Know The State Of Your Church’s Legal Posture
— In 8 Minutes.

The reason this audit exists

Most churches don’t get sued because they did something wrong. They get sued because nobody had ever looked.

The kind of things that don’t show up until something triggers them

80% of church embezzlement cases trace to a single failure: no segregation of duties. 300 days is how long a former employee has to file an EEOC complaint after termination. 70% of church splits involve bylaws that don’t describe a clear removal process.

The 25-question audit is a quiet, eight-minute way to see whether anything in your church is sitting on a fault line, before the fault line moves. The audit doesn’t fix anything. It tells you, in writing, what’s there. Most pastors find one or two surprises. A few find a dozen. Either way, the report ends with three priority actions — what to do this week, what to do this month, and what to do this quarter.

“The audit doesn’t fix anything. It tells you, in writing, what’s there.”

Why I built this audit

My dad is 83. He still had to work.

The question I wish someone had asked my dad forty years ago

My dad is a faithful pastor. He raised six kids on a pastor’s salary, gave four decades to the same congregation, and never missed a Sunday. He also pastored a church that had never once had its legal posture reviewed. Bylaws from 1978. No housing-allowance designations on file. No D&O coverage. He didn’t know any of that. Nobody had ever told him to look.

When I went to law school and ended up as Chief Legal Officer at Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen Ministries — and later advised Joseph Prince Ministries, King Jesus Ministries, and Elevation Church — I learned that almost every pastor I served had a version of this. So I built the 25-question audit. Eight minutes. A 12-page report from me back to you. Free.

“The question I wish someone had asked my dad forty years ago: ‘Has anyone actually looked?’”

Domains 1 and 2 of the audit

Governance & Employment — Where Most Lawsuits Actually Come From

The two domains where most plaintiff cases against churches originate

Most churches that get sued are sued in these two domains. Bylaws that don’t describe a clear removal process. An employee who left under unclear circumstances. A board that has never reviewed its own filings. None of it looks like a problem until the day it does.

By then your insurance carrier is asking questions you don’t have answers to, plaintiff’s counsel is requesting documents you don’t have, and the board is in damage-control mode. The audit names what’s exposed before that day comes — while you can still do something quietly about it.

“None of it looks like a problem — until the day it does.”

Domains 3 and 4 of the audit

Finance, Tax, Property, and Intellectual Property — Where The Money Goes Sideways

The financial and IP domains where churches quietly leak the most money

This is where churches quietly hemorrhage. Housing-allowance designations missed or filed late. 1099 workers who legally should be W-2. Sermons, books, and online content with no clear ownership agreement. The IRS doesn’t send a warning. The state doesn’t either.

By the time the audit-letter or the 10-day demand-letter shows up, the meter has already been running for years. The audit shows you what’s already on the wrong side of the line — while you still have time to fix it on your own terms instead of theirs.

“The IRS doesn’t send a warning. The state doesn’t either.”

Domains 5 and 6 — and what you get back

Child Safety, Insurance, and Your 12-Page Personalized Report

The two domains every church thinks it has handled — until the call comes.

Child Safety. The single strongest legal defense in a child-safety claim is the 2-adult / 3-person rule, in writing, enforced. Its absence is the most-quoted institutional negligence in any complaint. Most churches assume they enforce it. Most don’t.

Insurance. Standard general-liability policies exclude sexual abuse and molestation. Most churches find that out the day after they need it. SAM coverage, sized to attendance, with a recent broker walkthrough — that’s the difference between a church that survives a claim and one that doesn’t.

Your Personalized 12-Page Report. Within minutes of finishing the 25 questions, you’ll receive a 12-page personalized report by email — risk score, executive summary, domain-by-domain detail, and the three priority actions (this week / this month / this quarter). Built by Regan VanSteenis — pastor’s daughter, 23 years of church legal counsel, 200+ churches served, $1B+ in church transactions — so you can forward it to your board chair without explaining anything.

“Most churches think they have it handled. Most don’t. The audit names it.”