Sally Wagenmaker is a founder and partner in the Chicago office of Wagenmaker & Oberly, a law firm serving churches and
other nonprofits that operate on local, national, and international levels. She provides legal counsel in corporate, tax, employment, and real estate matters for tax-exempt clients, including public charities, private foundations, and trade associations.

Wagenmaker’s clients include churches and other religious organizations, schools, and social service providers. Her law firm’s values are consistent with Proverbs 11:24-25, working to serve clients with trustworthiness, creative collaboration, cost efficiency, and mutual respect.

Wagenmaker engages with nonprofit leaders and other legal and tax professionals regularly through presentations, workshops, and conferences. She oversees and writes extensively on relevant nonprofit legal insights through her law firm’s blog. Wagenmaker has authored numerous articles related to federal tax exemption, religious liberty issues, state exemptions, nonprofit governance, and political advocacy.

Wagenmaker previously served as President of the Christian Legal Society. Both professionally and personally, Sally has worked and volunteered with numerous community organizations in her local community related to legal aid, health care, and conflict resolution centers.

Wagenmaker holds bar admissions in Illinois, Georgia, and Michigan, while serving clients out of her offices in Chicago, Illinois, and Grand Haven, Michigan, Wagenmaker earned her law degree from Emory University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from the University of Mississippi.

Sarah is one of six attorneys in the world to have earned the credentials Certified Professional Parliamentarian-Teacher and Professional Registered Parliamentarian. She helps boards, associations, churches, nonprofits, and public bodies navigate rules applicable to governance and business meetings. Sarah is the editor of the blog, The Law of Order: A Resource on Parliamentary Procedure & the Law, providing accessible answers to organizations’ most common questions.

Sarah became an Editorial Advisor for Church Law & Tax in 2018, and a Senior Editorial Advisor in 2020.

Lisa A. Runquist has more than 40 years of experience as a transactional lawyer, both with nonprofit organizations and business organizations. She has working knowledge of corporate law, securities law, franchise law, intellectual property law, employment law, tax law, and constitutional law (First Amendment).

Lisa graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1976. She was admitted to the Minnesota Bar in 1977 and the California Bar in 1978. Her firm, Runquist & Associates, is based in Northridge, California.

Lisa’s work has included forming, maintaining, merging, and dissolving organizations; writing contracts; negotiating; dealing with regulatory agencies; drafting securities offerings; advising clients; analyzing problems; and constructing solutions.

Lisa has served in numerous capacities for a variety of organizations, including adjunct professor at both Trinity Law School and Shiloh University; various committees with the California Bar; several councils and committees of the American Bar Association; and numerous director and board roles with several professional and educational organizations, such as the advisory board of The Exempt Organization Tax Review and the publications board of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section.

Throughout her career, Lisa has received numerous awards and honors and was the first person to receive both the “Outstanding Lawyer Award” and the “Vanguard Award” for lifetime achievement presented by the ABA’s Business Law Section. In 2011, Runquist was appointed by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) to serve on the legal experts panel for the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations, which was formed at the request of Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). She has been rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale Hubbell for more than 25 years, and she was selected in 2013 as a “Super Lawyer” for Southern California.

Lisa became an Editorial Advisor for Church Law & Tax in 2014, and a Senior Editorial Advisor in 2020.

Midgett S. Parker, Jr., began practicing law in 1985. He developed and refined his legal acumen in commercial real estate and business law while in private practice with law firms in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region. In February 2020, Midgett opened the Law Office of Midgett S. Parker, P.A., in Prince George’s County, Maryland

Midgett’s practice involves counseling clients on a variety issues ranging from government regulations to internal operations. He has led numerous land-use cases before local zoning officers, boards, commissions, and councils. Midgett has worked with government officials at federal, state, and local government levels on matters as diverse as tax legislation, affordable housing, and land-use regulations.

Midgett has provided legal counsel to business, church, and developer clients in land acquisition, land-use regulations, financing, construction contracts, and dispute resolution in the construction process. His involvement with churches and other religious institutions includes legal representation through zoning and subdivision; permits and interaction with building inspectors; acquisition contracts, loan negotiation, and refinancing; tax exemptions; arbitration of post construction claims; and final acceptance of the new facility. Midgett has earned and maintained for over 25 years the highest rating (AV) in Martindale-Hubble peer review for strong legal ability and ethical standards.

Midgett became an Editorial Advisor for Church Law & Tax in 2009, and a Senior Editorial Advisor in 2020.

Vonna Laue has worked with ministries and churches for more than 25 years. Vonna was a partner with a national CPA firm serving not-for-profit entities through audit, review, tax, and advisory services. She then held the role of executive vice president for a Christian ministry that works to enhance trust in the church and ministry community. Vonna now focuses her time on financial and operational consulting for churches and ministries.

Vonna became an editorial advisor for Church Law & Tax in 2009, and a Senior Editorial Advisor in 2020.

Vonna earned her B.S. degree from Black Hills State University and her MBA degree in leadership and human resource management from the University of Colorado. She has served on local and national boards and has published articles in multiple national publications as well as co-authored three books . In 2010, Vonna was inducted into The Church Network’s Church Management Hall of Fame. Her speaking experience includes a variety of regional and national conferences.

James F. Cobble, Jr., co-founded the Church Law & Tax Report and Church Finance Today print newsletters—the precursors to ChurchLawAndTax.com—in 1987 and 1993, respectively, and other related resources with Richard R. Hammar.

Jim received his master of divinity degree from McCormick Theological Seminary, and also holds doctoral degrees from both Princeton Theological Seminary and the University of Illinois. He combined his training as a pastor and educator with extensive research and writing in the field of church administration, writing or co-writing 20 books and receiving induction into the church management “hall of fame” by The Church Network. He is now retired.

Frank Sommerville is an attorney who served for about 30 years at 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 master’s degree 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.

Frank 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 brings more than thirty years of experience to bear in all his representations. Frank has served nonprofit institutions of all sizes as a bookkeeper, accountant, auditor, tax advisor and advocate, litigator, and legal advisor. He has represented many nonprofit organizations before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He also has represented nonprofit organizations under examination by the Texas attorney general.

Frank has presented seminars on nonprofit taxation since 1981. Due to his significant contributions to the church administration profession, Frank was inducted into The Church Network’s “Hall of Fame” in 2003. He contributed to PPC’s Nonprofit Tax & Governance Guide: Helping Organizations Comply (Thomson Reuters, 2011), and also served on the Panel of Legal Experts in 2011 to assist Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability’s Commission for Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations.

Frank became an Editorial Advisor for Church Law & Tax in 2009, and a Senior Editorial Advisor in 2020.

He is married to Elaine Sommerville, and they reside in Grand Prairie, Texas. Frank and Elaine have three daughters, one son, three sons-in-law, and four grandchildren. They are longtime members of Gospel Lighthouse Church in Dallas.

Elaine L. Sommerville is licensed as a certified public accountant by the State of Texas. She has worked in public accounting since 1985. Her practice has and continues to be centered primarily on the tax compliance aspects of nonprofit organizations and churches. She has assisted in the representation of several large case IRS exams as well as other IRS examinations of smaller organizations. Elaine devotes her time to handling various IRS issues for individuals and for exempt organizations of various types. She actively consults on many IRS compliance issues for churches and other nonprofit organizations and prepares information returns of all types for tax exempt organizations.

Elaine is the author of Church Compensation: From Strategic Plan to Compliance (Christianity Today, 2021).

Elaine holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accountancy and Information Systems from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. She is the sole shareholder of the CPA firm of Sommerville & Associates, P.C. Located in Arlington, Texas, the firm employs 10 staff members who provide tax, accounting, and consulting services to over 300 churches and nonprofit organizations.

Elaine’s CPA practice is not only centered on nonprofit organizations in areas of tax compliance, but she also has a passion for training those who work for churches and nonprofit organizations and those who work with churches and nonprofit organizations. She is a regular speaker for the Texas Society of CPAs, The Church Network, the Houston Church Coop, and she is an instructor for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA). As an instructor for the AICPA, she teaches eight-hour classes to other CPAs in areas of tax planning for nonprofit organizations and in the preparation of the Form 990. She is a contributing author to various publications produced by Christianity Today and by Thomson Reuters/PPC, including the PPC Nonprofit Tax and Governance Guide.

Elaine is a member of the AICPA, the Texas Society of CPAs, and The Church Network. She also serves on the board of Alive at Last, a ministry dedicated to rescuing young women out of the bondage of sex trafficking.

Elaine became an Editorial Advisor for Church Law & Tax in 2009, and a Senior Editorial Advisor in 2020.

She is married to Frank Sommerville, and they reside in Grand Prairie, Texas. Frank and Elaine have three daughters, one son, three sons-in-law, and four grandchildren. They are longtime members of Gospel Lighthouse Church in Dallas where they are frequent growth group leaders and Elaine serves in the worship ministry. When not consumed by work, church, and/or family, they make their way to Galveston to enjoy the beach.