Every Church Needs a Good Attorney.
Welcome to Gideon Law.
From churches to nonprofits, we provide top-tier legal counsel to help ensure your ministry or organization is protected, compliant, and prepared to handle legal challenges with confidence and clarity.
Our Services
We’re not just lawyers. We’re ministry-trained advocates who understand the weight of spiritual leadership.
Church Law
Churches face unique legal, governance, and ministry-related challenges. We serve as trusted general counsel to churches and ministries, providing practical legal guidance on governance, employment matters, property transactions, risk management, child protection, religious liberty, and regulatory compliance—helping pastors and church leaders protect their ministries while remaining focused on the mission God has entrusted to them.
Religious Nonprofits
Nonprofit organizations operate within an increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment. We partner with charitable organizations, ministries, and foundations to provide comprehensive legal counsel on governance, tax-exempt compliance, employment matters, fundraising, board responsibilities, contracts, and risk management—helping nonprofit leaders strengthen their organizations and advance their mission with confidence.
Private Schools
Christian schools face unique legal, operational, and regulatory challenges. We partner with private schools to provide practical legal counsel on governance, employment matters, student and parent policies, enrollment agreements, child protection, risk management, facilities, and regulatory compliance—helping school leaders create a safe, legally sound environment where students, families, and faculty can thrive.
Tax & Finance Services
Financial compliance is about more than accounting—it's about protecting your organization. Our Tax & Finance Division assists churches, nonprofits, schools, and businesses with IRS tax filings, Form 990 preparation, payroll compliance, quarterly and annual tax reporting, tax-exempt compliance, executive compensation, IRS audits and representation, and other complex tax matters—helping clients remain compliant, reduce risk, and focus on achieving their mission.
Curriculum Development
Strong educational programs require more than quality content—they require thoughtful structure and legal protection. We partner with churches, ministries, schools, and nonprofit organizations to develop curriculum, training materials, leadership resources, policy manuals, and educational programs while addressing intellectual property, licensing, and compliance considerations to ensure your content is both impactful and protected.
Corporate & Small Business Division
Whether launching a startup, acquiring an existing business, or managing an established company, we provide practical legal counsel for businesses of every size. From entity formation and contracts to employment, real estate, mergers and acquisitions, and ongoing general counsel services, we help business owners protect what they've built and position themselves for long-term success.
What’s at stake?
You didn’t accept the call into ministry to deal with lawsuits, power struggles, or disorganized operations. But if left unaddressed, these issues can cripple your church’s growth and effectiveness.
Why take action now?
5 likely holes in your church's legal structure
☐ Outdated Bylaws
☐ Absence of a Leadership Succession Plan
☐ Employee agreements that lack legal clarity or are nonexistent
☐ Lack of documentation and direction for major decisions
☐ Unclear financial oversight and weak policies
7 liabilities your church is ignoring
☐ Inadequate child safety or abuse prevention policies
☐ Current operations do not reflect current Bylaws
☐ No review of contracts or insurance policy in over 3 years
☐ Incomplete or missing 501(c)(3) compliance records
☐ Lack of cybersecurity or data privacy practices
☐ Paying staff “under the table” or irregular payroll
☐ Poor documentation of church discipline matters
5 signs of a stagnant leadership board
☐ Lifetime Appointments & Conflicts of Interest
☐ A lack of board roles, responsibilities, and direction
☐ Meetings are infrequent, unproductive, undocumented, or nonexistent
☐ Major decisions are made by one or two people without accountability
☐ Conflict is ignored rather than engaged
If you’ve checked even one item on this list, it's time to act.
"We are beyond grateful for the help from Miles & his team at Gideon Law Group in forming our 501(c)(3). Although I’m an attorney, creating faith-based non-profit organization was not in my wheelhouse. Miles gave us great advice, was very thorough, and most importantly, he got back to us in a timely manner. We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with Miles. It was an exceptional experience, and I’ve already recommended him to other friends forming non-profits!"
Natasha Hazlett
Founder, Gathering Table Ministries
Meet Your General Counsel
We’re not just lawyers. We’re ministry-trained advocates who understand the weight of spiritual leadership.
Our Team
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Miles Terry
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Michelle Terry
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Mark Goldfeder
Co-Founder & Senior Counsel
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Candice Armstrong
Senior Tax Counsel & CFO
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Harry G. Hutchison
Senior Policy Director
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Carrie L. Mincey
Of Counsel
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Steve Sedberry
Senior Corporate Counsel
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Chris Baker, Esq.
Of Counsel
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Erik Zimmerman
Of Counsel
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David Harris
Of Counsel
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Gerilyn Harris
Of Counsel
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Gayla McKenzie Arnold
Of Counsel
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Nick de Partee
Director of Marketing
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Brandon Chesbro
Director of Content
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Brian Hatcher
Director of Community Relations
T H E L A T E S T
From The Blog
FAQ
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Our practice is exclusively focused on church and religious nonprofit law. We provide general counsel services to pastors, churches, religious nonprofits, ministries, and religious private schools.
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As general counsel, our firm serves your ministry as its chief legal officer, or corporate counsel. We serve as your ministry’s main attorney and primary source of legal advice. We report directly to your board of directors or chief executive officer.
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All of our initial consultations are free. We meet with each prospective client to determine their immediate needs and we work with them to chart an individualized path forward.
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Our founding partner was in the ministry before he entered the legal field. Miles Terry was a youth pastor in college and has now spent the last 20 years working with some of the largest ministries and nonprofits in the country.
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Our attorneys have years of experience working in the field of law and religion, representing nonprofit organizations of all shapes and sizes. We also have broad experience working with international, federal, state, and local governments.
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Religious leaders today must fulfill many roles at one time, including pastor, marriage and grief counselor, executive administrator, office manager, and mediator. Oftentimes the daily toil of leading an organization prevents its executives from casting a vision for the future, not to mention ensuring that the organization, and its staff, are legally protected and secure.
We work these churches and ministries to establish policies and processes to identify issues before they arise for the protection of the organization, its leaders, and its people. Regular attention to the proper management of your organization will greatly decrease the likelihood that a crisis will disrupt your organizational well-being.
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For most of our clients, we offer monthly retainer options at a flat fee and capped amount per month. For others, we offer legal services on an hourly basis.
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We take a different approach to the practice of law, and that’s because of where we came from. We believe that the law is more than a profession. It’s a calling, just like yours.
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If your church or ministry is already represented by legal counsel, we must have your current attorney’s written permission before we are able to consult with you about the possibility of retaining our firm. We would love to meet with you and your current counsel, and typically find that we are able to supplement or complement the legal services you are already receiving.
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While some may want their churches to be big, Gideon Law Group wants your church to be healthy. We are concerned with the fundamentals of how your organization functions and how you are running it on a day-to-day basis. Let us help you with the foundation and leave the growth to God.
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As church law attorneys, we uniquely understand the challenges that churches and ministries face, and the areas where churches often get themselves into trouble. While almost any attorney can review a document for you, are they providing you with the oversight that is necessary to protect your specific organization from liability? You need an attorney who is looking ahead on your behalf to fix your problems before they arise.
When you retain our firm, we address the organization’s issues one by one. As attorneys who regularly work with churches and religious nonprofits, we take a different approach to the practice of law. We believe that the law is more than a profession. It’s a calling.
Get started with Gideon Law, today.
Connect with us.
Location
1718 General George Patton Dr, Brentwood, TN 37027
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 458
Franklin, Tennessee 37065