About The Chapel

Dr. David Fletcher, Executive Pastor

David has joined the staff of The Chapel as Executive Pastor. This description was written for an Executive Education class that David is taking at the Harvard Business School: Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations. This is David's second adventure at Harvard, his first being "Governance for Non-Profit Excellence."

“The Chapel” of Akron, Ohio is a 75 year-old church with over 6,000 members.  The church has 3 campuses with 8 worship services (traditional,contemporary & ultra-contemporary styles), which can be video-linked together for a shared sermon or worship experience.  The Chapel also leads a regional consortium of daughter, granddaughter and like-minded churches.

About the XP Position

In partnership with the Senior Pastor, the Executive Pastor provides leadership to the staff and congregation, consistent with the gifts, skills, and ministry experience of each.  All staff and departments report to the XP.  David's role as Executive Pastor is to implement the strategic direction of the church, optimize the church's financial and human resources and manage the day‑to‑day ministry according to the high standards of the gospel and established plans, policies and legal requirements.  The XP also assists in the pastoral direction of the Board of Trustees with the Senior Pastor.

The Transition

For 27 years, The Chapel was led by Sr. Pastor Knute Larson.  Paul Sartarelli became the Co-Senior Pastor three years ago and Dr. Larson retired in May 2009.  The pivotal issue is “how to maintain a continuity with the past and yet position a historic church for the changing needs of current and future society.”

Vision for the Future

The staff and congregation need strategic alignment with the vision of the new Sr. Pastor, Paul Sartarelli.  This 5-year vision is called Embrace Tomorrow:

• 7 new worship venues
• 60% of the congregation in a small group and every group in a local ministry
• 1500 people launched in urban ministries, community service and mercy partners
• 5 additional Dalit Education Centers and train 600 Indian pastors
• 4 additional water supply systems in Mozambique villages

Over 5 years, this Embrace Tomorrow vision will change the job descriptions of every staff member and expectations on every congregant.  New performance metrics must fit both the qualitative nature of ministry while keeping an eye on quantitative analysis.  This entails examining what to measure and how, comprehending staff and congregant’s objections and implementing the tool. For the congregation, performance measurement must adequately report on accomplishing Christ's mission for the church.  For the staff, the metrics must be sustainable and scalable for future years.  With rising labor and benefits costs, productivity will need to be increased, empowering staff to be creative and cutting-edge.  With a large staff spread over two campuses, communication issues will loom large.