How Much to Pay a Visiting or Fill-In Preacher

A friend of mine called today and said he had been invited to fill-in at a church that is currently without a pastor. The church is four hours away from his home. When he asked them what they paid a visiting preacher, they said $150.

My friend couldn't believe it. All the preparation, the sermon itself, and all the driving (not to mention the wear and tear on his vehicle) for $150!

Let's calculate how much that is an hour. Let's say it took 10 hours to get the sermon ready (reasonable for a seasoned preacher), plus 8 hours of driving, plus 2 hours at the church (greeting, sermon, discussion after). That's 20 hours total.

Now, divide that into $150, and what do you get? $7.50 per hour. That's a little more than half the $13.27 earned by the average McDonald's worker [1] and just above the $7.25 national minimum wage (which was set 16 years ago!).

To his credit, my friend explained the time involved for men of God such as him, rebuked the church for carrying on this way, and declined the offer. Well done on his part.

An Ingrained Part of Church Culture

Unfortunately, my friend's experience is typical of many churches, particularly the smaller ones. I've been paid similar amounts to fill-in, and even less ($100 on several occasions; although they did not involve lengthy travel).

This is wrong, it is insulting, and it only makes rebuilding these types of smaller churches that much more difficult.

What should we pay?

I will not explain why this is inconsistent with the Bible's teaching about honoring those who labor in the Word. I will save that for another article. Here, I simply want to give some rules of thumb for determining what to pay a visiting or fill-in preacher.

1. Pay him $30/hour for every hour of his time, including 2 hours on site for the message (greeting, message, discussion afterwards) and 10 hours sermon prep. This rate is still well below the average salary of a white collar manager of $40-50/hour, but is much more in line with his worth.[2]

   
   

2. Pay him at least $20/hour for his travel time. Some companies pay a partial rate when employees travel, while others pay the full rate. At the low-end, churches should pay a healthy partial rate.
   

3. Cover lodging and food costs for him and his wife if he stays overnight. You can offer this as a set amount, $150 per night for the hotel and $50 per day for food, for example. He should not have to cover this cost himself.

Sample Calculations

Scenario 1: The pastor is local and preaches the Sunday morning sermon only

Pay Item	Amount
Prep: 10 hours x $30/hour	$300
On Site: 2 hours x $30/hour	$60
Total Pay	$360

Scenario 2: The pastor is 2 hours away and preaches Sunday morning only

Pay Item	Amount
Prep: 10 hours x $30/hour	$300
On Site: 4 hours round trip x $30/hour	$120
Travel: 4 hours x $20/hour	$80
Total Pay	$500

Scenario 3: The pastor is 4 hours away and must stay overnight

Pay Item	Amount
Prep: 10 hours x $30/hour	$300
On Site: 2 hours x $30/hour	$60
Travel: 8 hours round trip x $20/hour	$160
Lodging and Food: 1 night/day with wife	$200
TOTAL PAY	$720

This sound like too much?

If this sounds like too much, you are not fully accounting for what a man of God must do, the value of his time, or the costs of travel to your church.

This is not 1980. It is expensive to live, and you must pay a fair rate to get the time and value of qualified people, like a man who preaches God's Word.

Notes:

[1] "McDonalds Restaurant Salary," Zip Recruiter. Accessed 12/22/25. https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Mcdonalds-Restaurant-Salary

[2] Manager Salaries, Glass Door. Accessed 12/22/25. https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/manager-salary-SRCH_KO0,7.htm