Mr. Tom Turner, who led the Living Church of God’s Legal and Risk Management Department for more than 20 years, wrote in the May-June 1999 issue of the Living Church News that “prudently addressing and managing the organization’s risk exposures allows the Work to move forward unimpeded, by avoiding the unnecessary and costly delays brought about by unprepared-for risks becoming reality.” No doubt Mr. Turner would be pleased to know that the Legal and Risk Management Department (L&R), now led by Mr. Dexter Wakefield and staffed by Jill Ewers, Mrs. Eva Veronese, and Mrs. Maranda Pirotte, remains a bulwark against the many legal complications that could otherwise undermine the Church’s mission.
We at the Living Church News recently had the pleasure of interviewing L&R to find out more about how this essential department works to protect God’s Church. We hope you enjoy reading their valuable perspectives—and that doing so gives you an even greater appreciation for their vital work!
Protecting the Church
As Mr. Turner wrote decades ago, protecting the Church so that it can continue to accomplish the Work it has been given is the key responsibility of L&R—and such a task requires both strong leadership and tireless support. Thankfully, the ladies of L&R are “diligent, knowledgeable, smart, and well-trained,” says Mr. Wakefield.
Providing legal protection to the Church is no simple task, and it involves virtually every aspect of preaching the Gospel and feeding the flock—including something as fundamental as where to meet for Sabbath services. One of the many areas in which L&R is involved is contract review. “We spend a lot of time on that,” says Mr. Wakefield. “Every contract—from the halls to all the vendors—has to be reviewed and signed off.”
Risk management involves insurance and is “another major activity,” Mr. Wakefield says. This includes “health insurance, liability, automobile insurance, and things of that nature. All those policies have to be negotiated to ensure we have the coverages we want. One of the most difficult things we face is the cost of insurance.”
This is one of several areas in which Mr. Wakefield is grateful for the help of his administrative assistant, Mrs. Eva Veronese. “I am responsible for maintaining all of the Church’s insurance policies,” she reports, “from policy and coverage renewal and acquisition, to claims.”
But this barely scratches the surface. “Another big activity is corporate documentation and management,” Mr. Wakefield continues. Many are not aware of how many corporate entities are necessary to maintain the Church’s international reach, both in preaching the Gospel and feeding the flock. “We oversee more than 25 entities,” says Mr. Wakefield, “and we’re forming more all the time. We’re in the process of forming a couple of new organizations in Africa right now. The situation there can change quite a bit, because local laws are changing. We’re adjusting our operations to handle that.”
Mrs. Veronese’s assistance again proves essential in this regard. “One of my primary roles is to help fulfill the corporate requirements and needs of our international companies and to assist in the formation of new entities,” she explains, “all of which need to remain compliant with the laws of the nations in which they operate—from required corporate and financial meetings and filings, to employment practices, to customs requirements, to banking, to media and privacy policies—and the list goes on.”
The broad mission of the L&R team requires each member to have a wide range of knowledge. Describing her role in the department, Mrs. Maranda Pirotte says that administrative support is her primary function, “particularly in the areas of copyright and trademarks, visa matters, data privacy, and security,” but every member of the team is cross-trained to fill a multitude of departmental needs.
“Often, our projects or initiatives result from a change in legislation or the identification of a risk,” says Mrs. Pirotte. “One major project our department faced was the [European Union’s] introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),” which affects every organization that processes information about EU residents, no matter the location of the organization itself. “Today, I continue to help monitor updates to GDPR and associated legislation, as well as assist our Data Privacy Managers with ensuring our data usage remains in compliance with our policies.”
“We also handle trademark compliance,” Mr. Wakefield continues. “Immigration issues come up, too. When we have students coming in from another country, there’s lots of activity.”
L&R is devoted not only to protecting the Church, but also to helping its members. International grant assistance is a major avenue by which it provides that help. “This is something I really enjoy,” Mr. Wakefield says, “because we get to give away money. The grants have to be extremely precise to be legally compliant. We review them not only for their legal aspects but also for financial details—I am also Treasurer and Vice President of Finance, which helps the Finance and Legal departments collaborate to finalize these.”
As Mr. Wakefield wrote in this year’s May-June Living Church News, God’s people are dedicated to the giving way of life, and another way L&R helps the Church put that way into practice is by ensuring disaster-relief compliance. “Whenever a hurricane approaches the Gulf Coast, we prepare in advance,” says Mr. Wakefield by way of example. “Pastors have a certain amount of authority to help with immediate needs, but anything beyond that has to go through a process for grants. For international disasters, we have a separate process to ensure regulatory compliance before sending assistance.” Without the work of L&R, the Church’s attempts to provide monetary aid could hurt more than help!
Challenges and Risks
L&R also assists Church members with navigating some of the challenges that naturally arise from keeping God’s law in man’s world, meeting one such challenge by giving advice and documentation that can be helpful to members who must take time off from work or school to keep God’s Sabbath and Holy Days. “In the U.S., we often aid our adherents in navigating conscientious objection to military service, jury duty, or religious discrimination,” adds Mrs. Veronese. “We also have to use caution in the words used to preach the Gospel in certain areas of the world so that we are able to continue to distribute literature and air the telecasts.” As part of this caution, Mr. Wakefield reviews Church literature before publication (including this very magazine!) and every sermon considered for online release.
As the name would imply, Risk Management is an essential part of L&R’s work. “On the Risk Management side,” says Mrs. Veronese, “I am responsible for making sure that our U.S. and International camps and Feast sites are compliant with all country-specific and U.S.-state-specific safety regulations and that all activities are approved for insurance purposes. I also help to process certain contracts and permits.”
For God’s Church to carry out His Work, staying in line with government regulations isn’t just helpful—it’s essential. “We are to respect the governing authorities,” says Mr. Wakefield, “So, we’re very careful to stay well within compliance requirements. It’s very important that people know that.”
In a world where even meeting for Sabbath services can be met with hostility, the importance of L&R’s work cannot be overstated. “It is a real challenge for brethren to even meet for services in some international areas due to lack of safety and due to prohibitions of religious worship,” says Mrs. Veronese. “We are often tasked with finding ways to help in these situations. In some cases, it has even been necessary to alter the registered name or status of an entity in order to avoid restrictions.”
If all of this sounds complicated, that’s because it is. “One of the biggest challenges is the perception that L&R is a department that makes the operation of certain activities or actions rather inconvenient,” Mrs. Veronese adds. “We always hope that everyone understands the complexity of our responsibility to keep the Church insurable and safe from litigation—or even closure.”
A Rewarding and Crucial Role
By now, it should come as no surprise that working in L&R can be stressful. However, the team finds the work rewarding, knowing how important it is to the ongoing mission of the Church. For Mrs. Pirotte, “the most rewarding part of working in this department is helping find solutions that keep the Church legally compliant in the many jurisdictions where it operates and mitigate its risks, while supporting the needs of the field and other departments.”
Mrs. Veronese finds fulfillment in “working with and getting to know the men and women in various parts of the world—mostly volunteers—who keep the Work growing and prospering despite the hardships they encounter.”
Mr. Wakefield reiterates that he enjoys the process of international grant assistance. “Giving away funds to support the Church’s efforts and ministry around the world is rewarding,” he says. “Disaster relief is also fulfilling. We disperse quite a bit of our funds in a helpful and controlled way. When we have a chance to help people, it has to be done exactly right, but we are able to make a difference.”
The Legal and Risk Management Department is small, but God works through it mightily to protect His Church from many perils. We are certainly grateful for the L&R team’s willingness to spend some time with us, and we can all pray that God continues to bless its invaluable efforts to keep the Work moving forward!