Jack B. Straus, Jr.

About Nonprofit and Church Law - About The Editors

Jack Straus is an attorney who has a dual role at Pioneer Bible Translators in Dallas, Texas, as General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer. He has been an adjunct professor at Dallas Christian College where he taught National, State, and Local Government. He has been a speaker on tax and legal issues for nonprofit's at a number of churches and conferences, including the Christian Stewardship Association, North American Christian Convention, the National Missionary Convention, the Christian Legal Society, and both the Sixth and Seventh Annual Regional Faith Based Community Empowerment Conferences. He lectures at Dallas Christian College's professional development seminar on tax and legal issues for ministers and churches. And he has written articles for such diverse publications as the Christian Standard, The Lookout, the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association Journal, and the National Association of Church Business Administration Ledger.

Jack graduated from Emory University in 1977, and then the University of Georgia Law School in 1980. After working in the financial and estate planning area for a number of years, he became General Counsel for a real estate development company. Then, in 1987, Jack and his wife, Karen, started Mission Imports.

It started with a trip to Zambia with a team of missionaries and businessmen to discuss with Zambian officials their debt situation. As a result of that trip he came away seeing the need to create a vehicle that would provide both stable employment and foreign exchange earnings to countries like Zambia and at the same time provide an opportunity for bi-vocational missions. The result was the formation of an alternative trade company that designed and purchased handicrafts from groups in developing world countries.

Since its founding in 1987, Mission Imports went on to create full time or part time jobs for hundreds of artisans in numerous countries. It provided a bi-vocational missions platform for Jack and a number of associates. And through product purchases from groups in Honduras, Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Colombia, Zambia, Brazil, Haiti, Peru, Chile, and Russia, was able to channel millions of dollars back to artisans, both directly and indirectly. The company built a customer base of over 3,000 retail accounts in the United States (including such well-known retailers as Pier 1 Imports, Crate & Barrel, Walt Disney Co., and Eddie Bauer) with about 60 independent sales representatives. The company was sold at the end of 1996, at which point Jack moved back into the practice of law.

From 2001 to 2003, while continuing to maintain his private practice, Jack also served as the director of the Low Income Tax Clinic at Central Dallas Ministries L.A.W. Center (Legal Action Works). Jack serves as an elder at Valley View Christian Church in Dallas, TX, and is on the board of Carrollton Pony Baseball. He currently coaches both youth baseball and basketball. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, State Bar of Georgia, Christian Legal Society, and Dallas Bar Association.