ChurchSafety

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• Who are the Ask the Experts?

Who are the Ask the Experts?

Michael Allison specializes in church law, ministry liability, and insurance issues that affect religious institutions. For the past 20 years, he has provided legal guidance to Brotherhood Mutual, the company's policyholders, and other religious organizations regarding ministry legal issues.

He was instrumental in helping develop Brotherhood Mutual's LegalAssistance program, an online resource for legal advice associated with liability issues, risk management, and potential lawsuits against churches. Michael joined Brotherhood Mutual in 1989, serving as litigation specialist and manager of casualty claims. Today, he oversees the company's legal, compliance, and research and development operations.

Michael is a licensed attorney in Indiana, a member of the Indiana State Bar Association, and a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter. He is an active member of the Insurance Institute of Indiana and has served as chairman of the trade association's legislative steering committee and as a member of the association's executive committee.

Mike E. Batts is the founder and managing shareholder of Batts, Morrison, Wales & Lee, P.A., a CPA firm dedicated exclusively to serving nonprofit organizations and their affiliates. He chairs the board of both the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) and The Master's Academy of Central Florida. Mike has led numerous discussions in national seminars, including the National Association of Church Business Administration, The Christian Leadership Alliance, the National Institute in Church Finance and Administration at Emory University, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and his firm's own annual Nonprofit Conference. He is active legislatively, both on the state and federal levels, having successfully drafted and lobbied for a number of changes to laws affecting nonprofit organizations.

Jack Crabtree joined Youth For Christ on Long Island in 1971. With more than three decades of involvement with teens, Jack brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to churchsafety.com. He has authored or contributed to 11 books, including his most recent title, Better Safe Than Sued (Youth Specialties/Zondervan).

Jack also serves as teaching pastor for Shelter Rock Church in Syosset, NY. Having pedaled 500 to 700 miles on more than 20 different bicycle trips with Youth For Christ/Campus Life Students, Jack Crabtree knows how to create safe mentoring relationships and carry out safe student ministry trips and activities.

Richard Hammar serves as legal counsel to the Assembly of God denomination. He is an attorney and CPA, specializing in legal and tax issues for churches and clergy. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is the author of more than 100 books, including the annual Church & Clergy Tax Guide, the Compensation Handbook for Church Staff, and his landmark work, Reducing the Risk: Keeping Your Ministry Safe from Child Sexual Abuse.

Richard also serves as senior editor of Church Law & Tax Report and Church Finance Today newsletters, and he is a frequent speaker at legal and tax conferences.

Vonna Laue joined Capin Crouse, a national auditing firm specializing in churches and nonprofits, in 1996. She is licensed as a California and Colorado CPA and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Society for Human Resource Management and the National Association of Church Business Administration. She serves clients including churches, colleges, universities, seminaries, mission organizations, and other nonprofit ministries.

Vonna has served in a variety of board roles for nonprofit organizations. She has written articles in national church business administration publications. Her speaking experience includes annual church seminars, semi-annual QuickBooks™ discussion groups, as well as the national conferences of the former Christian Management Association and the National Association of Church Business Administration.

Mike McCarty is the President of Safe Hiring Solutions LLC a global background screening firm headquartered in Danville, Indiana, with clients that range from large corporations to small not-for-profit organizations. Prior to founding Safe Hiring Solutions, Mike was a violent crime detective with the Metropolitan Police Department in Nashville, TN, where he was instrumental in the development and implementation of one of the largest community-based family violence investigative units in the United States. Mike has facilitated violence prevention training and consulting nationally and internationally to organizations such as:

• U.S. Homeland Security
• U.S. Department of Justice- Violence Against Women Office
• U.S. Department of Defense
• National Sheriff's Association
• Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
• National Center for Full Faith & Credit
• Plus, numerous other state, local, and private organizations.

Mike graduated from Wabash College with a B.A. in History and Psychology.

Elaine L. Sommerville is licensed as a certified public accountant by the State of Texas. She has worked in public accounting for the past 23 years, primarily focusing on tax compliance aspects of nonprofit organizations. Elaine currently devotes her time to handling various IRS issues for individuals and for exempt organizations of various types. She is currently the sole shareholder of the firm of Sommerville & Associates, P.C.

Elaine also has a passion for training individuals who work for and with nonprofit organizations. To this end, she is a regular speaker for the Christian Leadership Alliance, the Texas Society of CPAs, the National Association of Church Business Administrators, and she is an instructor for the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). She is a member of the AICPA, the Texas Society of CPAs, and the National Association of Church Business Administrators.

Frank Sommerville is a shareholder in the law firm of Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber, P.C. in Houston and Dallas, Texas. He received his Bachelor's degree in business from Texas Wesleyan University. He received his Masters in Professional Accounting with an emphasis on taxation from the University of Texas at Arlington. His law degree is from the University of Houston Law Center. He holds a license as a Certified Public Accountant. He is also Board Certified in Tax Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is rated AV (highest possible) by Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory.

Frank has presented seminars on nonprofit taxation since 1981. He regularly assists churches in preventing litigation, including those that originate with accusations of sexual misconduct. Due to his significant contributions to the church administration profession, he was inducted into the National Association for Church Business Administration Hall of Fame in 2003.

David Staal is the president of Kids Hope USA, an organization that seeks to reach and rescue a growing generation of at-risk kids by partnering local churches with nearby elementary schools. Formerly, he was the director of Promiseland, the children's ministry at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois, which involved 6,500 children and 4,000 volunteers and staff.

David is the author of the book Words Kids Need to Hear, as well as three other titles for parents and ministry leaders. He also served as spokesperson in the video training curriculum Reducing the Risk 3: Keeping Your Ministry Safe from Child Sexual Abuse (Christianity Today International, 2008), and he is the editor of Today's Children's Ministry newsletter and website www.todayschildrensministry.com, part of the Christianity Today International media family.

Kathleen Turpin is an employment law expert. She is the author of Working Together, A Guide to Employment Practices for Ministries, a guide that offers church and ministry leaders a wide-ranging overview of the legal issues to consider in hiring and managing employees, as well as sample policies to aid in the development of employee handbooks.

Kathleen is a licensed attorney in Indiana, a member of the Indiana State Bar Association, the Christian Legal Society, the Society of Human Resource Management, and a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter. She joined Brotherhood Mutual as a litigation specialist in 1996 and now oversees the company's employment and human resources operations.

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