Your Outsourced Church Communications and Marketing Partner
Lead Your Church.
Let Us Carry The
Communications.
Story & Stone becomes your complete communications partner. A dedicated communications leader and creative team to build the plan, coordinate the work, and help your church reach its community.
You approve the direction. We manage the calendar, content, and follow-through, so no detail gets missed.
Partnerships start at $2,750/month. Month-to-month available.
A 45-minute conversation with Kim about your church,
your team, and the support that fits.
No obligation to begin a partnership.
Trusted by partner churches
Your people are working hard. But the whole picture still needs an owner.
The email needs to be written. A ministry event needs graphics. Someone has a website change. Christmas is coming and the plan is still in pieces.
You have capable people. But when no one coordinates the full communications picture, decisions and missed details keep coming back to your desk.
Story & Stone brings one plan, clear responsibilities, and a team to carry the work forward.
We learn your church
We learn about your church before we recommend anything.
We watch your services, read your emails, follow your social media, and learn your language, your people, and your community. Every member of our team has served on church staff, so we understand how a church actually works on a Tuesday, not just on a Sunday.
And for your first 60 days, we'll revise any content until it sounds and looks like your church.
"They're fully virtual, but they don't feel like an outside vendor. They sound like us, and they're part of our staff team."
Brian, Lead Pastor, The Fellowship
Built by people who've sat in your seat.
years of church-staff experience
churches served across our team's careers
22
100%
churches and nonprofits partnered with in 18 months
of churches that reached 12 months renewed
200+
30+
How The Partnership Works
Three steps to a plan you can trust.
Share your church's story.
We learn about your people, voice, staff, community, and the tools you already have before we recommend a single thing.ents
1
We bring you a personalized strategy that gives every platform a purpose, so you set the direction without having to build it yourself.
2
Approve your plan.
3
Lead with confidence.
Your dedicated Communications Director and our team carry the plan alongside your staff, so you're free to focus on the work only you can do.
This is for you if…
You have capable staff and volunteers, but no one is leading the whole communications picture, so the gaps keep landing on you.
You've become your church's acting communications director, and it's pulling you away from preaching, vision, and your people.
Easter, fall launch, Christmas, or your next big series is coming, and you already know it will be planned in pieces, at the last minute, again.
You want a partner who brings a recommendation and a plan to the table, not someone waiting for you to tell them what to post.
You're ready to approve the direction and trust someone else to carry the details.
If you nodded along, you're not behind,
and you don't have to figure this out alone.
This is exactly the kind of church we built Story & Stone to walk beside.
Month-to-month · 90-day Confidence Window
What Becomes Possible
Here's what changes when the right partner is carrying your communications.
Reclaim 20–30 hours a week that you and your staff spend chasing details, and put them back into ministry.
Grow your volunteer base. Our partner churches have seen volunteer growth of more than 40%.
Watch your events reach people you've never reached. Christ Church's Trunk or Treat grew from about 500 to more than 2,500 families.
Keep the visitors your website already gets. With a clear next step on every page, bounce rates have dropped by 75%.
Drop two to three meetings from your week, because decisions come to you as recommendations, not blank questions.
Delegate with confidence, leading the direction while a team you trust carries the details.
See your people respond: email clicks up 45%, email opens up 20%, and social engagement up 60%.
Walk into Easter, fall launch, and every major series with the plan built 12–14 weeks ahead.
back every week for pastors and staff
ahead on every major season & event
12–14 wks
20–30 hrs
2,500+
families at Christ Church's Trunk or Treat, up from about 500
volunteer growth in partner churches
drop in website bounce rates
75%
40%+
See what this could look like for your church.
"I don't manage the communication details anymore. Story & Stone owns the plan, and I set the direction. That's given me my week back."
Jeremy, Executive Pastor, OCC
We learn your church
We learn about your church before we recommend anything.
We watch your services, read your emails, follow your social media, and learn your language, your people, and your community. Every member of our team has served on church staff, so we understand how a church actually works on a Tuesday, not just on a Sunday.
And for your first 60 days, we'll revise any content until it sounds and looks like your church.
"They're fully virtual, but they don't feel like an outside vendor. They sound like us, and they're part of our staff team."
Brian, Lead Pastor, The Fellowship
We don't replace your team.
We make them stronger.
Across our team's years in church communications, we've partnered with more than 100 communications directors who kept their roles and grew into confident leaders. Half of Story & Stone's current partner churches work this way today. Extend Our Team is built for exactly this: your comms lead gets a strategic partner, a full production team, and the coaching to lead well.
"I finally get to lead instead of doing everything myself. Our Communications Manager brings the plan, and our team carries it out across every campus."
Robyn, Communications Director, Compass Church
Every option has a place.
Here's how they compare.
Weighing Your Options
What's Inside
Choose how we serve your church.
Be Our Team
For churches that need strategy, leadership, and execution handled.
Lead your church's communications without carrying the details, because a dedicated Communications Director and a full team own the strategy, the calendar, and the follow-through. You'll have every platform working with a clear purpose, every ministry leader supported, and Easter, Christmas, fall launch, and each series planned 12–14 weeks ahead. You set the direction in a weekly
one-on-one, and we carry it forward.
Extend Our Team
For churches with a communications lead who needs a strategic partner and production support.
Give your communications lead the partner, coaching, and production team they need to lead with confidence. They'll have content created and managed, digital marketing support (ads, social, website, and SEO), and a clear strategy for reaching your community and engaging your church. Your team stays in place and gets stronger.
Equip Our Team
For churches that need custom content, exactly when they need it.
Get professional, customized graphics, video, and content that sound and look like your church, without adding another hire. You choose what you need, and your team walks away with work that's ready to use.
Wherever you start, the partnership can grow with you.
Included with BE Our Team and EXTEND Our Team
Commit with confidence.
Your first 90 days
The 90-Day Confidence Window
You have your first three months to decide whether this partnership is giving you the relief you need. If it isn't, you can step out of your commitment. You'll know it's working before you're locked into anything.
Bonus · $3,200 value
Communications Audit and 90-Day Launch Plan
In your first two weeks, we study your church from the inside out: your services, platforms, ministries, staff, and community. Then we hand you a full Communications Audit and a 90-Day Launch Plan built around what we find, a $3,200 value that's yours to keep.
12-month partnership
10% off every month
Commit to a full year and save 10% on your monthly rate from day one. That's more than $8,000 back into your ministry budget over the year with Be Our Team, and more than $3,200 with Extend Our Team.
Pricing
Clear pricing. Month-to-month available.
A team that stays as long as it's serving you well.
One full-time hire gives you one person. A Story & Stone partnership gives you a Communications Director, designers, video editors, digital marketers, and project management, all working from one plan built for your church.
Be Our Team
Starting at $6,860/month
Your full communications dept., led and carried out by our team.
Communications Leadership
• Dedicated Communications Director
• Kim personally onboards your church and stays engaged with you for the first 3 months, followed by quarterly leadership meetings with owners Kim and/or Steve
Communications Operations
• Project management and vendor management
Content & Creative
• Full content and creative design: graphics, social, print, banners, and digital deliverables
• Creative video: bumpers and podcast edits
Digital Marketing & Management
• Ads, website development and management, and email writing
• Posting, scheduling, and platform management
Your exact price depends on your content and video volume.
Extend Our Team
Starting at $2,730/month
A strategic partner and production team to support your comms lead.
• Dedicated Communications Director for strategy and coaching
• Quarterly check-ins with the owners in year one, plus calls as needed
Communications Leadership
Communications Operations
• Coordination between your team and ours
Content & Creative
• Content and creative design
• Creative video: bumpers
Digital Marketing & Management
• Ads, website, and email
• Posting, scheduling, and platform management
Your exact price depends on your content and video volume.
VIP Upgrade - Be Our Team or Extend Our Team
Kim Tarlton as your Communications Director
+$950/month
Communications Leadership
Dedicated Communications Director
Dedicated Communications Manager
Communications Coaching: one hour weekly with an experienced Story & Stone communications director
Communications & Marketing Audit
$1120/month
$780/month
$525/month
$3200/total
Content & Creative
Graphics (All your series, events & ministry graphics needs.)
Social Media Content & Sermon Clips
Podcasts
Video Bumpers
Equip Our Team: choose what you need
À la carte services, month to month. À la carte pricing is separate from our partnership packages.
Communications Operations
$920/month
Project Management
Digital Marketing & Management
Website Development (includes analytics and SEO)
Email Management (weekly all-church, monthly students & kids, events)
Text & App Development (includes StudioC & Apollos integrations)
$900/month
$950/month
$400/per episode
$750/per video
$900/one-time
$750/month
$550/month
Choose your commitment.
Month-to-Month
Stay as long as it’s working.
Cancel anytime.
We'll look at your church, your team, and your season, and recommend the level that fits.
Your first 90 days are backed by our Confidence Window.
12-Month Partnership
Save 10% every month
Most of our churches choose this option, and every church that reached 12 months has renewed.
Additional à la carte options are available, as well as customization for all packages listed. Schedule a call to discover more options for your church.
The Story & Stone Partnership Guarantee
BE OUR TEAM and EXTEND OUR TEAM
We put our confidence in writing.
We ask you to trust us with your church's voice, your people, and your mission.
We know what this partnership does when it's done well, and we're willing to stand behind it.
Here's our promise to you.
Your first 90 days
At day 90, we'll sit down with you and measure our work against the goals we set together during onboarding. If we haven't hit them, you choose: we work the next month at no cost while we close the gap, or you step out of your 12-month commitment and keep every dollar you've saved. Either way, you'll know it's working before you're locked into anything.
The 90-Day
Confidence Window
Duration: your first 90 days
The Right-Fit Director Guarantee
Duration: throughout your partnership
If your Communications Director isn't the right fit for your church, we'll assign one who is, without disrupting your plan.
The "Sounds Like Us" Guarantee
Duration: your first 60 days
We'll revise any content until it sounds and looks like your church, because your communication should always sound like you.
The Follow-Through Commitment
Duration: throughout your partnership
We'll respond within 12 business hours and deliver on the timelines we agree to. If we miss, you'll receive a credit of 50% of your monthly total on your next invoice.
How to claim: Just tell your Communications Director or reach out to Kim directly.
We'll respond within 2 business days and make it right, in writing. Read the full guarantee policy.Frequently Asked Questions
Questions pastors ask us.
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No. With Be Our Team, a dedicated Communications Director owns the strategy, the calendar, and the follow-through, and you set direction in a weekly one-on-one. Our partner churches get back 20 to 30 hours a week and have two to three fewer meetings. If you aren't feeling that relief within 90 days, our Confidence Window lets you step out of your commitment.
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Before we recommend anything, we watch your services, read your emails, follow your social media, and learn your language and community. Our team brings more than 100 years of combined church-staff experience and has served more than 200 churches. During your first 60 days, we'll revise any content until it sounds and looks like your church.
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No. Our job is to make your team stronger, not replace it. We don't replace your communications director. We coach them to lead with confidence, and most of our partner churches have asked to increase their time with their Story & Stone director. We also meet one-on-one with your ministry leaders to help them get what they need communicated.
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A full-time hire gives you one person who has to be a unicorn: strong in strategy, design, video, web, and marketing. A Story & Stone partnership gives you a dedicated Communications Director plus a full team of specialists, all working from one plan. If you already have a strong communications lead, Extend Our Team gives them a partner and a production team.
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Partnerships start at $2,650 a month, and a 12-month commitment saves 10% every month. For the cost of one full-time hire, Be Our Team gives you a full team of communications specialists. If you need individual services instead, Equip Our Team offers à la carte options, and we'll recommend the right fit for your church on a short call.
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No. Every partnership can run month to month, and you can cancel anytime. Most churches choose a 12-month commitment for the 10% savings, and every church that has reached 12 months has renewed.
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Yes. Your Communications Director meets with you weekly, works with your ministry leaders, and manages projects through a request system built for your church. At The Fellowship, we're built into the staff team and support communications from within, entirely virtually.
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Kim Tarlton personally onboards your church and stays with you for your first three months. Within your first two weeks, we build your Communications Audit and 90-Day Launch Plan, a $3,200 value that's yours to keep, and we set two to three measurable goals together. Those goals become the basis for your 90-day review.
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We respond within 12 business hours: Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern. All files, designs, and content we create belong to your church, including if you ever leave.
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Yes. For every level, Be Our Team, Extend Our Team, or Equip Our Team, we'll create sample content for your church before you decide. You'll see how we sound and look as your church before you commit to anything.
Still have a question?
We'll help you find the right fit, even if it isn't us.
Success Stories
Real churches. Real partnerships. Real progress.
These aren't highlight clips. Each story below follows one church from where they started, through the work we did together, to what's different now.
Different sizes, different needs, and different partnership levels, but the same pattern:
a clear plan, the right people carrying it, and a church that knows its next step.
Extend Our Team - Partners for 3 Months
The Fellowship:
A virtual partner built into the staff.
Before: The Fellowship's ads worked, and new people walked in every weekend. What came next was less clear: several staff shared that communications lacked a system, the weekend slide loop held more than 40 slides, and requests landed on the designer's desk by email or in the hallway.
During: We built a master plan showing what gets communicated on which platform, and when. We set up a single request system with owners and due dates, and gave every staff member direct access to the Communications team leaders.
After: Pastor Brian no longer leads or attends the weekly communications meeting. The designer works from a scheduled plan instead of daily interruptions, and staff can see exactly how their events will be communicated.
"I don't run our communications meeting anymore, and I trust what's going out. Our whole staff knows how their events will be communicated."
Brian, Lead Pastor
The Fellowship
Be Our Team - Partners for 1 Year, 4 Months
OCC: A $350,000 roof campaign, funded ahead of schedule.
Before: OCC had capable people covering communications, but no one led it, and the pieces didn't talk to each other. When the church's roof began leaking and caving in, the pastor knew they needed a campaign. But in a season when giving was down, no one was sure how to run a short campaign well.
During: We built a six-month campaign in three phases, mapped out a timeline, and created a clear plan to lead into each ask, keep the goal in front of the church, and celebrate each milestone. We created collateral and an animated video showing the funds growing, updated as each phase progressed.
After: OCC hit its $350,000 goal, and all three phases were reached ahead of schedule. The church replaced its roof and gave 10% of the campaign raised funds to a local nonprofit.
"We needed a new roof in a season when giving was down. Story & Stone gave us a plan our people could follow, and we hit every phase early."
Jeremy, Executive Pastor,
Orrville Christian Church
Extend Our Team - Partners for 1 Year, 4 Months
Compass Church:
A marketing director without a full-time hire.
Before: Compass had a new communications director, and its external marketing was generic, run by an ad company whose work could fit any church. Leadership considered hiring a full-time marketing director.
During: We partnered our Marketing Director, Hannah, with their Comms Director. Hannah writes the copy, chooses the visuals, and builds full marketing plans for every major event, including Easter and Christmas, across each of Compass's 6 campuses.
After: Robyn now delegates instead of doing everything herself, and her team implements Hannah's plans across the board. Even when themes run late, each campus community still hears clearly what Compass has to offer.
"Our marketing finally sounds like Compass. The coaching and support that Story & Stone have given have been well beyond what we could have ever imagined."
Brandon, Executive Pastor
Compass Church
Extend Our Team - Partnered for 1 Year, 6 Months
Christ Church: From a church event to the community's front door.
Before: Christ Church's Trunk or Treat was a few staff cars handing out candy to about 500 people, mostly church families. It was a good event, but it reached people already in the building rather than the community.
During: We started with one question: Who is this event for? Then we built two marketing plans: one inviting the church to serve its neighbors by hosting a trunk, and one telling the community about a free, safe, fun night for families. A simple QR code let first-time guests share their name and email and learn about upcoming family events following the event.
After: Attendance grew from about 500 to more than 2,500 families. The church set a goal of 50 trunks and filled 52. Within a month, guest follow-up showed many first-time families walking through the church's doors on Sunday.
We stopped throwing a party for ourselves and started opening our doors to our neighbors. The families who came that night came back."
Jill, Executive Creative Director, Christ Church
Be Our Team - Partners for 1 Year
We launched a newly designed website in one week and developed the church app Munger was already paying for but had never built out. It now has 60% engagement from church attendees.
"Fast, excellent work from a team that knows our church. Our people are actually using our app now."
Edlen, Lead Pastor, Munger Place Church
Every partnership starts with one conversation.
If you've read this far and you're still not sure,
that's okay. You're weighing a real decision for your church, and it deserves care.
Here are the three hesitations we hear most from pastors in exactly your seat.
For The Fence Sitters
"We should be able to figure this out ourselves."
You've got good people, and it feels like one more push, one more meeting, or one more volunteer should fix it. But this isn't an effort problem. Your team is already working hard. What's missing is someone who owns the whole picture, and asking for that isn't admitting failure. It's leadership.
"Now isn't the right time."
A season is always coming: Easter, a fall launch, a building project, budget planning. It feels wise to wait until things settle down. But those seasons are exactly when communications land back on your desk. The best time to have a plan in place is before the next big season, not in the middle of it.
"What if we choose wrong again?"
Maybe you've tried a freelancer, an ad company, or a well-meaning volunteer, and it didn't take the work off your plate. That caution makes sense. That's also why we back your first 90 days with our Confidence Window: we set clear goals together, measure them at day 90, and if we haven't delivered, you don't stay locked in.
You know your church better than anyone. If one conversation could show you what it would look like to lead without carrying every detail, we'd love to have it.
And if now isn't the time, we'll be here when it is.
A Note from Kim Tarlton
Founder of Story & Stone
I spent more than 28 years on church staff: at Shepherd Church and Real Life Church in Southern California, and at Northview Church in Indiana. I've led creative direction, weekend experience, communications, family ministry, and executive leadership. I know what it's like to love your church and still feel like communication is always one step behind.
After Northview, I joined an agency that ran advertising for churches. I met with churches every day, small and large, new and established, and they all told me the same thing: they didn't know what they didn't know. They didn't just need someone to do the work. They needed someone to explain the why, and to build the plan that makes the work matter.
That's why Steve and I started Story & Stone. The story is your church's story: the life change happening every week, the people in your building, and the neighbors who drive past it every day. The stone is the solid rock of Jesus Christ, the foundation we build everything on. We're not here just to help people find your building. We're here to help them find Jesus.
Here's what I want for you. I want you to lead without carrying every detail. I want your team supported, your ministries clear on their next step, and your church's story told well to the people inside your walls and the ones who haven't walked through the doors yet.
If that's what you want for your church too, let's talk. Bring what you're facing, and we'll look at the full picture together.
With you in this,
