For the exclusive use of R. HAYLES, 2018. KEL420 Revised March 14, 2011
WILLIAM WHITE
Change Without Compromise (A): The Decline and Turnaround of Temple Baptist Church Late one afternoon in March 1991, Senior Pastor Brad Powell made his daily commute home from Temple Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. As he waited in I-96 traffic, he wondered what he had gotten himself into. The past six months had been challenging for Powell. In late 1990 he had been hired as the head of Temple Baptist, which had once been considered one of the premier churches in the United States. That time, however, now seemed very distant. Temple Baptist was in need of a radical turnaround, and Powell had been hired specifically to do just that. As the highway traffic began to move, Powell thought to himself, “Temple Baptist is a great church with a great legacy. We have a highly committed membership, a community that needs to hear the message of the church, and some remaining resources. The peripheral activities such as the guest speakers and the Sunday school programs are very popular. Yet we have been losing members for decades and are hardly reaching any new attendees.” Believing that a church community should be the “hope of the world,” Powell was committed to finding a way to transform Temple Baptist from its current hopeless state into a beacon of hope for the community as well as its congregants.
The Organization Known as the Local Church Structure American churches are organized predominantly as non-profit entities set up as holding corporations that house several ministries. In addition to weekend services held in a large auditorium, those ministries may include private schools, community service programs, counseling centers, and charity foundations. The leader (pastor) could be described as the organization’s CEO and is supported by a management team of associate pastors and deacons and/or elders who are in charge of overseeing the operations of the organization. Although staff members, such as pastors and administrators, receive compensation, the leadership is composed largely of volunteers who are elected by members of the church and whose careers represent a wide background of full-time vocations. The management team’s responsibilities vary greatly from denomination to denomination but usually include general operation of the church; ©2009 by the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. This case was prepared by Christopher Recktenwald ’07 under the supervision of Professor William White. Cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 800-545-7685 (or 617-783-7600 outside the United States or Canada) or e-mail custserv@hbsp.harvard.edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of the Kellogg School of Management. This document is authorized for use only by RUPERT HAYLES in 2018.