CFS - Serves

CFS Serves Clients Of All Denominations
by: Fred Seeling

Clergy Financial Services was incorporated in May 1995 (as an S-corporation) to help clergy of all religions prepare for this world's financial realities.

Rev. Charles Fry (who co-founded CFS with Wayne Barrett, currently president) said that their original mission was to help clergy "become better ministers to Jesus Christ" by helping them secure their own financial futures. But then he quips that they had to change "Jesus Christ" to "God" when several rabbis became clients.

Fry does his clients taxes on professional tax preparers' software that allows him to download various tax forms from different states.

Eloise Moore, wife of United Methodist Minister John Moore in Portage (MI), said they use CFS for their taxes not only because of CFS's specialized knowledge, but also for its integrity and character. Moore said they switched to Fry at least six years ago after they become uncomfortable with the inner workings of another form that also specialized in ministerial issues.

Moore, herself a retired psychologist, said Fry is equipped to handle all sorts of tax work, and does thorough research when he doesn't know the answer.

Reformed Church of America Rev. Donald Jansen, a staff chaplain at the VA Hospital in Battle Creek (MI), says he has used CFS for years because he wasn't comfortable with the service of a national tax preparer, where those working on his taxes were unfamiliar with the issues unique to clergy.

Jansen said CFS has handled his sometimes-complicated returns with plenty of skill - even, for example, when he was in the Army and moving form state to state, where supposedly even tax-exempt investments get taxed.

Even a company run by the pious for the pious is not immune to the merger-and-acquisition frenzy sweeping the secular financial world, however. CFS recently expanded it's range of services by acquiring a company that specializes in helping churches improve their own balance sheets.

But because the very clientele that business attracts tends not to be wealthy, CFS has kept the cost of it's services down, which in turn has limited it's ability to aggressively expand.

Through the years, CFS's advertising has largely been limited to direct-mailing to other clergy. And because the founders are (United) Methodist, the company has directed that advertising to other (United) Methodists since those are the mailing lists to which they've had access.

But with the economies of the Internet and e-mail, Fry hopes CFS will be able to reach more clergy than ever before.

Indeed, Fry belies the stereotype one might apply to a 69 year old retired minister.

To children, he identifies himself as "Rev. French Fry." When asked how many children he has, he responds, "A quarter of a dozen," enjoying the quizzical look on the questioner's face as he does some quick mental math to figure out whether that's three, or four.

Designed by one of his sons, prominent Grand Rapids (MI) architect Steve Fry, Rev. Fry's house is a distinctive, modern-looking structure with (what else?) cathedral ceiling and plenty of windows overlooking the Thornapple River bordering on his backyard.

His CFS office is in a converted spare bedroom and looks like the home office of a Generation X telecommuter: a small copier; a large fax machine; modern, ergonomic furniture; and a fast computer with a big monitor, which all help him stay in touch with CFS's other officers and clients across the country.