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Matt Branaugh: We kind of consider it the ‘eat your vegetables’ side of ministry. No one loves to do it, but everyone should.

Karl Vaters: Hi, I'm Carl. I'm a small church pastor. And welcome to this episode of Can this Work at a Small Church? My guest today is Matt Branaugh, and the subject is current issues in church law and tax. Matt is an attorney at law and the content editor for Church Law and Lax. He has a wealth of experience that is so helpful for churches and ministers.

And in this conversation, Matt and I talk about some of the biggest recent issues in these important areas. You know, the things we hate to do, but need to do. But don't worry, Matt doesn't use geek speak so his advice is clear, understandable, and very applicable.

And don't forget to stick around when the interview is done. I'll come back with an overview of the content and an answer to the question: Can this work in a small church?

Well, welcome, Matt Branaugh, to the podcast today. Appreciate you being with us.

Matt Branaugh: Great. Thanks a lot, Pastor Karl. It’s really great to be here.

Karl Vaters: Thank you. Well, let's start by talking about you and what you actually do since you're not...Quite often we'll have pastors on this. You are not a pastor, but you provide a lot of great services for pastors and churches.

So how did you come to Church Law and Tax and what do you do there?

Matt Branaugh: Yeah. So I've been with CT since 2007, so just about 15 years. And prior to coming aboard, I was a business journalist. I worked in a daily newspaper environment. The opportunity to join CT could blend my journalism skills, my interest in business and administration,and it could also tap into my lifelong journey as someone who's been a part of the church. So it was a really nice intersection of those three things, and brought me to a point where I could join the CT ministry, which I had admired from afar from really an early age since, like, junior high. So effectively what the opportunity involved was for me to be an editor that would help our area devoted to church legal issues. So editing content through our newsletters or websites, and then through print and digital resources that really help churches and pastors navigate law issues, finance issues, tax, and risk management issues.

Karl Vaters: Yeah, you do the stuff that most pastors, not only do we not feel particularly adequate in it, but it gives us the heebie-jeebies every time we...it's like the third rail of the subway system. We don't even want to touch it, just can somebody else take care of all of this icky stuff for me, dealing with law and tax and everything else. But that is… Not only you, but Church Law and Tax are really one of the, maybe the preeminent of people doing that business within the United States of America, for sure. So yeah, you, you...Every time I see you, I feel better because it's like somebody else out there knows that, and if I run into something, I know a place I can go, which is really, to me, the great benefit that you provide for so many churches.