c. 2006 Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ New Hope Baptist Church Pastor Gregory Clarke sometimes feels like the CEO of a major corporation _ or more than one.

“I’m president of three corporations, superintendent of the school and pastor of the church,” Clarke said. Make that two campuses, with a combined membership of 3,000 people.

The 53-year-old pastor has begun realizing the need for a full-time administrator on staff with business experience and training _ something the church hasn’t had.

These days, many pastors of large churches are looking more like chief executive officers of corporations. They often have CEO-like responsibilities, salaries, perks and benefits, but the dueling duties of running both business and spiritual entities.

“When you have thousands of members and millions of dollars, you become not just a pastor but a CEO,” said the Rev. Michael Moore, pastor of the 6,000-member Faith Chapel Christian Center in Wylam, Ala., who has a degree in business administration.

To help alleviate the burden on pastors with CEO responsibilities, churches have been increasingly packing their staffs with financial wizards and veterans of business.

The preaching appeal of a pastor can have large financial implications for a church.

The Church at Brook Hills experienced that after the retirement of Senior Pastor Rick Ousley, who helped the congregation grow from 30 members in 1990 to worship attendance of 4,000 in 2005. After Ousley retired a year ago, Sunday worship attendance dropped off to 2,300. That meant Brook Hills had to adjust its budget from $6.5 million to $5.5 million. With new Pastor David Platt preaching regularly since June, attendance is back up to 3,000-plus and the budget is adjusting upward again.

Churches have to pay competitive salaries to get the top leadership.

The salary and housing package for 882 ordained ministers serving as senior pastors ranges from a low of $15,500 to an average of $95,100 to a high of $361,000, according to a survey of churches that belong to the National Association of Church Business Administrators. At churches with a $2 million budget or more, the average salary for a senior pastor is $121,000. Salaries in the South are higher than at churches in the North, Northeast and West, according to the survey. Churches did not disclose individual salaries except anonymously through the survey.

The pay for megachurch pastors may be generous, but the demands are onerous. In the past, members of the church have often expected the pastor to run everything from the pulpit to the bank account. It can still be that way, Clarke said.

“I feel that pressure,” he said. “It’s the perception that things come easy.”

Clarke is president of a community development corporation called Swan, the Southwest Area Network; and of a credit union and senior adult apartment center founded by the church. “Our church has gone into so many different areas,” said Clarke, who oversaw recent construction on the senior adult center.

“Any successful church, it’s like a business,” said the Rev. Pat Sullivan, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Birmingham. “You have to have the right people heading up the right departments. Any pastor today who tries to run the show on his own is destined to not succeed.”

At First Baptist Church in Pelham, Ala., Pastor Mike Shaw has given up many of his former duties overseeing the budget as the church has grown. “I’ve learned to delegate,” he said. “I’m Brother Mike. I’m a pastor. I want to disciple people. I still see people when their kids want to be saved. You’ve got to delegate the financial things.”

Other pastors of churches that have long had administrators with extensive business experience highly recommend delegating and setting up management for the church that meets or exceeds corporate accounting standards.

“If you tie up a minister with those responsibilities, it becomes more than he can do,” said Betty O’Neil, administrator for St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham. “The law has gotten more complex. The fiduciary responsibility became more than a volunteer treasurer can do.”

Bishop Jim Lowe, pastor of Birmingham’s Guiding Light Church, has hired six staff members who previously held executive jobs at secular or Christian corporations.

“We are competing with the business world,” Lowe said. “If I’m going to get the best talent, I’ve got to pull them from the corporate world.”

KRE/JL END GARRISON

(Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala.)

Editors: To obtain a photo of Gregory Clarke and a service at the Church at Brook Hills, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

See related stories, RNS-CHURCH-ENDOW and RNS-CHURCH-FINANCE, both transmitted Nov. 6.