Curtis D. Sharp
Officer for Denominational and Public Relations
214-720-2127
Curt.Sharp@GuideStone.org

GuideStone Unveils New Online Planning Financial Support Presentation

August 1, 2006

DALLAS – GuideStone Financial Resources has unveiled an online Planning Financial Support presentation, aimed at church personnel and finance committees.

The presentation, along with a workbook by the same name, is a free resource GuideStone makes available to churches and ministries.

“We want to help our churches in planning their staff members’ compensation packages,” said Chris Elkins, an area director in Financial Solutions and Services — Churches. “Sometimes a church tries to pay its pastor in a lump-sum, or ‘package’ approach. That forces a pastor to absorb ministry expenses into his income, cutting his take-home pay.

“Our goal with this new presentation is to help churches provide for their pastors in a comprehensive, holistic manner.”

The presentation’s launch comes on the heels of the release of the 2006 SBC Compensation Study, which showed the average salary and housing allowance for full-time Southern Baptist pastors was $49,952, an increase of 7.4 percent since 2004. Income statistics for other positions, including bivocational pastors, support staff members and other positions are also reported in the bi-annual compensation study.

These resources are helpful for churches large and small in preparing their budgets and in preparation to call a new pastor. The compensation study, the Planning Financial Support presentation (flash) and the Planning Financial Support workbook (pdf), can all be found online or by calling GuideStone at 1-888-98-GUIDE (1-888-984-8433).

Word version - GuideStone unveils new online Planning Financial Support presentation