Spiritually-based
Capital Stewardship Campaigns
& Planning Services
Our Mission
Our Mission is Helping Your Christian Ministry to Grow.
Our Vision
Our scripturally based fund-raising methods work within your Christian tradition to grow your space, grow your giving, and grow your membership.
Denny Emrick
Team Leader
Since the early 1990s, Denny, a graduate of Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, PA, has been helping churches raise the necessary funds to support their ministries. He has served as a camp director, pastor, church planter, financial coach and has conducted annual stewardship campaigns, and capital stewardship campaigns in churches from St. Louis to Boston. He has provided consulting services to United Church of Christ, United Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Baptist churches.
Denny has a passion for helping churches fulfill their calling to ministry. Denny enjoys time with his wife and family, time on the lake in the Spring and in the woods in the Autumn.
He is a Dave Ramsey trained Financial Coach, and a coordinator for Financial Peace University.
Welcome to the United Church of Christ Team
We are committed to partnering with you to help grow your church. Whether you are:
- expanding or renovating your building,
- seeking new money to fund new ministry initiatives, or
- helping your congregation reach out to visitors,
Kirby-Smith Associates has a proven success record and can design a process to help you attain your goals.
We have experience with congregations in the Reformed and Congregational traditions.
Our services can help unite your congregation around a solid vision for ministry which will result in increased participation, offerings and capital funds.
In a changing climate of giving, we can make the difference between
“The feasibility study was a key component to our sense of accomplishment. It helped us listen to each other and make a close approximation of what we could expect as actual pledges to our capital campaign.”
– Pastor Greg Wolf
Kirby-Smith offers a full range of programs and services:
- Capital Campaigns
- Stewardship Training
- Annual Appeals
- Increased Offertory Program
- Feasibility Studies
- Church Growth Workshops
- Memorial and Gift Programs
- How to Be a More Welcoming Church
- Stewardship Through Education Program (STEP)
- Church Building Workshops
Recent United Church of Christ Team Clients
- Bern United Church of Christ, Leesport, PA
- New Goshenhoppen United Church of Christ, East Greenville, PA
- St. David's United Church of Christ, Hanover, PA
- St. John's United Church of Christ, Denver, PA
- Zwingli United Church of Christ, Souderton, PA
- Pensacola Beach Community Church, Pensacola Beach, FL
- Good Shepherd United Church of Church, Reading, PA
"...The Kirby-Smith approach to our financial needs produced far broader results than just monetary. The wonderful spirit of cooperation and pulling together, the excitement and energies of the scores of church members involved in the committees, activities, logistics, and events and those who made pledges, all contributed ultimately to building up ‘the body of Christ’ in our church."Rev. Dr. Robert J. Wright, Jr,, United congregational Church UCC, Tolland, CT