Win a $1,500 Salary Study

XPastor is about to cross over another billion dollar mark in church budgets in the Salary Forecaster. If you submit your data to the Salary Forecaster, and it is the one that crosses the next billion dollar mark, you will get a free $1,500 Salary Study! Help put us over the next benchmark and be a winner with us. To enter, all you have to do is submit a Salary Forecaster.

Using XPastor resources, you can do a compensation study on your own. Around the country, salaries and benefits are 54.7% of church budgets. This area deserves your best attention. Because of the time and complexity, many turn to Fletch for help.

  • Church Boards often want an outside expert to give impartial advice.
  • SPs, XPs and HR Directors see that it saves money and time for a recognized leader like Fletch to do the research.
  • Churches should have an independent study when they have highly compensated employees—the IRS defines this as base salaries above $150,000.

There are three levels of reports that begin at $1,500 and are completed in 10-14 days:

Small Study—1 to 4 key staff with a 12-16 page report
Medium Study—5-19 staff with a 17-30 page report
Large Study—20+ staff with a 31+ page report

Fletch’s work is based on his book that was thoroughly reviewed by four Certified Public Accountants of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

Contact Fletch for a Zoom call to determine your needs

Church-centric Compensation Studies

XPastor has a unique Compensation Study format that gives maximum data with high readability. Fletch was an XP in large churches for decades. He knows how church leaders think, what kind of information they want to see, and how to present cogent information to a church board.

In your custom crafted report, discover 6 essential elements

  1. Local Schools—See comparable salaries from your local schools. Fletch developed this style and it gives insightful data from your local community. It shows locally negotiated salaries that often match church salaries.
  2. Local Costs—Discover your local cost of living from the Living Wage Calculator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. How much does it cost to live for a family of two adults, one working, with two kids?
  3. National Databases—Have assurance from local and national church salary databases. Fletch uses ChurchSalary.com and the XPastor Salary Forecaster. The Forecaster gives him deep insight into billions of dollars of church budgets.
  4. Graphic Results—in bell charts and normal distribution tables for 4 key staff.
  5. 50 Similar Salaries—compare actual salaries for 4 key staff. Virtually no one else gives this! See the real number of various churches with church size. For SP & XP, see the church budget numbers as well.
  6. Salary Grid—Receive a Quad Compensation Grid for all staff in the study. This is ready for your board to vibrantly discuss and hopefully approve.

Some churches need more than a study, they require a Compensation Analysis. This provides:

  • The above 6 aspects of an XPastor study.
  • A top to bottom look at pastoral, managerial and non-exempt salaries and church issues.
  • It defines and documents who is a pastor or commissioned ministry director, who can opt out of Social Security, and FICA & SECA issues.
  • It examines ministerial issues, including extremely beneficial but less known rules and regulations.
  • All staff salaries are examined.
  • Fletch reviews job descriptions for ministerial compliance and the church constitution for process issues.
  • Recent budgets are used to understand the percent of salary and benefits to budget.
  • A Big Burrito is created of total compensation for each staff member.
  • Recommendations are given on salary and salary-related issues.

Contact Fletch if you desire a complete examination of your salary structure and rationale in an 80-100+ page report on salient issues.

What Are XPastor’s 6 Essential Compensation Elements?

1. Local Schools

See comparable salaries from your local schools. Research is done on your local school district.

From a recent compensation study …

In the School District, Executive Directors and High School Principals, earn from $130,000 to $175,000. High School Assistant Principals, earn from $88,000 to $125,00.

The Senior Pastor earns a comparable salary to a High School Principal. The Executive Pastor earns comparable to a High School Assistant Principal. This is common in churches of similar budget sizes around the nation.

The School District pays teachers from $61,000 to $84,000.

The Staff Pastors earn a comparable salary to a High School Teacher. This is common in churches around the nation.

2. Local Costs

Do you know how much it costs to live in your community?

From a recent Compensation Study …

The Living Wage Calculator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrote that a family in one U.S. county with two adults, one working, with two children needs $42.40 per hour. This comes to $88,192 annually for 2024.

3. National Databases

Have assurance from two top-tier church salary databases. ChurchSalary.com is used and it tracks 18 positions. The XPastor’s Salary Forecaster tracks 58 positions.

The Salary Forecaster provides billions of dollars of church salary information. This is sifted and culled to fit your congregation’s size and budget. See below for examples of the charts, tables and actual salaries.

4. Graphic Results

See your results in easy to read formats. Standard Deviation Tables show a tabulated result of 50 points of data from similar churches. Your numbers will differ from this sample church due to your location, size, budget and pay scales.

Bell Charts visualize the range of salaries for key staff. The blue line is the salary of the selected staff member.

5. 50 Similar Salaries

From the Salary Forecaster, salaries are culled from thousands of positions. This allows you to compare 50 similar salaries for 4 key staff.

Virtually no one else gives this! See the actual salaries, area of the country and church size. For SP & XP salaries, church budget is also included.

From a recent Compensation Study …

6. Salary Grid

Receive a Quad Compensation Grid for all staff in the study. This is the apex of what you need. It provides the basis for the next 3 years of possible raises.

The Quads are ready for your board to have a vibrant discussion that is based on solid research.

From a recent Compensation Study …

Get Started with a Church-centric Approach

Contact Fletch for a Zoom call to determine your needs

Get your custom crafted report.

Discover the 6 essential elements for your church compensation.

  • Prices start at $1,500 for the 12-16 page report.

  • Most reports are completed in 10-14 days.

  • Save time and money by using an expert to help your church!

Comments on Fletch’s work

Breadth of Information

I appreciate the breadth of information and know it will be used. It was a delight to work with you and I expect my replacement will continue working with you in the future.

Vickie Bray, Director of Human Resources, Stonebriar Church

Integrity Quotient

A third-party compensation study increases the integrity quotient of your church, so that people don’t think the staff are setting their own salaries.

Keith Duff, Executive Pastor, Village Bible Church

Confidence in Decisions

The compensation discussion was succinct, data based, and meaningful. The best part is that we quickly gained agreement and left the meeting confident that we had made the right decision. In the past, compensation discussions were often lengthy, filled with opinions rather than data, and not characterized by confidence.

Elder, Presbyterian Church in the Southwest

Read more …