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You’re About To Take Your Free 25-Point Church Legal Audit Below!

Hey [+fn+]! Take Your Free 25-Point Church Legal Audit Below — Plus Get A Personalized 12-Page Report And A Free 20-Min Call With Regan!

Take the audit below — built for senior, lead, and executive pastors who carry the weight of their church’s legal life.

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Built by Regan VanSteenis — 23 years of church legal counsel · former Chief Legal Officer at Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen Ministries

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Confidential Audit

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Hey [+fn+]!

Regan here. Most pastors who click "free legal audit" never finish it. They open the link, read the first question, get distracted, and the tab dies in their browser at 11 PM that night.

You're about to be different.

Here's how this works:

  • Twenty-five questions. Yes / No / Unsure for each. About 8 minutes total.
  • Five sections — Foundation & Governance · Pastor Pay & Compensation · HR & Employment · Child Safety & Internal Controls · Insurance, Donor Compliance & Final Risk.
  • No spiritualizing the answers. No grading on a curve. If you don't know, mark "Unsure."
  • The moment you submit: my AI generates your personalized 12-page report and emails it to you within three minutes. You'll also see a calendar to schedule your free 20-minute analysis call with me — that part is free for everyone, no upgrade required.

Be diligent to know the state of your flock, [+fn+]. That's Proverbs 27:23 — the verse this whole audit was built on. The next 8 minutes are how you actually do that.

Scroll down. Start the audit. I'll see you on the other side.

— Regan VanSteenis

Pastor's Daughter · Church Attorney 23 Years · Ordained Minister

Regan VanSteenis — Founder, Church Law & Strategy

Before you begin:

  • ⏱Estimated time: about 8 minutes (most pastors finish in 6–10)
  • 🔒Privacy: your answers are stored under attorney confidentiality · never sold · never shared with third parties
  • 📧What you get when you submit: personalized 12-page PDF report · inline calendar to schedule your free 20-min call with Regan · 30-day email series with deeper context
  • 🚫What you do NOT get: a sales pitch tomorrow morning · your data sold to insurance brokers · a surprise auto-billed membership

Section 1 of 5 · 0 questions answered · 0% complete

Section 1 of 5

⛪ Foundation & Governance

The structural bones of your church — bylaws, board, contracts, state filings. Where 70% of church splits start.
1 / 25

Do you have a list of every contract over $25,000 your church is party to, with renewal dates and signing authority?

Auto-renewing contracts are the #1 silent budget killer.

2 / 25

Is your pastor's name listed as a director, officer, or registered agent on state filings you haven't reviewed in the last 2 years?

Stale state filings can void liability protection.

3 / 25

Do your bylaws clearly describe the process for removing a senior pastor or board member, and has the board been trained on it?

70% of church splits involve bylaws that don't describe removal.

4 / 25

Has your board ever formally trained on fiduciary duty, conflict-of-interest, and the corporate-veil protections your bylaws provide?

Untrained boards are the #1 reason plaintiffs pierce the corporate veil.

5 / 25

Are your Articles of Incorporation and state filings current, with a documented annual review in the last 12 months?

Revoked corporate status = personal liability on every signature.

"Section 1 complete. Most pastors stop here. You didn't. Next: how your staff are paid — the section every pastor I work with says they wish they'd looked at sooner."

Section 2 of 5

💼 Pastor Pay & Compensation

Housing allowance, classification, board-approved comp. The IRS-and-pastor section.
6 / 25

Has your church filed a housing allowance resolution for every minister in the last 12 months, recorded in signed board minutes before the payment was made?

IRS requires the designation be in advance and in writing — retroactive designations are routinely disallowed.

7 / 25

Is your senior pastor classified as W-2 (employee), and if so, does the church handle Social Security correctly on the housing portion?

Misclassification triggers personal tax penalties + church back-tax exposure.

8 / 25

Does your board adopt the annual church budget AND designate every minister's housing allowance in advance, in the same meeting, with minutes signed?

Per IRC §107, retroactive designations are disallowed.

9 / 25

Do you have a written compensation committee made up of independent (non-staff, non-family) members who approve the pastor's total compensation in advance, in minutes?

Without an independent committee + contemporaneous minutes, the IRS treats pastor comp as automatic excess-benefit under §4958.

10 / 25

Have all ministers been informed in writing about their housing allowance, eligibility decisions, and the IRS rules governing their compensation?

Failing to inform creates a breach-of-fiduciary-duty claim by the pastor against the board.

"Section 2 complete. You're moving fast. Next: HR — the section where 'we never did anything wrong' meets 'we also never wrote it down.'"

Section 3 of 5

📋 HR & Employment

Handbook, classifications, terminations, training. Where the EEOC complaints come from.
11 / 25

Do you have a current, signed employee handbook reviewed by an attorney in the last 24 months?

The first subpoena in any wrongful-termination suit is for the handbook.

12 / 25

In the last 3 years, have you terminated or let go of any employee without documented performance warnings and a signed severance release?

Title VII gives terminated employees 300 days to file an EEOC complaint.

13 / 25

Do you have a written harassment and discrimination policy with documented annual training for all staff?

Policy + training is your primary affirmative defense under Title VII and state payday law.

14 / 25

Do you have a written accountable reimbursement plan (IRS-compliant), and are all staff reimbursements supported by receipts within 60 days?

Without an accountable plan, reimbursements become taxable W-2 income — retroactively.

15 / 25

Have you audited every paid worker classified as 1099 in the last 24 months to confirm they aren't legally W-2 employees under the IRS 20-factor or ABC test?

Misclassification is the #1 IRS enforcement priority against churches.

"Section 3 complete. Last two sections — children and money. The two domains pastors lose the most sleep over."

Section 4 of 5

🛡 Child Safety & Internal Controls

Background checks, the 2-adult rule, segregation of duties, sermon IP. The catastrophic-loss section.
16 / 25

Do you run nationwide criminal background checks AND reference checks on every paid employee and volunteer working with minors?

Negligent-hiring lawsuits in child-abuse cases routinely produce 7-figure verdicts.

17 / 25

Do you enforce the 2-adult / 3-person rule in every ministry activity involving minors, with a written policy and documented enforcement?

This rule is the strongest defense in child-abuse civil cases.

18 / 25

Do you require two signatures on every church check over a threshold (e.g., $5,000) and review check-signing authority at least annually?

Embezzlement averages $200K–$750K and is almost always traced to single-signer authority.

19 / 25

Do you have written internal controls preventing the same person from approving purchases AND paying the bills (segregation of duties)?

Single failure mode in 80% of church fraud cases.

20 / 25

Does the church have a written, signed agreement with the senior pastor defining who owns sermons, books, online content, and courses (work-for-hire or reverse work-for-hire)?

When the senior pastor leaves or passes, IP ownership becomes the most contested issue.

"Section 4 complete. One more section. This is the home stretch — and where most of the real numbers live."

Section 5 of 5

☂ Insurance, Donor Compliance & Final Risk

D&O, sexual misconduct coverage, donor receipts, signing authority. The 'I thought we were covered' section.
21 / 25

Does your church carry both General Liability + D&O (Directors & Officers) insurance, with limits matched to your annual budget?

D&O gaps are the single biggest cause of pastor-personal-liability verdicts.

22 / 25

Does your insurance include dedicated Sexual Abuse & Molestation (SAM) coverage with limits appropriate for your attendance size?

Standard General Liability policies exclude SAM. Churches often discover this only after a claim.

23 / 25

When did your broker last conduct a comprehensive risk-management review of your church (walkthrough, exclusions audit, limits check)?

Brokers who haven't done a walkthrough in 5+ years routinely miss 40% coverage gaps.

24 / 25

Do you have a policy limiting who can sign contracts on behalf of the church based on dollar value?

Unauthorized signatures create personal liability for the signer AND contractual exposure for the church.

25 / 25

Do your donor receipts include the IRS-required "no goods or services" language for every gift over $250, AND is all cash giving tracked with dual-signature logs?

Missing magic language invalidates the donor's tax deduction and creates §6115 exposure for the church.

"That's all 25 questions. Take a breath. The next button generates your personalized 12-page report and emails it to you within about three minutes — and reveals your next-step options on this page."

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