 10 year old boy to wear a Jesus costume at a holloween activity, that the school district would get in trouble for promoting religion? Would allowing a child to write a report about Jesus as their hero, that only one teacher gets to see, promote Christianity? Would allowing an elementary school girl to sing a Christian song at an evening talent show amount to the school itself promoting the Christian faith? Obviously, the answer is No, No and No. Even if they suggested that was their fear, where did they get their facts or legal research from? It's obvious that they either do not have legal counsel, or they have one that knows very little about this area of law.

School districts always point to a "policy" that does not allow the targeted speech, as though the word "policy" carried inherent authority or meaning. The truth is that policies can be based on anything, including ignorance, lack of research, and a strong anti-Christian influence in the political and administrative ranks of a school district. The time has come for public school officials to wake up and understand that the law is settled. And that their harassment of small children and discrimination against all things Christian in a public school setting are ill-advised and an exercise in futility.

Their tact, in discouraging expressions of faith, is to overwhelm the faithful Christian with seemingly insurmountable odds. In other words, they force small children to sue them just so they can sing their song, write their story, or say no to paganism. I suggest that Christians turn it upside down on school district officials. If more Christian families encouraged their children to engage in expressions of their Christian faith in the school setting (understanding them to be not only right and appropriate, but also legally and morally sound), and if more Christian defenders resolved to step in and help faithful children fight the good fight, school districts would think twice about violating our children's First Amendment rights and inviting such ridiculous litigation.

Let's make them weigh the prospect of too much litigation against the prospect of letting small innocent children engage in simple expressions of their Christian faith. Not that we need to see what some school officials are already made of–I think we already know that–but I do think we need to see where their priorities lie: the promotion of education and enlightenment, or the perpetuation of ignorance?

As for me and my house, we stand with Christ.

(I am not suggesting in this posting that a majority, or most, public school officials are anti-Christian. But it's apparent that this is a problem in public education. As in all things, if the shoe fits, wear it.)

For more on your legal right to religious expression in the public school setting, go to: www.firstfreedom.gov.

I have found that church administration is not the most popular topic to write about. If I were solely concerned with popular church topics, I would be doing churches a disservice. But, my vast experience in serving churches tells me that church administration articles are among the most important for any new ministry, even if they don't want to hear it.

Understanding the numerous areas of risk involved in a church ministry is one of the best ways to protect it. As with most other things, to inform is to empower. What every church, not just a new church, should know is that risk can be managed.

But before you can manage risk, you must first identify and understand it. Identifying risk is not always easy. At times, it may seem like common sense. At others, it's counter-intuitive. Understanding risk is also not easy. Too many people are blinded by too many things, such as life experience, bias, and deep-rooted desires. I have found that helping churches identify and understand risk is a slippery slope that must be negotiated, no matter how seemingly insurmountable the minds and egos on the receiving end may be.

Of course, identifying and understanding risk cannot be accomplished in one, or even a few articles. It must be a two-way conversation because it begins with taking a deep look at who you are and what you do as a church ministry. This exercise can be as hard and painful as looking at who you are and what you do as a person.

In the same way that people are complex, ministries are complex because they reflect who we are as people. We've all done things we thought better of in hind sight. So it is with churches. In attempting a bit of foresight, I will begin this conversation with just a short list of the issues that potentially face any church, and therefore, of the inherent and created risk.

In going through this list, and considering the real life manifestation of each issue, we have to keep in mind the common thread; churches are all about people. Churches are nothing without the close, everyday, intimate and complex interaction among hundreds, sometimes thousands of unique individuals. Jesus does not operate in a vacuum. Therefore, when you have imperfect people involved in each others' lives in ways that are among the most intimate and profound in all of society, things are bound to happen.

And it's not simply an issue of church members, there are any number of constituents who are similarly affected, not the least of which is the community in which the church operates. The interactions, relationships, events, activities, discussions, messages, and opposing forces all add up to a mixture that is ripe for dispute, controversy, and even causes and effects for which a church may be hauled into court. Sometimes it's worse. Real human lives are involved. Even children can be tragically impacted.

Indeed, risk and complexity are a normal part of any church, as with any other microcosm of society and the world at large. Churches will never fully rid themselves of risk and complexity, and it may not even be desirable to do so. That is not to say that it can be ignored. On the contrary, ignoring even a small part of the risk and complexity that accompanies a typical ministry has resulted in a literal explosion of litigation against churches in the last decade. Where suing a church was once unheard of, today it is commonplace.

These lawsuits are often triggered by power struggles, the sharing of confidential information, questionable counseling practices, sexual misconduct, membership issues and the like. But there is no limit to the ways that risk may present itself within a church or ministry. The conflicts and risk elements are often converted into the following types of legal claims:

• Breach of Contract
• Negligence - Premises liability or risky church activity
• Negligent hiring, supervision or retention of employees or volunteers
• Clergy malpractice
• Defamation
• Negligent or Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
• Breach of Fiduciary Responsibility
• Violation of Corporate Bylaws
• Invasion of Privacy, or Breach of Confidentiality, and
  
• Abuse in the Teen or Children's Ministry… to name a few.
  

We'd like to think that ministers and other church leaders are much more adept at thinking these things through when contemplating the start up, or maturing process, of a church or ministry. But, the truth is that you'll be hard-pressed to find that course in divinity school. Besides, ministry and outreach is what is foremost on most church leaders' minds. Which leaves risk management to administrators.

Yes, this is really for the church administrators who often see their roles as simply collecting and depositing the weekly contribution, and accounting for it to church leadership. A church administrator who doesn't fully embrace the more important role I lay out here, doesn't really understand his or her calling. Church administration is a biblical role. The ad-ministry is an important ministry alongside all others. I know, I've been there and done that.

In no particular order, the following are major elements of risk that must be managed to some extent in every church or ministry, no matter how large or small, and those that all church leaders should carefully think about and plan for. We will revisit each, one at a time, in future posts:

• The church's legal and corporate existence (hint: do an audit before you really have to)
  
• Financial health (hint: establish an effective policies and procedure infrastructure)
• Church's contract(s) with its ministry personnel (hint: decide if this is right for you)
  
• Church-specific Constitution/Bylaw (hint: think long and hard about what you will include)
  
• Summer Camps (hint: what precautions are needed and are you insured?)
• Youth Ministries (hint: are you doing background checks on youth workers?)
  
• Children's Ministry Guidelines (hint: this is one of the biggest areas of risk)
• Child Abuse Reporting Guidelines (hint: you must know exactly what to do, or face consequences)
• Christian Conciliation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (hint: decide to require this from all staff and employees to avoid future litigation)
• Appropriate Insurance Coverage (hint: failure to properly insure may be grounds for imposing personal liability on leaders)
• Board and Staff Training (hint: another large area of risk because it's ripe for abuse)
• Volunteerism, Screening, Training and Supervision (hint: huge area of risk because poor training and lack of control spell potential trouble)
• Policies on Avoiding Defamation (hint: know what to say or not say, when, how and to whom)
  
• New Church Start-ups (hint: to most critical time to consider all these issues)
• Church Polity (Denominational Structures) (hint: best to think it through from the outset and not when you're on the courthouse steps)
• Formation of Conventions and Associations of Churches (hint: how will you protect all these relationships and what they stand for?)
• Formation of Integrated Auxiliaries and Support Organizations (hint: how will they function and be overseen, and how will they benefit the church?)
• Association & Affiliation Agreements (hint: if you have one, was it drafted by a competent professional?)
• Legal and/or Religious Authority in the Church (hint: if you don't establish it now, it may be decided for you later)
• Ecclesiastical Tribunals (hint: will their authority extend beyond spiritual/religious?)
• Missions Societies (hint: how will funds be handled, distributed and accounted for?)
• Church-Owned & Leased Property (hint: are there other tax issues involved? What about insurance?)
• Ordination & Parsonages (hint: can you current practice subject ministers to possible audits?)
• Clergy & Social Security (hint: do you know what you need to know?)
• Special IRS Tax Benefits for Clergy (hint: are you maximizing them or losing out?)
• Pastoral Counseling (hint: when are you going beyond where the law protects you?)
• Clergy-Penitent Privilege (hint: what should you know about his?)
• Clergy in Church Administration (hint: how do you go from pastoral ministry to administration, and what does it practically mean?)
• Benevolence Funds (hint: you can get in trouble with lousy practices)
• The Church Audit Procedures Act (hint: how to use it to your advantage)
• Religious Publishing & the Commerciality Doctrine Music Licensing (hint: what should you know about this area?)
  
• IRS Section 501(c)(3) Tax Exemption (hint: if this is right for you, you do you get it and keep it?)
  
• State Tax Exemptions (income, franchise, sales, use personal and real property taxes) (hint: learn how to take advantage of these)
  
• Board Governance and Fiduciary Duties (hint: are for-profit corporate standards being applied to nonprofits and churches?)
  
• Board Committees (hint: know what they do and what their protocol should be)
  
• Corporate and Organizational Structures (hint: think it through now before it becomes unwieldy)
  
• Subsidiaries and Affiliates (hint: how can you use them to advance your purposes?)
  
• Financial Accountability and Executive Compensation (hint: how do you avoid running afoul of reasonable compensation and independent decision-making rules?)
  
• Title VII and Discrimination (hint: how does it apply to churches and can it benefit you?)
  
• Private Inurement & Private Benefit (hint: perhaps the largest area of concern, if not the most costly. It's a matter of integrity before the Lord)
  
• Excess Benefit Transactions & Intermediate Sanctions (hint: what are the costs?)
  
• Employee and Volunteer Expense Reimbursements (hint: learn to do it right and not over do it)
  
• Disqualified Persons & Conflict of Interests (hint: O.K., are you getting the message?)
  
• Employee Hiring, Evaluation, Discipline and Terminations
• Employee Manuals
• Employee vs. Independent Contractor Rules
• Employment and Severance Agreements
• Background Investigations
• ADA, COBRA and Employee Benefits
• FMLA, FLSA and OSHA
• Gifts to Employees and Taxation
• Sexual Harassment Policy
• Workplace Substance Abuse Prevention
• Unrelated Business Income Tax
• State & Federal Taxation
• Fundraising & Charitable Solicitation
• Gifts & Contributions
• Scholarship & Research Gift Programs
• Trademark, Copyright & the Fair Use Doctrine
• Records Retention Guidelines
• Nonprofit Lobbying and Political Activity
• Nonprofit Disclosure Rules Protecting, Exploiting, and Licensing an Intellectual Property Portfolio

Stay with me as we examine these issues in future posts.

I get no pleasure from writing this post, as it deals with many of the issues I warn church leaders and faithful Christians against on a regular basis. My hope is that it will serve as a warning to church members, their ministry leaders and their boards, about what can and will happen when oversight is lax and a church board is nothing more than a rubber stamp for a forceful, if charismatic, pastor.

I won't try to break down, in this post, all the legal issues that are presented in this scenario. Not that I wasn't tempted to, as it reads like a veritable law school testing hypothetical. But it would be boring legal chatter and miss the whole point. Suffice it to say that this man did many bad things and no one seemed to be keeping an eye out… not just on him, but also on the church itself.

To me, it seems that in literally stealing ALL the church property out from under the unsuspecting congregation in tiny Ripon, CA, "Pastor" Randall Radic always intended to hurt people. Why else would he parade down main street to flaunt his "spoils"–the shiny new BMW he bought with the dirty money? Why would he do it in the first place?

It didn't seem that he was in a tight financial spot. He got to live in a parsonage (church-owned home that is provided to a pastor to live in), for which he was able to deduct the fair-market rental value from his ordinary income. Thus, if he was paid, for example, $75,000 annually as pastor of "Unsuspecting Church," and the fair-market rental value of the parsonage was $2,000 per month, his reported ordinary income would be no more than $51,000. Of course, when you take into consideration the numerous other deductions allowed under the IRS rules, such as maintenance expenses, utilities, furniture, etc,… the deductions from ordinary income could have brought his taxable income down to $30,000 or less, each year. Have you calculated lately the taxes on $30,000?

Now, I don't really know… but I wonder if anyone has even attempted an audit to see what kind of other money may have been embezzled along the way. I wouldn't doubt that it happened regularly, or that the congregation would rather keep it quiet.

It also seems that he did not have the stresses of family, like many good pastors do. There's no indication here that he was married or had children. In fact, his entire behavior is that of a man who doesn't have to look into the eyes of a young boy or girl and say, "Let me teach you to be honorable." Or perhaps, "Follow me as I follow Christ." Perhaps not all pastors with families with do that either, but when a family is involved, it's less likely that your pastor will sell the house out from under them as well.

Also, unlike another situation that most Americans are by now familiar with, there's no indication he was a closet homosexual, or drug addict, or both. But if he were, it would not have been known by a group of people who didn't seem to see anything wrong with hiring a younger single man to be pastor over a congregation of senior citizens.  Or was he hired? Is it possible that the church had never really established any structure of legal and/or religious authority? There is a suggestion that the church board was duped in this situation. But we don't really know if he was not perhaps, an all-powerful pastor with a rubber stamp board and no spiritual group to whom he was accountable.

Let me also address the church culture where members tend to claim their ministers as "favorite sons." That's part of what leads disciples to care little about setting up oversight procedures. That's part of what allows them to have unquestioned, if misplaced, trust. A minister is not someone who should be coddled and winked at by a bunch of older ladies, and looked upon by senior men to remind them of their younger days. The ministry is much more than a "job," or "profession." It's the role that God has ordained, through which He intends the flock to be cared for. Treating pastors like our grandchildren, or "that handsome young buck that preaches to us on Sundays," does the ministry a great disservice.

There are so many others things one can say about the shameful displays of selfishness and heartlessness by Radic, not just in selling the parsonage and church building, but also in how he rubbed it in the collective face of the congregation after the fact. The point is that churches all over this nation should take this as a warning. The enemy is not only lurking in the outskirts, he's also lurking within. The enemy is not merely a red, horned monster. Unfortunately, sometimes, the enemy is "us."

Because of this truth, the time is now to do everything within your power to protect your church, not just for yourselves, or the generation that follows, but for the good name of Christ. You mark my words, this evil man's exploits will one day soon be made into a Hollywood story. Are you not yet aware of how Hollywood likes to distort the image of Christianity and defame the name of Christ?

Don't give them the opportunity. Don't give the evil one a foothold. Stop the foolishness of slobbering all over charismatic single pastors and hold them, as well as all ministry personnel, the the standard of the bible. What other standard are you faithful to? Let someone help you learn how to protect your church. That's what I always preach.

You can find the article this post relates to at: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17120210/