Most Financial Speakers Have Never Read a Minister's W-2
Speaking on clergy compensation, taxation, and financial wellness — for the people who serve churches, and for the people they serve
Your attendees have sat through general financial talks before. Budgeting, debt, generosity — good material that skipped every part of a minister's situation that's actually different: the housing allowance, dual tax status, SECA, the decision about opting out of Social Security.
I only work with clergy finances. That's the whole practice, and it's the whole talk.
What Makes These Presentations Different
Conferences and gatherings
Denominational gatherings — annual conferences, synod assemblies, provincial councils
Judicatory events — diocesan clergy days, district meetings, presbytery gatherings
Clergy retreats and continuing education
Denominational foundations and benefits boards, including their church-administrator tracks
Church business administrator associations
Churches
Boards and staff — compensation sessions, payroll training, and the conversation most boards don't know how to start
Congregations — Sunday gatherings, adult education hours, men's and leadership groups, and anywhere a church wants to think about the people who serve it
What I Speak On
Every talk is built for the room it's given in. These are the frames that tend to work.
Formats and Fees
Published so you can budget without a phone call. These apply to conferences, judicatory events, denominational gatherings, and church board work.
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$2,000
Length: 45-75 minutes
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$1,200
Length: 60–90 minutes
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$2,500
Length: 3-4 hours
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$4,000
Length: 6-8 hours
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$1,500
Length: 60–120 minutes
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90 minutes, virtual, $1,500.
On-site half-day, $2,500.
Includes a written summary for your board's records.
If your board session follows a Payroll Health Check, it's included in the Compensation Correction engagement rather than booked separately.
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Professional presentation customized for your audience
All presentation materials and resources
Take-home tools and implementation guides
Follow-up resource library access
Travel within 2-hour drive radius
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Travel Expenses: Travel is billed separately for anything requiring a flight or an overnight — airfare, lodging, ground transport, and meals at cost. I'll estimate it before you commit.
Extended Engagement: Multiple sessions or days (custom pricing)
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Multiple sessions at one event — first session at full rate, additional sessions at 50%.
Same content delivered at a second location or date — 50% of the original engagement. The material is already built; you shouldn't pay twice for that.
Speaking at a Church
There's no fee for this one.
If you want me in front of your congregation — a Sunday morning, an adult education hour, a men's group, a leadership gathering — just ask. I'd rather be in the room.
Most churches have never once talked about what their pastor's financial life actually looks like. Not the salary number, which the budget committee already knows, but the parts nobody explains: that ministers are taxed under a set of rules written for no one else, that most pastors were never taught those rules, and that the person least able to raise the subject is the pastor himself.
That conversation belongs in the church, not in a conference center.
The only real constraint is travel. I can't absorb airfare and an overnight, so distance and format matter more than budget does. If you're beyond driving range, a virtual session usually works and costs nothing.
I don't pay for stage time.
Some conferences sell speaking slots as sponsorships. That's a legitimate business model and it isn't mine — the arrangement makes me a vendor addressing your attendees rather than a specialist teaching them, and the talk is worse for it. If a stage requires a sponsorship, we're not a fit.
Why Me
I do this work, not just talk about it. I prepare tax returns for ministers — that's the entire practice — and I review church payroll setups. The examples in a talk are things I found last month, not case studies from a book.
Twenty years inside churches. Worship director, board member, church treasurer. I've sat on the board side of a compensation conversation and I know how that room feels.
Recent and upcoming:
WatersEdge Church Finance Conference
UMC Dakotas-Minnesota
ACNA Clergy Financial Wellness Initiative
FAQs
How far in advance should we book?
Three to six months is comfortable. Shorter notice is often workable — ask.
Do you speak virtually?
Yes, and it works well for board sessions, administrator training, and congregational settings alike.
Can you customize for our denomination?
Yes, and it matters more than you'd think. Polity affects how housing allowances are designated, how pension systems work, and what your pastors are actually dealing with. Send me your context and the talk will reflect it.
Do you work with churches outside California?
Yes. The practice is national — most of my clients are in states I've never set foot in.
Do attendees get anything to take away?
Yes — handouts specific to the topic, plus access to the clergy tax tools on this site.
What do you need technically?
Projector and screen, a wireless mic for rooms over about fifty, and internet if the session includes live tool demonstration.
Are you available all year?
Tax season (February through April) is often fully committed. Anything in that window should be booked well ahead or scheduled for May onward.
What if we need to reschedule?
Ministry calendars move. Reasonable rescheduling is fine.
Let’s Talk About Your Event
Tell me who's in the room, what you're hoping they walk out with, and your dates. I'll tell you within a day whether I'm available and what it would cost.
