It's June 1996. Black churches are burning in the South, and up North, in Long Island, New York, a young African-American man named Shane Daniels has lain for several weeks in the hospital teetering between life and death, the widely publicized victim of an apparently racially motivated beating.

Things may not have looked this bleak for African Americans in a long time, but at the First Baptist Church of Riverhead in eastern Long Island, which serves many of the area's black families -- including Daniels's own -- you'd never know it. Here, the mood is, as always, upbeat, inspiring, and filled to overflowing with goodwill.

That's because running the show is Pastor Charles Coverdale, a big man with a big heart, a big laugh, and a big dream. Known fondly as "the hugging preacher" because of his own easy, bearlike grip and his knack for getting opponents to embrace, Coverdale, as his assistant, Cynthia Liggon, puts it, "believes adversity is a breeding ground for miracles."

"I'm in the hope business," affirms Coverdale, who himself rose from the poor, rough-and-tumble world of the South Bronx as a youth to become one of the first African Americans to enter corporate America and later enroll at HBS. "With minorities now present in most professions, I see a lot of promise for white and black America to come together," he says. "I also believe it's possible to help people who are downtrodden and desperate to transform their lives and achieve their full potential."

Through his work as a community activist in several cities in the Northeast and Midwest, Coverdale became inspired to enter the ministry in 1975. Since taking over the leadership of First Baptist in 1982, he has proven just what a community can accomplish through faith and determination. Operating from spartan offices in the church basement, his nine staff members, including his wife, Shirley (MBA '76), have developed an astounding array of community outreach services -- from elaborate food pantries to job assistance programs; from tutoring, mentoring, and counseling services for children and young mothers to retirement planning courses for the elderly; from screening programs for cancer and diabetes to support services for those with catastrophic illnesses such as AIDS. Through the church's efforts, hundreds of residents in Riverhead and beyond have been able to climb out of poverty, drug abuse, and crime to create lives of dignity and meaning.

And Coverdale's vision doesn't stop there. He is raising funds for a $9-million "Family Community Life Center," to be built on church grounds, that will house a 24-hour daycare program, an extensive sports and exercise facility, performance and rehearsal spaces, arts-and-crafts rooms, and a library. Standing before the model of the building that has been prominently displayed in the church lobby, Coverdale notes, "The complex is designed to be multiracial, multicultural, and intergenerational -- all critical components, we believe, in creating true community."

Coverdale, who served as assistant to the dean of admissions at HBS from 1970 to 1972, as well as assistant professor of management at Simmons and Bentley Colleges, says he puts his MBA to use every day, both in running his church and serving as a management consultant (on a sliding-scale basis) to neighborhood organizations, corporations, and political and religious leaders around the world. "Wherever I go, poor communities receive the benefit of my HBS training," he notes with quiet satisfaction. "The School has put an ambassador out into the world." Amen to that.

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