ADRIAN — Not many people can say that a college research paper changed the course of their life. But that’s what happened to Robert H. Benard when he was a sophomore at Wayne State University.

During an anthropology class, his professor asked if anyone would take on a research project about young people who were turning to faith. Benard agreed.

“I went to church to do a research paper,” he said. “I did the report, got an A, and I never left the church.”

While researching that paper, he met a woman named Andre’a, who would later become his wife. It also set him on the path to becoming a minister and ultimately the founder of Christ Temple Ministries International in Adrian, where he has been senior pastor for nearly 50 years.

Benard, 84, will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the 38th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration, which will take place at 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19, in the Tobias Center at Adrian College.

Benard was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Like many Black families who left the South in the middle of the 20th century, his family moved to Michigan when he was a child. He graduated in 1960 from the former Roosevelt High School, now called Robichaud High School, in Dearborn Heights.

He began his college studies at Henry Ford Community College while caring for his mother, who had suffered a series of injuries at her job. He then transferred to Wayne State University, where he studied sociology and would ultimately earn a master’s degree in social work.

He began his career working for the state, helping people who needed public assistance. The 1967 Detroit riots took place right in the heart of the district he served. When a mentor suggested that he go into administration, he was reluctant at first, feeling that he wanted to work directly with people. But then she asked: “If you could get five or six people who thought the way you think, how many people could you help?”

He began working as director of a halfway house for delinquent boys, then helped found Wayne County’s first halfway house for girls. Then in January 1973, he was hired as administrative assistant to the superintendent at Adrian Training School.

“That’s how I got to Adrian,” he said.

He worked at the Adrian Training School for two years, being promoted to assistant superintendent before he left. He then served for several years as superintendent of the W.J. Maxey Training School for boys in Whitmore Lake.

It was during that time that he first heard the call to ministry.

In 1977, he founded Christ Temple Church at the corner of Frank and Ann streets. In the 1990s he was elected pastor of Faith Temple at 3665 Deerfield Road, and merged the congregations into one. 

Benard said that although people often see him and assume Christ Temple Ministries is a Black church, “this is a very diverse church.” He estimated that the congregation is about one-third Hispanic, one-third Caucasian, and one-third Black.

“God prepared me for this type of community because of the community I grew up in,” he said.

The church family has grown as Christ Temple Ministries International has helped plant many sister congregations over the years — two in Jackson, one in Inkster, one in Ypsilanti, one in Detroit, one in Lansing, and one in California just outside of Los Angeles. Benard serves as bishop for all of them.

Wherever they are, the churches that are part of Christ Temple Ministries seek to meet the needs of their community. At Christ Temple City of Refuge in Inkster, the church bought its building from a church that had previously run a food program and found that people were showing up hoping for a meal. They started a program of their own to meet that need, he said, and “now we feed about 200 families a week.”

That church also runs Camp Inspire, a program that helps girls explore possible careers.

In Adrian, the church’s service includes giving between 16 and 20 scholarships a year to students pursuing postsecondary education. That program has existed since 2008, and Benard estimated that at least 90% of the students who received scholarships have gone on to graduate. The church also provides mentorship to those students and helps them buy whatever supplies they need.

Benard retired from his career in corrections in 1991 and has devoted himself to the church ever since.

“When my wife and I got married, I said when I get to 50 years old, I’m not going to be working for nobody but God,” he recalled.

His wife Andre’a has been with him throughout that journey. He jokes that she’s his “holy trinity” — “she is my girlfriend, she is my best friend, she is my wife.”

And after 59 years, he said, “we would probably marry each other over and over again.”

“None of my kids have ever seen me and my wife get in an argument or fight,” he added. “That doesn’t mean we don’t have disagreements, but we learned how to communicate.”

The Benards have six children: LaTanya, Perry, Andre’a, Aaron, and twins Marcus and Marie. Aaron, a social worker at Springbrook Middle School, is also a pastor at the church. They have 30 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

One of the principles he holds to is that humans, as unique as they are, need each other.

“All that snow we’ve got out there,” he said on a recent December day, “there’s not two flakes the same. No two human beings are the same, not even identical twins. We might look the same, but we are unique.”

But those differences are a strength, not a weakness, and strength can be found in coming together.

“There is a cure for cancer,” he said by way of example. But, he said, “part of the cure is in Australia, part of the cure is in Europe, part of the cure is in Russia.”

In short, he said: “I need you, you need me.”

Benard said that when people look at him, he hopes they see somebody who, while imperfect, did his best to live up to his ideals.

“I try to live what I preach,” he said.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration

The 38th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration in Lenawee County will take place at 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19, in the Tobias Center at Adrian College.

The Rev. Robert H. Benard will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Delma Bosquez-Munoz will be honored for her community service, which includes helping migrant farmworkers and working with women at the Catherine Cobb domestic violence shelter.

Student awards will be presented to Rolen Maclin from Adrian College, Kimberly Delgado from Siena Heights University, and Lila Mouton-Howard from Jackson College.

Tickets are $50 per person or $350 for a table of eight. For more information, contact Andre’a Benard at 517-673-1218 or Pamela Hall at 517-920-2706.