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NEWSLETTER:
THE
CROSSVEXAMINER
A Church Law Quarterly For
Christian Leaders
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Dear
Friend and
Christian
Leader,
My name is
Abe Hernandez.
I've been a devoted disciple of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ for over 17 years.
My life and all that I am are defined by Him
and His mercy as I would be nowhere but for
the love and grace of God.
In May 1990, God allowed me to earn a law
degree from one of our nation's premier law
schools:
Boalt Hall School of Law at the University
of California, Berkeley.
I am currently licensed to practice law in
Texas
and
California.
And I
hold Bachelors
(1980) and
Masters (1986) degrees from St. Mary's University in
San Antonio, Texas.
As a Christian and native Texan, I
have often prayed for God's people
throughout Texas and contemplated ways of helping to
build the kingdom in my home state.
In early 1994, God called me to a very
unique ministry for which I am immensely
grateful:
STARTING,
ADVISING, SERVING AND PROTECTING CHRISTIAN
MINISTRIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA!
I began
by serving as
In-House Legal Counsel
of an international fellowship of
more than 500 Christian churches headquartered
in Los Angeles, where I had the privilege of
serving the Lord
for over 9 years.
Then,
God called me to take my talents higher and
train Christian leaders throughout America
how to: (1) start churches more quickly,
easily, at a much lower cost than ever
before, and with greater protections in
place; and (2) protect their current
ministries from an increasingly overzealous
and
litigious society.
The
result was four-fold:
 First,
my book entitled
Building On Faith:
Everything You Need To Know About Starting
Your Own Church
was first self-published in early 2004;
Second,
the formation of a Christian
publishing and consulting firm–SanTex
Investments, Inc.–that
markets
Building On Faith
and consults with church start-ups in all 50
states and the District of Columbia;
Third,
the launch of a multi-state law practice
headquartered in San Antonio, Texas–Abe
Hernandez & Associates–that
is dedicated primarily to serving Christian
ministries and faith-based organizations;
and
Fourth,
the
Jesus, Justice and Me
training seminar for legal
stewards of Christian churches. It provides
church leaders with important tools to
understand and identify risk, and implement strategies to protect
their ministries.
I have served churches and
faith-based nonprofits as an attorney,
advisor, counselor, mentor, therapist and
leader for over 25 years.
And
I've been privileged to serve the
Kingdom as
an attorney and advisor to churches for over
13 years now.
The experience and expertise that God has
allowed me to develop in serving churches is
quite extensive. As In-House Legal Counsel, among other
accomplishments, I helped build
risk-management structures that have held up
very impressively over the years.
I conducted many legal audits of
small (under 500 members) to mega-sized
(over 5,000 members) churches all over the
U.S., and I established
and wrote policies and procedures
on all
the most important issues to churches.
Through the years, I developed many workshops and seminars
to train church boards, officers, administrators, staff and
ministry personnel on nearly every legal,
business, employment and ecclesiastical issue
that impacted them.
I
oversaw the incorporation of the central organization, its mid-level
associations of churches, the local churches,
and their integrated auxiliaries and support organizations. And
I secured their 501c3 tax-exemptions,
including group exemptions.
In addition, I
supervised
the corporate,
tax,
intellectual property,
nonprofit
and church law work
over the fellowship's churches and
support organizations
worldwide.
Through the experience of helping to
plant many new churches throughout the
nation and the world over many years, I was
able to develop expertise in nearly every
area of law as it relates to and impacts
churches, ministers and faith-based
nonprofits.
As an attorney
in private practice, I've also worked in
civil litigation, corporate, tax,
intellectual property, non-profit,
employment and benefits, and SSI Disability.
I served as
a
Law Professor
of "Corporate Law" and "Legal Reasoning &
Writing" at a Los Angeles-area law school,
where I was also appointed
Associate Law School Dean
of Student Affairs.
As an L.A. County Bar member, I frequently served as
Judge Pro Tempore
in the Los Angeles
Superior Court system, which is the largest and most diverse judicial
district in the world.
And through the years, I've
represented numerous clients as
Pro Bono Counsel
as they sought to take
guardianship of children in crisis, adopt
children domestically and internationally,
secure state assistance for adoptive parents
of children with severe medical
complications, and other similar matters.
Prior to 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.
On a personal
note,
I'm privileged to be near my 87 year old mother and 10 brothers and
sisters. As well as many in-laws and countless nephews, nieces and
their spouses and children. My children are amazed and thrilled by the many cousins they have.
I come from a proud, patriotic American family.
A single mother and 11 rambunctious kids, all
grown with our own families now. We
are of Basque (northern Spain) and Mexican descent with Texan roots
that
extend for generations.
My two oldest brothers fought bravely in the
ground forces during Persian Gulf War I. And
each of them sent a child off to the war in
Iraq. We have countless family
members who have served and continue to
serve our country proudly and with
tremendous courage and sacrifice.
Through a humble Catholic
upbringing, my mother taught us to always love
and fear the Lord. And so, it was my destiny to search
for and find the one true God and to claim all
the promises of His salvation.
That happened in
California, where I was "born again" and baptized in the cold
waters of the San Francisco Bay. But
eventually, God led me back to Texas where
He called and enabled me to write
Building On
Faith
and serve the saints in new and
unprecedented ways.
I am privileged to continue this
wonderful ministry of serving Christian ministries and leaders, and
teaching them how to protect the ministries that God has entrusted
to them.
For all the good fruit this ministry may produce, I give all the glory
and honor to God!
Click here
to register now
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