Fletch Answers Your Salary Questions
Bring your salary questions. This special episode is devoted to the issues that you raise. Bring your biggest headache, the hardest question or a common issue. See if Fletch can answer it. Our money is […]
Compensation: A How-to from the Salary Guru
Fletch knows church salaries! He will walk you and Mike through how to set compensation for your church staff. This will feature the just released Salary Forecaster 2025. The Forecaster is free and has […]
Insights on Compensation & Inflation
Compensation has a huge question mark this year. With inflation and a changing economy, churches are wondering how to pay their staff. Tune in to learn about new high-level data that ChurchSalary has to offer […]
Compensation in 2022: Raises, Bonuses, Perks and Inflation
This year is a crazy year for compensation. Inflation is high and house prices are even higher! How can you give adequate raises to your staff? What bonuses and perks should you offer? Fletch and […]
Determining Staff Salaries & Benefits for 2021
Fletch, William and Sutton walk through the vital area of church compensation and benefits. In a difficult year, many churches have faced reorgs and/or budget cuts, which means compensation and benefits must be assessed as […]
How to Have Conversations about Church Salaries
Conversations about salaries are difficult, but they seem to be even more difficult in the church. Veteran executive pastor David Fletcher has over 35 years of experience with these types of conversations.
In this one-hour webinar, […]
Is Pastoral Compensation over $500,000 Excessive?
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Hey Fletch … no names or cities on this one … Few in our church know this and it might be disturbing to many if it leaked out. I just learned that […]
Bonuses for Staff
Monday, February 11, 2019
Hey Fletch … Can you give some thoughts about bonuses for staff? We are toying with the idea and don’t know what to make of it.
DRF—There isn’t must hard research data on […]
Asking for a Raise
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Hey Fletch … I’m in the process of asking for a raise. However I do not know what is appropriate for my job title, years of experience and location. I need to […]
House Down Payment for Pastors
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Hey Fletch … I was at the Smart Money for Church Salaries workshop in Washington DC. Michael Martin from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability suggested I ask you a […]
Excessive Compensation
Friday, November 16, 2018
Hey Fletch … When it comes to excess/unreasonable compensation, is this something to monitor on a per employee basis or an overall budget basis? I had someone tell me that the personnel […]
How to Determine a Salary at a New Church
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Hey Fletch … I am currently a pastor and am up for a new position at another church. I am going to have another interview with the Finance Committee soon and wonder […]
Gifts for Retiring Staff
Monday, October 8, 2018
Hey Fletch … We have had some long tenured staff who are going to retire. With previous people who have retired, we have awarded gifts in varying amounts from $3,000-$5,000 to retirees. […]
3.5% Raises Every Year
Friday, September 28, 2018
Hey Fletch … Our church has been giving annual raises every year for a long, long time. They are 3.5% for every staff person. The thinking is that everyone is doing hard […]
Need Help on Developing a Salary Matrix
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Hey Fletch … We are developing a salary matrix where each tier of employment has ranges from low to max. I have been working on this, but wanted to know if there […]
Fletch and Monty Kelso Talk on Retirement Income
Fletch and Monty Kelso shared a conversation about salaries and retirement. Monty is the President of SlingShot Group. Slingshot guides churches with staff searches and helps many with compensation issues. Fletch and Monty took a […]
Pastor Buying a House in an Expensive Location
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Hey Fletch … I’m really looking forward to the Smart Money for Church Salaries workshop! Perhaps you’ll cover this there, but can you share insight into how churches in affluent areas […]
Giving a Pastor a Sign-on Bonus?
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Hey Fletch … We are paying a pastor a sign-on bonus that has filed their 4361 and at the same time has a W4 with the church. What is the church’s responsibility when […]
How Do Pastors Pay Federal Tax?
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Hey Fletch … I’m new to working in a church and think that our business office got my taxes wrong. They said that federal law requires the church, as the employer, to […]
Smart Money for Church Salaries: Michale Martin Interviews Fletch
Salaries for pastors have unique challenges and quirks that need to be addressed. In this podcast, Michael Martin of ECFA interviews Fletch on this hot topic. Tune in to make sure your church obeys the law […]
What Others Say About Smart Money for Church Salaries
Dan Busby
President of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
Establishing a fair and legally compliant compensation structure for your church is critical—and it won’t happen by accident! The new, one-day XPastor Compensation Workshop […]
Does a Church Pay Social Security on a Pastor’s Salary?
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Hey Fletch … For a pastor that has been licensed by the Board of Elders, my assumption is that the church should not withhold any Social Security or Medicare tax, right?
DRF—This question […]
ECFA Podcast with Fletch on Salaries
The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability recently said, “XPastor to the Rescue with Church Salary Workshops.” Compensation can be a murky issue for churches. Few resources are available that are both approachable and accurate. Michael Martin, […]
Pay Staff to not Take Health Insurance
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Hey Fletch … Thanks again for such a great XP-Seminar. It is truly run with excellence and is so helpful to me. Here’s a quick question for you or whoever you […]
Compensation Survey Data
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Hey Fletch … I noticed that some of the data in XPastor’s Compensation Survey seems dated. I’m sure if you made a plea to all the XP viewers they would be […]
Worship Pastor Salaries
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Hey Fletch … Do you have any data on salaries for worship pastors or music directors? I’m interested in both full and part time.
DRF—There are a number of sources for salary data: […]
Key Salaries in a Church
Saturday, May 5
Hey Fletch … Where should I email the compensation survey questionnaire I filled out for you?
DRF—XPastor has a Compensation Guide available for $49. You can get a $15 discount if you submit […]
Scaling Wages As the Church Grows
Monday, March 5, 2018
Hey Fletch … I’m in a small church with a few part-time paid staff. We are hoping to grow them into full-time positions over the next 2 years, plus expand the staff. […]
Evaluating Senior Pastor Salaries
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Hey Fletch … I’m using the XPastor Compensation Survey. We are beginning the process of hiring a Senior Pastor and the Board is wanting to evaluate all salaries. We have some […]
Lifetime Salary from a Church
February 16, 2018
Hey Fletch … A guy just told me that he has a lifetime salary from his church. What are your thoughts about that kind of retirement plan?
DRF—In a GuideStone presentation at the […]
Am I Underpaid?
January 29, 2018
Hey Fletch … I’m trying to get a handle on my compensation. Is it fair? Am I underpaid? Please give some advice on comparable salaries for my role.
DRF—There are some great online tools […]
Salaries in the Pacific Northwest
January 22, 2018
Hey Prof … This is a hard question. Can you give me some guidance on what kind of salary I might expect as a Senior Pastor of a church in the Pacific Northwest? […]
Salary Grid Example
XPastor tries to help churches by providing some of the essentials for running a church—items like job descriptions, employment applications, review forms and policies. Below is a sample of a Salary Grid from a church […]
Staff Compensation
Determining how to compensate your church staff is not an easy task and we can easily find ourselves at one of two extremes. We can treat our church staff the same way many businesses treat […]
Before You Pay the Pastor
What should church leaders note before structuring compensation plans? Compensation planning for clergy and other church staff presents several unique tax issues that are not well understood by many church leaders and their advisers. Here are […]
Raises for Your Staff
At least once a year, you have the wonderful and terrible role of determining raises. Certainly it is wonderful. You have the opportunity to reward people for their hard work and great performance. I love […]
Salary Administration Plan
XPastor tries to help churches by providing some of the essentials for running a church—items like job descriptions, employment applications, review forms and policies. Below is the Salary Administration Plan for Kempsville Presbyterian Church of […]
Paying the XP: How Much is Enough?
Everybody struggles with it. Everybody seemingly wants more of it. So how much should we pay our church leaders? This article is drawn from the responses of 135 Executive Pastors about their base salary. Consider the following […]
Caesar Takes a Pastor’s Salary
Few issues are as misunderstood, abused and confused as the tax implications of a pastor’s salary. The issue is so different from compensation in the business world that some CPA’s have given errant advice to […]