Megachurches (Five Largest in USA)

Houston, Texas (trekearth.com)

Introduction

With a PhD in Theology and Philosophy of Religion from Wales academia is not my only option for potential employment using my four academic degrees earned over the years. Lately I have been considering church work as it has been suggested to me. I reason I have been led to be a Theologian, Biblical Scholar, and in later years a Philosopher of Religion and the eventual work as an Assistant or Associate Professor was just assumed by myself and many others. Of the three figures of CVs I have sent out they have not all been in academia, but have also included publishing and media. I never reasoned I was specifically led to be a professor, necessarily. Now I realize churches probably are not looking for Philosophers of Religion but Theologians and Biblical Scholars, yes. So 2/3 is not bad...

Megachurches Definition

So, what about megachurches?

Hartford Institute for Religion Research

According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research

'Megachurch Definition

The term megachurch generally refers to any Protestant congregation... with a sustained average weekly attendance of 2000 persons or more in its worship services.

Most discussions of megachurches focus on very large Protestant Christian congregations in the United States - of which there are over 1200.

Likewise, there are significant numbers of megachurches throughout the world, especially in Korea, Brazil, and several African countries, although no exact count exists for this worldwide phenomenon. The largest megachurch in America averages 35,000 in attendance; however, several churches in Korea claim over 250,000 attenders.

Although very large congregations have existed throughout Christian history, there has been a rapid proliferation of churches with massive attendance since the decade of the 1970's. As such, some researchers suggest that this church form is a unique collective response to distinctive cultural shifts and changes in societal patterns throughout the industrialized, urban and suburban areas of the world.

While size is the most immediately apparent characteristic of these congregations, the Protestant megachurches in the United States generally share many other traits. Virtually all these megachurches have a conservative theology, even those within mainline denominations. A large number are nondenominational but the majority are affiliated with a denomination. The groups in the table below account for 80% of all megachurches.'

'The majority of megachurches (over sixty percent) are located in the southern Sunbelt of the United States - with California, Texas, Georgia and Florida having the highest concentrations.'

Largest Five Churches in USA from Two Sources

From:

Sermon Central

1. Lakewood Church, Houston, Texas: Pastor Joel Osteen-Attendance 43, 500
2. Second Baptist Church, Houston, Texas: Pastor Ed Young-Attendance 22, 659
3. North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, Georgia: Pastor Andy Stanley-Attendance 22, 557
4. Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Illinois: Pastor Bill Hybels-Attendance 22, 500
5. LifeChurch.tv, Edmond, Oklahoma: Pastor Craig Groeschel-Attendance 20, 823

Forbes

1. Lakewood Church, Houston Texas, Pastor Joel Osteen, Attendance 43, 500, Annual Budget $70 Million
2. Second Baptist Church of Houston, Pastor Edwin Young, Attendance 24, 000, Annual Budget $53 Million
3. North Point Community Church, Pastor Andy Stanley, Attendance 23, 000, Annual Budget $38. 5 Million
4. Willow Creek Community Church, Pastor Bill Hybels, Attendance 22, 500, Annual Budget $36. 2 Million
5. LifeChurch.tv, Pastor Craig Groeschel, Attendance 21, 000, Annual Budget $32 Million


Houston, Texas (trekearth.com)


Caddo Lake, Texas (Google Images)


Alex Fraser Bridge, Richmond/New Westminster, BC (trekearth.com)


Conwy Castle, Wales 2001

Thoughts

A former professor/mentor of mine suggested I look at potential employment via megachurches with obviously more possible work being available being in the United States than much smaller and less Christianized, Canada. Pastor Joel Osteen's theological inadequacies have been well-documented by those such as Dr. Albert Mohler and I am sure throughout the blogosphere, but that is just one let us state, questionable, example of a megachurch. Perhaps some churches with over 2000 (or somewhat less) attendees will have a need for Biblical Studies and Theology programs at a BA level and someone of my credentials could be considered a very useful potential employee.

Of course there are many issues to discuss potentially in comments in regard to a megachurch possibly not meeting the needs of attenders and members when a large church becomes too large and corporate. And there are also many things a larger church can accomplish with more revenue in comparison to a smaller church.


Lego megachurch (Google Images)






Cartoons from Google Images.


Thanks to my friend Mark for a post on Facebook...
Of course Benny has been on this blog previously. Here is a reprise below.

The Christian and The Martial Arts

Yuanyang, China (trekearth.com) 

February 25, 2012 

I started at Karate-Kung Fu at a paid club at age of seventeen but after two years realized that Kata and much of what was being taught was not much practical good to me in the context of self-defence, a street fight, or against weapons. I was never interested at all in any of the spiritual aspects of the martial arts, so any hyper-fundamentalist at this point can take a chill pill. As well the club I joined divorced this from its practices. 

So, having been provided some basic knowledge, I quit classes after two years and spent years with martial arts bag work and sparred with a few friends over the years to develop my skills. I did significantly improve. I also read on the martial arts and bought videos. I studied off of the internet. I realized that to avoid weapons defence training as an aspect of self-defence was unwise and so I trained with mock knives as part of sparring. In fact a friend was stabbed with a stick in the hand on one occasion... A minor wound. He told me this training may have saved him in a knife incident at work years later. There was evidence that I was improving over the years. 

In Greater Manchester (1999-2001) in the beginning of my PhD studies I was burgled twice and I got myself out of a couple of potential fights by standing up to hoodlums, which are quite common in Northern England, sad to state. The first time I was burgled I was back home in BC, Canada for Christmas and all my electronic equipment was stolen. The second time, I wisely stored everything with a friend, accept for a couple things I forgot. At the location I was burgled the second time and where I lived where I was attacked, which I shall describe shortly, a neighbour was actually murdered. Apparently a person or person tied this man to a chair, beat him to death, took nothing and left the door of his flat wide open for all to see. 

The rumour was that this man had been having affairs with underage girls which would be easy to believe from all the teen mothers that could be viewed in the area, but the grocers that knew the man stated he was clean and that the murder was for another reason, perhaps random reason. Anyway, Uncle Chuck and I were in Downtown Manchester, Decemeber 2000 and were attacked by three men that I later realized were part of a pack of approximately thirty men, some were drunk. I ended up fighting three and was winning the fights on points but due to my conservative approach, because I did not want to get stabbed by turning my back on one of them (assuming they could have knives or screwdrivers), did not go in harder to knock one of them out or at that time have the knowledge I do now concerning choking them out, or was as used to throwing someone to the ground as I would be now, and therefore in frustration to save face one of them called me a an 'f' er' and threw a bottle at me from a distance (as I had clocked him with a severe round house kick and punches and he had left) and it hit me in the nose breaking it and two of my front teeth. 

This actually made my sleep apnea go from two stage (born with) to three stage. Thankfully this is quite a bit better with treatment and will never be that bad again. The lessons. The Karate/Kung Fu class only served me with basics. The bag work only served me with the basics. The best and more advanced martial arts work I have done is to take the basic physics of punching, kicking, choking, holds, and basic take downs, and to apply them to street fighting offence and defence, including weapons. This was done in the context of sparring as well. I would also strongly suggest that persons arm themselves within the rules of the law. I won the fights in Manchester on points, but I should have fought more offensively and attempted to take the three guys out and perhaps I would not have been bottled. But, even then I still could have faced thirty more men. 

Sometimes the use of a weapon or weapons, within the rules of the law is the best answer for a reasonable chance of survival. I realize I have a fair amount of female readers and Blogger has mainly female members, and I would advise females to learn self-defence, and martial arts and to also arm themselves within the limits of the law. I am not sure if Art Martial has anything to do with this post.

My photo 1: These are the metal clubs I use at home to practice with and I also use these during sparring sessions. I also use a metal baseball bat, wood club and purchased legally a Swiss Army Knife that is used with the blade retracted for sparring purposes. 

My photo 2: Uncle Chuck

My photo 3: Zombie with a six pack...