When I was a wee lad, I remember going to the store with my dad. He’d give me five bucks or so, and I’d walk around all wide-eyed to see what I could buy. My dad was pretty street wise and he’s always make sure to remind me to do two things.
First, he’d tell me to keep my money in my pocket. He believed that if I held it in my hand, some unscrupulous character would notice how much money I had and decide to steal it from me. Second, he made sure I could figure out how much change I had coming to me before I went to the register. That way, that swarthy teenager ringing up my purchase couldn’t short change me.
My dad was right and unfortunately times haven’t changed.
Most of you know that I’ve spent the last year and a half of my life planting a church. I found out the hard way that, just like some lowlifes have no problem stealing money from children, many people will also gladly take a baby church’s money and actually make a living out of it.
Last year, when I was looking for some help getting our church’s legal structure set up, I came across a website called www.start-your-own-church.com. It guaranteed to put us on sure legal footing and to get our 501c3 approval. I called the number on the site and spoke with a Mr. Abe Hernandez. I was really impressed! He claimed to be an attorney with years of church legal experience. He claimed he’d be available to me for any legal questions and that together we were going to get the church set up right.
I was sold! I immediately wrote him a check for almost $1,200 with the belief that he’d get right to work for me.
A strange thing happened though. As soon as the check cleared, he became difficult to get a hold of. Eventually, Mr. Hernandez provided us with a constitution and bylaws to start with and instructions for incorporating. He also sent me step by step instructions for preparing all the materials necessary for him to complete our 501c3 application. I was to follow the instructions and mail all materials to him so that he could do so. This is where his true intentions were revealed.
I mailed all the materials to him and waited. And waited and waited and waited. I called and received no answer and no return call. I emailed him and got no response. He never filed our application. He took the money and ran.
It gets worse! Several months later I finally gave up and called another company to take care of our legal setup. When I explained our situation to this new company, they asked me, “By any chance was the man’s name Abe Hernandez?” I said, “Yes.” They said, “Unfortunately, we get several calls a year from people who have ended up in the same situation.”
He steals from several church plants a year! Wow!
Please don’t misunderstand me. This is not “airing dirty laundry”. I’m a church planter and have several church planter friends. Every dollar is precious during this season. We operate on very little. I don’t want to see any other planters taken the way I was. Be warned! Abe Hernandez gets great Google search rankings when making relevant searches such as “church legal setup” or “church 501c3”.
The moral of the story for me and other church planters is DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Check the Better Business Bureau. I found out too late that Abe Hernandez’ www.start-your-own-church.com has an F rating from the Bureau.
I recently filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau hoping to recover a portion of our payment to Mr. Hernandez. I’m not very optimistic about it, but maybe I’ll be surprised.
It was an expensive lesson, but I’ve learned to be more careful with money. I’ve learned that a web presence and a great sales pitch mean very little. And I’ve learned that local is the way to go. Abe Hernandez lives in San Antonio, Texas. I can’t exactly show up at his office demanding a refund.
So what about you? What are some expensive lessons you’ve learned? I’d especially like to hear from you church planters out there!
Wow, he doesn’t even come up with aliases? Brazen!
Lee, please also contact the Illinois State’s Attorney’s office to file a complaint with them. On occasion they can take up cases like this. If he is an attorney, you can also contact the State Bar Association to file another complaint. If you have his address, you could sue him for non performance. What did he promise to do for you for how much, etc. Good luck!
Sorry to hear of your problem. As you know there are two basic kinds of churches – those who are part of a denomination and those who aren’t and there are advantages and disadvantages to both. As a church planter I have been shafted by both types so there is no way to totally avoid all issues because they both involve human beings. The issue you got burned with is one of the big disadvantages of being “independent” – “non-denominational” – having to do some of those significant legal matters on your own. Another major area when people misguide pastors of new or small churches is finances. One of those companies who are probably both Christian and legal but one I don’t listen to is Chitwood who I feel uses the fear factor to sell their services and products at higher than necessary prices – be careful. Then there are those who insist that churches don’t have to be incorporated, etc.
I will also be addressing some of these issues in “The Pastor”s Club,” a newsletter and website designed for pastors of churches who run under 100 people. More later.
What’s also sad is how similar his ‘business’ name is to startchurch.com – a firm I and several friends have used with very, very good results.
We’re using them now. Great organization!
I dont like startchurch, it was a bad experience for me
Hi Lee,
I say bless this man (Matthew 5:44)!! Thank you Jesus for designing and creating Abe Hernandez. Not only is it Jesus’s commandment – but think of all the ways his actions have benefited you, and thus your new church!
Through this you are learning to start a church, and you will probably meet lots of others who are doing the same. This $1200 is a good investment in the education you’ll need to help others.
I’m sure Mr. Hernandez’s actions have had the fruit of you spending more time with Jesus, and needing to trust in Him alone. While this was true from the beginning of your adventure, we need every reminder we can get, as severe as possible to place us back in 100% dependence on Jesus. Everything else is just kidding ourselves.
Matthew 6 is so awesome. The entire chapter is so perfect for these seasons, but especially verse 32 and 33 – “32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” If we seek His Kingdom and His righteousness, everything else falls into alignment.
George Mueller or the present day Jackie Pullinger are excellent examples of walking in faith verse 32. He will see your needs and provide.
As soon as we ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we started wanting to sit in the seat of judgment, and Adam and Eve knew their own evil first. It was never designed to be our seat.
Blessings on you and your new planting. And God bless Abe Hernandez!
Chris
I like this! Thanks Chris!
Chris- you’re crazy 🙂 but we love you
Can you email me with any pointers on how you made your website look like this , Id appreciate it!
I actually had a similar experience with this startchurch.com the one in Georgia! I paid them the $1200 and they never filed my 501(c)(3) status which we had decided not to do. And when I asked for my money back the refuse to refund my money for services that were not provided! Do not use these people they will rip you off! It’s a scam !If you educate yourself you’ll find out that the IRS already sees churches as 501(c)(3) tax-exempt you don’t need to be 501(c)(3) tax-exempt you already are and that’s the law on the IRS books! There’s a lot of good information at Alliance defending freedom.com. Whole thing behind the IRS 501(c)(3) is so that pastors will keep their mouth shut on political things so that they won’t influence people in political things so you better do your research! This is why the churchis in the mess it’s in today because most pastors are just plain cowards!
Really? StartChurch? and I was about to pay for their services.