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Alliance Defending Freedom General Counsel Kristen Wagoner has served local Assemblies of God churches, districts, and universities for many years. While remaining legal advisor at ADF, Wagoner will take on a new role: legal advisor to the Assemblies of God. Richard Hammar served faithfully in this post for 43 years. Hammar will officially retire in March 2022. Wagoner and the ADF team began assisting the GA in December 2021.

GROW IN AG

“My husband and I have had many connections with the Assemblies of God over the years,” Wagoner said. “This community has helped shape our vision of God, of His church, and of how we have raised our families. I am honored to continue to use my legal skills to serve the entire AG community in this new way. “

Wagoner has indeed a long-standing link with the Community. Wagoner’s parents Clint and LaVonne Behrends raised Kristen to Columbia Heights Assembly in Longview, Washington, and spent over 20 years there. Clint was Kristen’s principal at Columbia Heights Christian Academy and was an Associate Minister AG for almost 50 years.

Clint had a strong and profound influence on his daughter’s life. He urged Wagoner to discover and pursue God’s purpose for his life, reminding him that God calls everyone to do specific good works for his glory.

At a GA summer camp, Kristen felt a call to stand up for religious freedom and religious organizations as a lawyer. She has been pursuing this vocation since the age of 13.

Wagoner and her husband, Ben, got married while they were dating Northwestern University in Kirkland, Washington. Kristen and Ben both received their JDs from Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach. Kristen graduated with Distinction and worked for Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Sanders before joining a Seattle law firm, where she became a partner. Ben has primarily focused his legal practice in the areas of real estate and insurance.

Wagoner remained at the firm for 16 years, during which time she represented hundreds of religious organizations, including Northwest University and the AG’s Northwestern Department Network, gaining experience in various fields including employment, education, non-profit organizations and constitutional law. Wagoner attended AG churches most of his life, including nearly 17 years at Cedar Park Church in Bothell, Washington, where Clint was principal of the school and associate pastor until his retirement in 2019.

FIRST MODIFICATION LITIGATION

Wagoner oversees much of ADF’s work. Alliance Defending Freedom is the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, freedom of expression, parental rights, and the sanctity of life and marriage. It has offices around the world and more than 400 employees. In the past 10 years, ADF has won 13 US Supreme Court victories. All of these victories have had an impact on the freedom of religious organizations such as the GA. Wagoner has played a leading role in some of the country’s most difficult religious freedom issues and will continue to do so.

Several years ago, ADF launched the Church and Ministry Alliance Program, which provides certain legal services to religious organizations as they navigate a more complex legal environment. GA churches and local districts have benefited from the program, which now has around 3,500 religious organizations among its members.

“The right to live out our faith in public and in private faces significant threats at home and abroad,” Wagoner said. “One of America’s greatest contributions to the world has been its commitment to religious freedom and free speech. Not only do these freedoms help us share the Good News, but they are closely linked to other fundamental freedoms. Countries without religious freedom experience more poverty, war and violence and less freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and economic freedom.

“The loss of these freedoms not only impacts our right to testify, but it causes great human suffering. We must continue to protect the right of the church as an institution and the right of those who are part of the church to express and live their faith. in their everyday life, ”she continued.

Of the ADF’s 12 Supreme Court victories under Wagoner’s watch, she herself backed two. Wagoner successfully argued before the Court in the high-profile case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled in 2018. In a 7-2 decision, the judges ruled in favor of Masterpiece Cakeshop’s Jack Phillips, saying Colorado was wrong to express hostility to Jack’s religious beliefs regarding marriage. The precedent has been cited over 1,000 times in legal publications, opinions and briefs.

She also recently argued and won Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski by an 8-1 vote in the country’s highest court. The ruling, released in March 2021, involved student Chike Uzuegbunam’s right to share his faith on the campus of Georgia Gwinnett College, a public college in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

LAW AS THE FUNCTIONING OF THE KINGDOM

ADF’s mission is to keep the door open for the Gospel. Wagoner sees ADF’s role with the GA as part of this mission.

“We all have a role to play as the Body of Christ, whether we are raising our families in the church, whether we serve as pastors and deacons, and yes, even as lawyers,” said Wagoner. “I was so inspired by the GA’s uncompromising commitment to the beauty and truth of the gospel and to the ethnic diversity within our church. In my opinion, the legal department exists to help church leaders follow God’s direction while maintaining best legal practices. Not only does this work have eternal consequences, it also has temporal results in building strong families and promoting human flourishing within the church body.

Wagoner maintains that American Christians face unprecedented opposition to the gospel, but she is more optimistic than ever.

“The church has endured and will endure regardless of the cultural moment in which we live. And God trusted us enough to choose us to follow him in this season. It’s inspiring, ”Wagoner said. “My hope is that the GA will continue to make disciples who will live a vibrant faith with great courage and be revealers of the truth, those who understand the truth and share it with love and compassion in a world where the basic notion is truth is invoked. question by powerful forces. God accompanies us, but he expects us to go.”

Hammar, widely regarded as an expert in church tax problems, is the lawyer of his successor.

“When I thought about who I would want to take over as legal counsel, there were very few who seemed capable of doing the job,” says Hammar. “But Kristen was one of them, she’ll do just fine.”

General superintendent Doug clay is also confident.

“In our constantly evolving contentious society, it was important for me to make a success of this transition, both to build on the foundations of our past left by Rich Hammar and to position the General Council for our legal future”, Clay said.

Wagoner, who taught from Hammar’s texts for many years as an assistant professor at Northwestern University, says she has enjoyed learning from Hammar over the years.

“Rich dedicated his vocational life to the Assemblies of God and the larger Body of Christ. His legal writings have helped thousands of churches and religious organizations, if not millions, ”Wagoner said. “He demonstrated that lawyers have a role to play in helping the Church fulfill her mission and her love for God, and the Church has undoubtedly moved the gospel forward. He modeled what it means to follow God’s call wherever it leads.