Distilled: Church Finance Made Simple

Summary Your church may have good people, solid intentions, and trusted leaders, but that doesn’t always mean your financial systems are as protected as you think. In this episode of Distilled: Church Finance Made Simple , Dan and Kira talk with Nathan Davis from Capin Crouse about the financial controls churches often overlook. They unpack why healthy oversight requires more than trust, how separ...

Summary What if generosity isn’t really a money issue at all? In this episode of Distilled: Church Finance Made Simple , Dan, Kira, and Leo Sabo continue their conversation about financial discipleship and why churches should stop treating generosity primarily as fundraising. Leo challenges pastors to see stewardship as part of spiritual formation. When people understand that everything they have...

Summary Many churches treat money problems as financial problems—but Leo Sabo, President and CEO of Christian Stewardship Network, argues they’re often spiritual problems first. In part one of this conversation, Leo joins Dan and Kira to unpack the difference between financial education and financial discipleship . Teaching people how to budget, save, get out of debt, and invest is valuable, but t...

“If we just had more money, we could do more ministry.” It’s a common thought—but sometimes the real issue isn’t how much money is coming in. It’s where the money is already going. In this episode of Distilled: Church Finance Made Simple , Dan, Kira, and Morgan unpack how churches can unintentionally keep funding their history instead of their future. A ministry may have once been fruitful, but if...

Episode Summary If someone looked at your church’s spending from the past year, could they tell what your church cares about most? A church budget is more than a spreadsheet, an annual requirement, or a set of spending limits. It is a mission map—one that reveals whether your church’s dollars are genuinely supporting the vision God has given you. In this episode, Dan and Greg unpack eight common c...

Summary What should a healthy church budget actually look like? In this episode of Distilled , Dan and Greg unpack practical church budget percentages using Parable’s 90-70-10-10-10 framework . They explain why churches should budget with margin, how staffing and facility costs work together, and what healthy spending can look like across administration, ministry, and missions. But percentages are...

Episode Summary Church financial theft rarely begins with a mastermind and an elaborate scheme. More often, it starts with a trusted person, a financial pressure, and a system without enough accountability. In this episode of Distilled: Church Finance Made Simple , we unpack why trust alone is not a financial control—and how churches can protect their money, their people, and the generosity that f...

Summary: Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle can make church giving feel quick and easy—but convenience can come with hidden risks. In this episode, Dan and Greg from Parable unpack why peer-to-peer payment apps can create tangled bookkeeping, donor tracking issues, tax confusion, privacy concerns, and transparency gaps for churches. They also explain the difference between personal Venmo accounts and Venm...

Episode Summary In this episode of Distilled: Church Finance Made Simple , Kira and Morgan unpack 3 Mid-Year Church Money Moves That Could Make or Break the Year . The conversation walks church leaders through how to pause at the halfway point of the year, review giving trends, check cash health, and realign spending with ministry priorities. Instead of treating a mid-year financial review like a...

Summary Many pastors feel overwhelmed when they look at their church’s financial reports. Spreadsheets are full of unfamiliar categories, long account lists, and numbers that feel difficult to interpret. In this episode of Distilled: Church Finances Made Simple , Dan and Kira explain how church leaders can simplify financial oversight without becoming accountants. Instead of getting lost in compli...

Episode Summary In this episode of Distilled: Church Finance Made Simple , Kira and Dan unpack what it really means to move from “less math” to “more ministry.” Many pastors feel stuck managing finances instead of leading people, but the real issue isn’t just money, it’s a lack of clarity and systems. This conversation reframes church finances as a tool to fuel mission, not compete with it. By ali...

Episode Summary What can $18 billion in real church giving data teach us about generosity? In this episode of Distilled: Church Finance Made Simple , Kira and Dan sit down with DeWayne McNally from Mortarstone to unpack insights from one of the most comprehensive generosity studies ever conducted—spanning 661 churches, millions of households, and nearly $18 billion in donations. The data reveals a...

pisode Summary In this episode of Distilled, Kira Echeandia and Dan Pourbaix sit down with Craig Fatt from Injoy Stewardship to unpack a powerful framework for church generosity: the five seasons of church funding . Too often, churches operate in constant “harvest mode”—asking for giving without cultivating the culture that sustains it. Craig explains how healthy church funding follows a natural r...

Summary: Most pastors spend hours figuring out where ministry money should go, but almost zero time ensuring that money actually happens. In this episode of Distilled , Dan and Kira are joined by Craig Fatt from INJOY Stewardship Solutions to bridge the gap between "having a budget" and "having a funding plan". Craig reveals why a budget without a funding plan is like a "car without wheels" and wh...

Episode Summary:In this episode of Distilled Church Finance Made Simple, Dustin Alexander and Jim Sheppard of Generis discuss the critical role of high-level financial oversight in the church. The conversation highlights the value of a fractional CFO, who provides the "financial architecture" and long-term foresight that smaller or mid-sized churches often lack but cannot afford full-time. By leve...

Episode Summary:In this episode of Distilled: Church Finance Made Simple, we kick off a 3-part series with Jim Sheppard, Chairman and Principal of Generis, to unpack one of the most misunderstood roles in church leadership: the CFO.This conversation moves beyond spreadsheets and day-to-day accounting to explore financial foresight—how churches can build the financial architecture needed to support...

Episode Summary: This episode continues the conversation with Mark Venti of Overflow and Generosity University , addressing the common pastoral struggle of talking about money in the church, especially amid congregational skepticism. Mark Venti highlights that Jesus spoke about money frequently, emphasizing stewardship and giving as matters of the heart, not just financial literacy. To overcome fe...

This episode features Mark Venti of Overflow and Generosity University (Gen U) on why church giving often stalls. Mark, a former pastor, believes stagnant growth is due to low trust, pastors being hesitant to discuss money, and a lack of discipleship for younger generations. The solution involves a three-pronged approach: Teach biblical principles on giving. Bring in neutral voices (like financial...

Episode Summary: In this episode of Distilled , Dan and Kira sit down with DeWayne from MortarStone for the third and final conversation in their year-end giving series. Together, they unpack why nonprofits consistently outperform churches in year-end fundraising—and what church leaders can do to change that. DeWayne highlights the key differences: bold asks, impact-driven storytelling, and strong...

Episode Summary: This episode, featuring DeWayne from Mortarstone, focuses on why churches must segment their givers instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach. DeWayne explains that a giver's age, generation, and financial capacity—whether they're a top giver or someone giving their first $20—significantly changes their perspective and ability to give. Treating everyone the same can lead to di...

Episode Summary: Host Dan and Kira discuss the critical need for churches to start planning their year-end giving strategy immediately with Mortarstone's Chief of Staff, DeWayne McNally. The major challenge for churches is that their congregations are already receiving communications from nonprofits, which treat year-end giving as their "Super Bowl". Nonprofits are effective because they focus on...

Episode Summary: Budgeting doesn’t have to be a burden—it can be an act of discipleship. In this final conversation of our three-part series with Joseph Plagge from Martus Solutions, we explore the “head, heart, and hands” model of stewardship. Together, we unpack how budgets reflect priorities, how collaboration keeps teams engaged throughout the year, and why celebrating wins makes financial ste...

Episode Summary In this episode of Distilled , Kira and Dan welcome back Joseph Plagge from Martus Solutions to explore how church budgeting goes far beyond numbers—it’s a spiritual discipline rooted in stewardship. Together, they unpack why budgeting should be seen as an act of faithfulness and worship, not just an administrative task. By reframing budgets as tools for discipleship, pastors and l...

Episode Summary Budgeting season doesn’t have to feel like a plunge into the unknown. In this episode of Distilled , we sit down with Joseph Plagge from Martus Solutions to talk about how pastors and ministry leaders can move past the fear and frustration often associated with budgeting. Joseph shares practical ways to reframe budgeting from a dreaded spreadsheet exercise into a mission-driven opp...

Episode Summary In this episode of Distilled , Dan and Kira share insights from Parable’s 2025 Summer Church Finance Survey of over 300 churches. While most pastors believe their congregations trust their financial leadership, the survey revealed a major gap: churches rarely talk about money, disciple in generosity, or equip leaders to manage finances confidently. Dan and Kira discuss why finances...