Church Development Services LLC

I have known Kurt Werth since 2008 when he was a member of the Stewardship and Finance Committee at a church while I was their Executive Pastor.  While I am now the Executive Pastor of another church in Virginia Beach, Kurt and I have remained connected. Two years ago, our church approached Kurt to request advice on our next steps.  We needed accurate information as we looked toward the future.  As the CFO of Church Development Services (CDS), Kurt suggested that CDS conduct a feasibility study to determine if the timing was right to begin a construction project, and if it was, how large of a building could our church afford.  Kurt jumped in and assisted us with our financial procedures and bookkeeping processes, and helped us “professionalize” our financial information for bank presentations.  CDS and its CEO, Glen Trematore, helped us strategically as we sought to purchase land for very favorable terms.  They are now completing our construction drawings, and will manage our construction project.  We highly recommend CDS, its financial feasibility process and its design/build methodology which is effective, transparent, and “church friendly”.

As an elder at Spring Branch Community Church, I appreciate all the work that Kurt Werth puts in as the Chairman of the Finance Committee.  I am a partner/owner of a medium-sized construction company (concrete) and I understand operations and finance, so I appreciate a good financial manager when I see one.  Kurt brings a significant amount of financial management experience to our church’s finance committee and has done an outstanding job restructuring our debt, lowering our monthly payment significantly.  Glen Trematore has been involved as a teacher in men’s ministry and also is very involved in the Spring Branch Children’s ministry as a leader in Rock City.  I highly recommend Kurt Werth and Glen Trematore of Church Development Services as they are solid individuals as well as effective business professionals.

When we first met CDS, our church was meeting in a hotel conference room with the hope that one day we would be able to build a permanent church home.  Fast forward seven years, and we are in our own building and have almost doubled in size while the hotel in which we had been meeting has closed.  Glen recognized that our church was something special — even when local banks could not see (or fund) our vision.  After listening to our vision and plans, Glen helped us by raising private equity to fund the project.    CDS designed a cost-effective building, and helped manage the construction of our new facility.  I can honestly say that without CDS, we would not have been able to have our own building which allows us to have a significant community impact in Olive Branch.

Kurt Werth is the Chief Financial Officer of Church Development Services.  He and his family have been members of my church for over ten years.  He was appointed to be a member of our Stewardship/ Finance and Compensation Committees shortly after joining the church because he had extensive church financial committee experience as well as general financial business experience.  For almost ten years, Kurt has been a valuable member of our financial team and we appointed him Chairman of both the Stewardship/Finance and Compensation Committees in 2012.  Within the first four months of his appointment, he was able to lead a restructuring of our long term debt, effectively reducing our interest rate by 2% resulting in a $20,000+ monthly payment reduction.  I fully endorse Kurt for his leadership ability and skill in reviewing financial information, to assess project feasibility and analyzing information to make recommendations for improvement.