Megachurches in the New South

The wake of Hurricane Katrina was my first exposure to a church missionary project. I had traveled to New Orleans with a group from my college to help Habitat gut flooded houses for my spring break, but on day one, our plan was foiled by heavy rain--how ironic. Our group divided up to help others with their indoor projects, and so I went off for the day with a Christian group to work in a soup kitchen. I am slightly ashamed now that, at the time, I fumed at having to spend an entire day with a bunch of "Jesus-freaks" who would, I assumed, devote their time to spouting off bible quotes and "saved" messages to me, the heathen from a secular school, but they did nothing of the sort. Aside from frequent "God bless yous" to the patrons, they were far more engaged in the task at hand: scooping mashed potatoes with the right ladle and peas with the left, depositing them on the plate, and proceeding onto the next. The only difference between this group and my own was that while we spent the evenings plotting to escape from our faculty sponsor to the French Quarter, they held group journaling sessions that related their experiences of the day to their own spiritual growth. My friends laughed because I had been "stuck" with the bible-thumpers, but there was really no difference between them and us, only that they believed their missionary work had a higher purpose. Then again, we did too, believing we were fulfilling our duty to social justice.

Social justice, or the concept of fairness in society, is a key issue in the 2008 general election in which Barack Obama supporters believe that social justice can be attained through welfare policies whilst John McCain supporters believe that governmental welfare policies directly conflict with their notion of fairness. Historically, however, social justice reformations have not been the work of government; rather, religions dictated and led reform movements. Social justice reformation is not the work of government, but political authority is generally necessary to implement nation-wide reforms and regulations, as sociologist N.J. Demarath III explained that while religion is a great moralizing force, in the long haul, politics, money, media, and the capacity for coercion always wins.[1] The secular government is not always necessary though, and this is where megachurches step in.

What are they?

Megachurches are not only motivators for social justice; they represent an ever-increasingly large population of the United States. Of all American citizens 40-percent attend church on a weekly basis, and of those churchgoers, over half attend service at a megachurch.[2] The standard U.S. dictionary, Merriam-Websters, does not yet have a listing for megachurch; however, the earliest use of the word according to available newspaper articles seems to have emerged in the 1970s, and it means any church with an attendant congregation of at least two-thousand members per week. As of September 2008, there are approximately 1,200 churches of such proportions within the borders of the US.[3] The majority of these churches, according to the leading researchers of the movement the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, are located in the South. Large cities, including Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Mobile, Jackson, and Birmingham have the greatest number of megachurches nationwide ranging from one-to-ten of such proportions per 100,000 people.[4] Other megachurches are scattered throughout suburbia in the south, though the most recent data reflects a megachurch-going population of similar proportions around Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Hartford. In total, eighty-percent of the U.S. population lives within a ninety minute drive of a megachurch.[5] Of these churches, over eighty-percent structure programs to suit the needs of their community, including but not limited to daycare programs, bible study, health and wellness centers, small-group spiritual guidance sessions, health clinics, and local welfare programs. This range translates to an exposure of thirty-five percent of the total churchgoing population of the U.S. to a weekly diet of an institutionalized community of religion. The religion of choice is a non-denominational Protestantism, all of which subscribe to three shared beliefs that are also present among Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Pentecostals: the Bible is the inerrant authority on life; salvation comes from faith resulting from a conversion experience; and it is important to evangelize the unchurched.[6]

This phenomenon of community centers replete with all of the amenities of secular life with a spiritual aspect strongly at the heart is largely a southern one, but how did these megachurches evolve, why did they not exist in their current form before, and what social and political implications do they pose for American society? While they did not exist in the current form prior to the 1970s beyond a couple of isolated cases, the history of the megachurch movement is deeply rooted in the history of religion in the US, particularly the spread of influence from the Great Awakening, and later, tent revival movements through the Baptist, Methodist, and eventually Pentecostal church traditions. Furthermore, considering the predominant theme of megachurches is simply their size and predominantly non-denominational congregation, we must examine the geographic locations, their demographics, and the fact that an overwhelming number provide services historically left to the family unit. From this, one can discern how the growth of megachurches reflects the changing regional nature of the New South and contemporary American culture's shared loneliness in the socially isolated suburbia.

Scholarly study of the growth of megachurches in American culture in recent decades appears to be a taboo, though not quite nonexistent, subject among historical journals. Outside of the disciplines of theology and sociology, very little scholarly research exists on megachurches, which is perhaps because academics, by nature, are intellectually suspicious of faith. Though academics may not agree with the teachings of religion, this is no reason to avoid the subject entirely. Beyond theology, there does not seem to be much research into the historical implications of megachurches or even research into how and why they developed and as this leaves the public open to accepting the comments of persuasive media sources such as The New York Times as they fill their columns with trite, meaningless commentary on how megachurches are religion-lite or the Wal-Martization of religion with very little else beyond the journalists supposed authority opinion to qualify the insight.[7] With so much energy spent criticizing the influx of megachurches, perhaps it would be a good idea to figure out a little more about them particularly considering that megachurches are the fastest-growing, popular movement among the Protestant tradition. The "why" behind the proliferation just may help us understand the popularity and the implications this may have for society.

Why did they not exist before?

Megachurches simply did not exist in their current form prior to their recent proliferation because there simply was not enough of a population per town to account for a 2,000 member church, and besides this there were not many structures large enough to accommodate that many people even if there was a large enough congregation. There is record of one Baptist church, however, the Sansom Street Church in Philadelphia that could accommodate 4,000 people in 1812, but there are very few other records of buildings of similar proportion, specifically for religious purposes.[8] As American cities and towns grew, so did the churches. And, as Americans are strong proponents of the idea of exceptionalism, or the notion that the US represents to the world the "shining city on a hill," perhaps the creation of moral communities in the face of a secular country is a physical manifestation of this sentiment.

To answer the "why now" aspect more specifically, management expert Peter Drucker spent a considerable amount of time working with evangelical pastors-the very kind of charismatic leaders that now serve as senior pastors in megachurches-to teach them how to apply business practices to the church.[9] In the face of ever declining church attendance numbers in the 1970s-1980s, churches sought any help possible, and Drucker provided the answer in the form of congregant-friendly sites, light on tradition, heavy on a welcoming spirit and discussion of relevant issues.[10] Basically, Drucker removed the overt religious elements and made church germane to contemporary society. He told pastors that church also needed to incorporate pertinent services beyond the weekly service, which would allow the congregants to better identify and associate themselves as a member of that particular religious community.

How did they emerge?

A charming, welcoming pastor discussing relevant issues is nothing new in the South, however, and in the larger context of American religious history, megachurches have deep roots that help explain their three shared beliefs as mentioned earlier. The north-east of the United States was awash with religious dissenters escaping from persecution in Europe, but today it is the South that claims notoriety as the Bible Belt, home of the American religious fervor. Southern religious historian at Rice University John B. Boles traced the roots of revival-style religion in the South back to the American Revolution and the resulting release from the dry, formal sermons of the Church of England.[11] Once freed from what he characterized as coerced-attendance, the southerners sought change, and so many turned to the Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches that arrived and spread out over the Piedmont about a decade before the war but, up until this point, had little influence.

Seeing an opening in the post-war years, Methodist leader John Wesley drew up plans to create an American Protestant church and, in 1784, asked Thomas Asbury to be the superintendent.[12] Asbury then assigned what he referred to as "farmer-ministers" or unlettered men to complete regional circuits-mostly in the Carolinas and Georgia-in which they stopped to preach at assigned points on assigned days regardless of the weather.[13] This helped spread the word of the Methodist church throughout the south, but religion and revivalism did not take hold during this immediate post-war era. Nevertheless, the influence of the Methodist church on introducing spiritual and experimental (emotional) methods of conversion should not be discounted.

There were other churches that sought to influence the unspiritual South in light of the dying conservative Protestant church. Boles notes that many of these new, small churches found inspiration in the revivalist movement of Samuel Davies in Hanover, Virginia.[14] Rural southerners, however, found little relevant inspiration enough to draw themselves into the new churches, and so Presbyterianism did not thrive despite the now emergent religious vacuum in the south left in the wake of the British colonists.[15] Instead, the same fervent evangelical missionary spirit that fostered American westward expansion, revival movements and awakenings both up north and overseas found a kindred spirit in the south. Here, under the leadership of charismatic "New Light" preacher Shubal Stearns in 1754, Separate Baptist evangelicals gathered converts all the way down the east coast from Connecticut before the group settled in North Carolina.[16] They did not receive a friendly reception from the Governor; however, their mixture of conversational and passionate preaching, charity mission work, and down-to-earth ministry found widespread popular appeal amongst southerners bristling from years in stuffy Anglican churches. Separate Baptist preachers such as Stearns who was deeply inspired by the practices Congregational "New Light" preacher George Whitfield, used outward expressions of emotion to convey the notion of "salvation," which was relatively unheard of at the time in the south. Religion was popular in the South, but personal salvation through the Holy Spirit and the concepts of being Born Again were foreign, and yet they were readily adopted. Stearns' movement, now known as the Separate Baptists that later merged with the Regular Baptists, let rural, poor, hard-working southerners know that they did not need an advanced education to find salvation because a relationship with God could not be forged through knowledge of the Bible; instead, one only had to realize a connection with God through an immediate revelation. The sermons were replete with uplifting songs, hand-shaking, conversations, and relevant preaching from the pastor, and the southerners flocked.

While the Great Awakening helped to make religion a more personal experience, the revival-style institutionalized in the modern megachurch did not truly emerge until the early nineteenth century in the Second Great Awakening. During this period, people became more involved in their spiritual growth, as evidenced in their rejection of the role of the passive-listener in church and the increase in social activism as organized by local churches. As part of social activism, those involved in revivals now sought to reach to the unchurched-a characteristic notable in today's megachurch. The most prominent figure of this era was Charles Grandison Finney who, from 1821, began fashioning revivals into highly organized, exhibition-like ordeals all across the north-east states winning many "converts."[17] Though he did not lead revivals in the South, Finney's extemporaneous style of preaching-only bullet points of main points to discuss as opposed to lengthy, written sermons-reached Baptist and Methodist ministers across the nation, and many were quick to adopt his methods.[18] Also, as Finney did not establish resident churches, Baptist and Methodist churches-the most flexible of Protestant churches at this time willing to embrace the emotional elements of the revival movement-were quick to embrace his many converts.[19]

The post-Civil War era, however, saw a rejection of many of the emotional and experimental methods popular in the first two Awakenings, and thus the Third Great Awakening emerged replete with a new branch of Protestantism, the Pentecostal Church that focuses on the embrace of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts. A conservative, anti-modern, fundamentalist movement emerged within the Methodists that conflicted with the charismatic, emotional elements of the "Holiness" faction within the Methodist Church, and the schism resulted in the formation of the Pentecostal movement from the latter faction.[20] While the new faction materialized in California, the South was ripe for a revival movement where the emotional style of Methodism was still popular, and so Pentecostalism flourished in this fertile ground.[21] That the Pentecostal movement scorned the notion of subverting to a temporal leader could only help their cause in the defeated minds of the post-Civil War Southerners. Methodists and Baptists fled in large numbers to the welcoming, non-denominational services that actively engaged in thrilling, emotional activities brought on by the Holy Spirit. Such activities included speaking in tongues, the "jerks" or violent bodily manifestations, and miracle-working, all of which were reported as demonstrations of consummation by the Holy Spirit.

While the Pentecostal Church shares many of the characteristics of the contemporary megachurch movement with its non-denominational focus and embrace of emotionalism, it does not focus on personal spiritual experience, a primary objective of megachurch attendees.[22] Some of the megachurches, however, do claim a Pentecostal orientation. T.D. Jake's Potter's House in Dallas, for one, claims to be Fundamentalist Pentecostal. Unlike most other megachurches, however, the Potter's House comprises of a predominantly African-American congregation, which is probably because Pentecostal Protestants have embraced desegregation throughout their history more so than any other church. During the latter part of the Nineteenth Century, the Pentecostal movement was counter-cultural, encouraging the growth of mixed-race assemblies beginning with the Azusa Street Revival, but when segregation was at its height in the 1920s, mixed assemblies in southern Pentecostal churches were nearly unheard of.[23] Today, however, megachurches have adopted the desegregated, ethnically inclusive form of earlier Pentecostalism. Martin Luther King, Jr., famously remarked that eleven a.m. is the most segregated hour in America, and even now 55 years later, many churches still struggle to represent the multi-ethnic regions around them. Not so for megachurches; in fact, the 2000 Census shows that the Sunday congregation of megachurches, unlike any other form of Christian church in the US, tends to represent both the racial and ethnic cultures of their neighborhoods.[24] Interestingly, census data also shows that megachurches are more inclined to be located in an area with a higher Asian or Hispanic population, while there is no correlation between black populations and the presence of a church, and there is an negative correlation between the growth of a white population in an area and the likelihood of the presence of a megachurch.[25] The majority of megachurches are predominantly white, but then again, so is mainstream culture and the vast majority of the population. Finally, another difference between the Pentecostal church and the modern megachurch is that Pentecostalism flourished in the impoverished South was that, "Pentecostal churches have been the most successful at recruiting its members from the poorest of the poor;" whereas, megachurch congregants tend to be affluent.[26]

How did they emerge in their modern form?

But what really drives people to attend a church in which their communion has been dispensed by a machine that churns out little cups at a rate of forty cups in two seconds?[27] According to Drucker's business perspective, they needed a hook. For a nation so caught up in the secular realm of work and daily busy-ness, religion must be applicable and important enough to devote time to attend a service each week; however, as Drucker observed, new members would not attend-or continue to attend-unless they were involved in another aspect of the church. So pastors encouraged people to attend marriage counseling, or take their children to the daycare center, or workout in the high-tech church fitness center, and then, the pastors and Drucker believed, they were exposed to the religious environment and hopefully would become more receptive to the Bible and the church itself. This idea of reaching out to the "unchurched" through activities and events harkens back to the Second Great Awakening as found in the revivalist movements and, later, the Pentecostal movement in the South.

At the Southeast Christian Church, for one, their 50,000-square-foot activities center has congregants "pumping iron and praising the Lord go hand in hand."[28] Unlike most other fitness centers, this church-provided gym is free to churchgoers. "If we can get people to come to our gym," Minister Dave Stone explained, "it's only a matter of time before we can get them to visit our sanctuary."[29] Another reason to attend your local megachurch: employment. At the Brentwood Baptist Church in Houston, the Senior Pastor determined that the youth and elderly of his parish were having difficulty finding gainful employment, and so they helped by opening a McDonalds on their grounds.[30] One church has gone so far as to turn its megachurch into a town, and other megachurches are taking note. At the Community Church of Joy, the congregants have embarked on a $100 million campaign to build a "destination center" of housing, hotels, convention center, and a water-slide park to accompany their already existing mini-village that includes essentials such as a school and health clinic. [31] This means, people can be born, live, work, worship, play, die, and be buried all in one convenient location. This is a great innovation for megachurches around cities because, if everything-even food-is is provided at the church, then congregants do not have to leave, which suits them and the church because, if they leave, it is unlikely they will return considering the commute within cities.

For the most part, though, the megachurches focus their activities on education through bible study and grade-school education. In keeping with the European tradition of churches-from which the religious Awakenings were deeply enmeshed with in the first place, most megachurches have at least a preschool on their grounds, and many also offer elementary, middle, and even high school campuses. In 2000, for example, 42-percent of megachurches had a Christian elementary or secondary school on campus, while 30-percent maintained a Bible school.[32] Education does not rest with the children, however, as the pastors of megachurches tend to be highly educated (most have Ph.D.'s), and 69-percent of them sponsor internships for ministerial candidates.[33] Similarly, their congregants are disproportionately college-educated relative to the locations in which they exist.[34] Since a megachurch would create a large financial burden on its congregants, it makes fiscal sense that such a church would seek a demographic region in which a congregation that is well-educated, because on average, those with degrees have greater earning power than those who do not. But, do the churches seek out these congregants or do they simply draw them in with a magnet-like power?

Since the churches provide so many activities, there are plenty of opportunities for congregants to invite friends, and members tend to actively recruit new members. Also, since the megachurches are non-denominational and welcoming to the unchurched, members have a larger pool of friends from which they can invite. Once an attendee, new people are encouraged to join programs that actively incorporate them as members, and it is not difficult to be influenced considering the megachurch ministers have assumed the same passionately evangelistic, charisma as their predecessor revivalists. Hence, megachurches tend to function around a cult of personality model, which explains why pastors such as T.D. Jakes are approaching household name status.[35] Another motivating factor for returned attendance at megachurches, Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church, Houston, the largest church in the country with a weekly attendance of 25,000 explains that his goal is to "give people a boost for the week."[36] He suggests that the "hellfire and damnation" of prior decades forced many to distance themselves from the church, believing that they were sinners and damned anyway. Osteen suggests that megachurches are a massive attempt to reverse this negative relationship with God, but is leaving church with a warm-fuzzy feeling really the point to this massive campaign?

Megachurches are also popular with youths, reflecting a marked change in religious trends since the 1970s. It appears that megachurches attract-whether intentionally or not-two core groups, retirees and young adults (often with small children). Of the two, retirees are more likely to attend church nationwide regardless of the size of the church, perhaps because they feel closer to God or they have more free time, but regardless, that retirees comprise a large portion of megachurch attendees is not significant comparable to current trends in all other church attendance. That youths are attending in large numbers, however, is a reversal of trends in recent decades. One suggestion for this reversed trend is that megachurches have imbibed a youth-oriented culture and worked it into their service. In a survey this past summer, 96-percent of megachurches describe their worship music as contemporary in style, meaning that they incorporate electric guitar, drums, and visual projection equipment into their service.[37] Additionally, 94-percent describe their worship style as "joyful." [38] The very words "contemporary" and "joyful" alone reflect a distinct divergence from the old options of the Latin Mass, the purchase-your-pew High Church Episcopalian service, or the fire-and-brimstone Baptist services that often alienated questioning youths raised in a secular culture who felt cut off from the formality of traditional church culture. It is hard for these churches to compete for youth congregants when a full 89-percent of megachurches profess that they "welcome innovation and change," and they prove it.

Megachurches over the past eight-years alone have worked to meet the rising challenge of providing purpose and outlets for these youths through increasing numbers of missionary and ministry activities that enable the younger congregants to become active members in their church.[39] And, if people become active in an organization, whether it is a school, community center, or church, they are more likely to remain a member. Also, though perhaps not directly linked, a full 100-percent of megachurches report an Internet presence for their church with some even using streaming-media to broadcast their weekly sermons.[40] The use of Internet marketing, however, suggests an attempt to appeal to a younger audience. Osteen relates how parents tell him that their children watch his service on television or online and then request to go to his services because they understand his message "because it's simple."[41]

Religious Landscape

One reason that enormous churches may exist in the South is that, in the US, visible manifestations of the sacred are acceptable. At present, a little statute of an angel presides over my shrubbery while a miniature limestone Celtic cross stands amidst my bed of daffodils. I receive no snide comments from my neighbors, nor does anyone ever mention them for that matter; in fact, other neighbors throughout my subdivision have similar Christian relics in their own front yards because, in the U.S. the visible manifestation is accepted. Europeans may have road shrines where saints are reported to have visited, but nothing in their respective cultures reaches the proselytizing, missionary fervor of the American religious landscape.[42] Americans are accustomed to seeing roadside billboards warning them not to use God's name in vain or he will make rush hour even longer, but even more common, are the simple roadside bulletin signs in-front of churches informing passers of their faith, hours, and perhaps a catchy slogan relating to the week's message. The most notable element of the American religious landscape, however, are the churches. There are over 400,000 churches nationwide, exceeding that of any other country.[43]

Of the 400,000, the majority are located in the South. The only non-South proliferation exist in three areas: southeast California, a former hotbed for Pentecostalism and Revivalism; Hartford, a phenomenon tracing back to early revivalism during the Second Great Awakening; and Chicago, a city that has embraced the ethnic inclusion elements of Pentecostalism and institutionalized revivalism found in modern megachurches.[44] For the most part though, megachurches tend to develop in suburbs as opposed to cities because they need a large area of land to accommodate their expansive facilities as well as a large population to draw on. In recent years, high property taxes have forced many people out of the city and into the urban suburbs, and this trend correlates with the growth of the megachurch movement, though it is difficult to determine whether the two are necessarily related as there is not yet enough information available.[45] However, with the increasing outgrowth to the suburbs, isolation sinks in as Americans leave work, transport themselves home-alone-in their individual steely conduits, and pull into an electronically opened garage before disappearing into their homes for the night. Affluent Americans may live in a nice neighborhood, but they are not spending their time on the porch, or hanging out laundry on the clothesline and chatting with the next door neighbor about so-and-so down the street because, more than likely, they have no idea who lives down the street even if they have been residents of the neighborhood for a decade. Over time, this social isolation breeds loneliness, resulting in the stark details that Americans, more so than citizens of any other industrialized nation, claim to be "lonely," according to a survey by the National Science Foundation in 2006.[46] One-quarter of the 1,500 surveyed cited that they were not close enough to a single individual that they could share their problems with. This suburbia social isolation may explain how 84-percent of megachurches define small group strategy as a key element in their services; however, only about one-half of congregants avail of these services which include bible study and self-help groups.[47]

Implications?

Megachurches have considerable leverage for contributing to the social good; however, in a recent analysis of nationwide budget expenditures, it appears that 47-percent of the budget goes directly to salaries and benefits for the church leaders while only a paltry 13-percent is appropriated for missions and benevolence.[48] Since most of the megachurches, by their very nature, have only one pastor, it seems that this larger-than-life character is also extracting a larger-than-life salary as the average megachurch income in 2005 was $6,021,254.[49] The estimated total income for 2005 was $7.2 billion.[50] Of course, some of this would go to administrative officers within the church itself, but the salary and benefit budget is still considerably larger than it would be at a regular mom-and-pop church in the South. This is not to say that megachurches are simply a business designed to create a large salary for the senior pastor, as based on the characteristics of megachurch pastors nationwide, it seems that any of them could command a large salary in the entertainment or business sector. There must be, therefore, a greater purpose behind the creation of megachurches. In a speech to the Pew Forum, Pastor Rick Warren, an expert on theology and pastor of his own megachurch, Saddleback, explained, "We're interested in turning an audience into an army and mobilizing it for a common good."[51] According to Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, both leading researchers on the growth of megachurches, the megachurches are increasingly becoming more involved in both their local communities and in missionary work outside of their region. In fact, 51-percent cited that their congregation focused on "working for social justice," which is up from 34-percent in 2000, and 90-percent expressed the belief that they are a "positive force for good in our community."[52] Warren, for one, has mobilized his congregation to financially support work on AIDS in Africa and to physically support projects in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.[53] Another megachurch, Windsor Village United Methodist Church, Houston, has sponsored the largest affordable housing project by a non-profit, and yet these churches are still not recognized for their actions by the mainstream-media or even non-megachurches, but why? The Windsor Village project, for one, while it helped relieve a depressed neighborhood, it bears the distasteful mark of the profane in which the secular world has meshed with the spiritual because, in this case as in the case of many other instances of missionary activist work through megachurches, the project was directed and led by a hired MBA.

With regards to the increased activity of youth involvement, perhaps we should be concerned that megachurches are creating a highly-sheltered, increasingly large proportion of the population that spends its time surrounded by only like-minded people. Once large groups segment themselves as such, they lose dialogue with the larger culture, particularly as in this case they begin to assume 24-7 civic responsibility for asserting a moral code in American families in every single aspect. They keep youths constantly engaged in activities, work, volunteering, they are keeping them away from the influences of drugs and crime, but at what expense? Are they producing overly sheltered youths who will leave home, go to college, and at the first taste of freedom and free will, wind up on Girls Gone Wild before their first semester is over?

What do megachurches reveal about the South?

Megachurches are clearly an increasingly popular trend within the Protestant sector of the US and their rapidly expansive growth over the past decade, particularly in multi-ethnic suburban areas in the south, reveals the changing regional nature of the New South. Ever since the outmigration of southern labor during World War II and the accompanying influx of skilled laborers seeking high-tech defense positions, the South has become increasingly diverse and, though not always open to change, the growth of non-denominational, multi-ethnic churches merely seems to be a reflection of this slow trend. While the rising number of northerners moving to the south reflects an increasing Americanization of the Bible Belt, southerners were already moving away from the cities long before WWII and they took their religious needs with them.

The regional changes may help explain the growth of suburbia, the home of the megachurches, but it does not account for the non-denominational and/or multi-ethnic worship services that exist. The former clearly arises from a deep-rooted traditional of revivalism beginning as far back as the American Revolution, through the Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, and beyond. The megachurches share many characteristics with the revival elements of non-denominational congregations possessed with an urgency to reach out to the unchurched. As for the latter, multi-ethnic worship services continue to be limited; however, their very presence suggests that a post-racial society is emerging in the South, having begun less than twenty-years after the Civil Rights movement. Such services only exist in areas that are demographically already multi-ethnic though. As for the claim of Americanization, one can only posit that the institutionalized, big revivalism providing all your needs at one convenient location may reflect a Walmartization of religion.[54] Whether or not the megachurches are bastions of ignorance exposing a decline in culture remains to be seen.

To look at megachurches from a less historical, more modern perspective, it seems, instead, that the rise of megachurches is a reflection of the loss of community found in the mass migration to the suburbs. Megachurches pull every string available-media, marketing, food, fitness facilities, education, entertainment, and flashy slideshows to name a few-to get people in the door and keep them coming back for a generic, watered-down message of the week in the hopes that they will feel compelled to return for additional services and activities during the week. In doing so, megachurches are effectively trying to reach the "unchurched" (namely, youth) and draw them into a religious community lifestyle to replace the deterioration of the community and family unit that previously fulfilled individual's personal needs. Unfortunately, while megachurches reflect the changing regional nature, that very nature is showing us it has fully-embraced a corporate-produced, shallow identity that seeks individualized, self-affirming attention.

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[1] N.J. Demarath III, "A Sinner Among Saints: Confessions of a Sociologist of Culture and Religion," Sociological Forum 17.1: 9, March 2002 [journal on-line]; available from http://www.jstor.org/stable/685085; Internet; accessed 18 October 2008.

[2] Mark Chaves, 2004. Congregations in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 18-19

[3] Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, "Changes in American Megachurches: Tracing Eight Years of Growth and Innovation in the Nation's Largest-Attendance Congregations," Hartford Institute for Religion Research Sept. 12, 2008 http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/mega2008_summaryreport.html; Internet; accessed 22 October 2008.

[4] "Where Megachurches are Concentrated," The New York Times 23 October 2007 [map on-line]; available from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/10/23/business/20071104_MEGACHURCH_GRAPHIC.html; Internet; accessed 22 October 2008.

[5] Gerardo Marti, review of Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America's Largest Churches by Scott Thumma and Dave Travis, Reviews in Religion and Theology 15.3 (28 June 2008): 336-338, [journal on-line]; available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/120091710/main.html, ftx_abs; Internet; accessed 20 October 2008.

[6] Anne C. Loveland and Otis B. Wheeler, From Meetinghouse to Megachurch: A Material and Cultural History, (Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 2003), 2.

[7] Gustav Niebuhr, "Where Religion Gets a Big Dose of Shopping-Mall Culture," New York Times 16 April 1995 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CE4DF173BF935A25757C0A963958260; Internet; accessed 17 October 2008.

[8] Warren Bird, "Megachurches as Spectator Religion: Using Social Network Theory and Free-Rider Theory To Understand the

Spiritual Vitality of America's Largest-Attendance Churches" (Ph.D. diss., Fordham University, 2007), 33.

[9] America.gov, "Ú.S. Megachurches Thrive in Climate of Faith, Tolerance, Bigness," U.S. Department of State 1 August 2008

http://www.america.gov/st/diversity-english/2008/August/20080730182943xlrennef0.3394281.html;

Internet; accessed 17 October 2008.

[10] William C. Symonds, "Earthly Empires. How Evangelical Churches Are Borrowing From the Business Playbook," Business Week 23 May 2005

[11] John B. Boles, The Great Revival: Beginnings of the Bible Belt. Religion in the South, (Kentucky: University of Kentucky Press, 1996), 2.

[12] Ibid., 5

[13] Ibid., 6

[14] John B. Boles, The Great Revival, 2.

[15] Ibid., 3.

[16] Ibid., 4.

[17]The Memoirs of Charles G. Finney, The Complete Restored Text, eds. Garth Rosell and Richard Dupuis, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1989), 629.

[18] Jerry E. Reynolds and D.E. Hicks, Fundamental Error: An Account of the Second Great Falling Away, (Dayton, Ohio: Church History Research and Archives, 2005), 35.

[19] Jerry E. Reynolds and D.E. Hicks, Fundamental Error, 40.

[20] Justin Watson, The Christian Coalition, (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997), 9-11.

[21] Jerry E. Reynolds and D.E. Hicks, Fundamental Error, 41.

[22] Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, "Changes in American Megachurches."

[23] Azusa Street Revival involved an African-American Pentecostal preacher who attracted a following from all around the world to hear him speak in San Francisco.

[24] Kimberly Karnes, Wayne McIntosh, Irwin L. Morris, and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz, "Mighty Fortresses: Explaining the Spatial Distribution of American Megachurches," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 46.2: 261-268 15 May 2007 [journal on-line]; available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/117996747/main.html,ftx_abs; Internet; accessed 18 October 2008.

[25] American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau; available from http://www.census.gov/acs/www/

[26] Ed Gitre, "The CT Review: Pie-in-the-Sky Now," Christianity Today Magazine 44.13 13 Nov 2000 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/november13/36.107.html; Internet; accessed on 20 October 2008. Article explains a UN Report on the historical implications of the Pentecostal Church

[27] Patricia Leigh Brown, "Megachurches as Minitowns," The New York Times 9 May 2002 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E3D81230F93AA35756C0A9649C8B63; Internet; accessed 17 October 2008.

[28] Patricia Leigh Brown, "Megachurches as Minitowns."

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Ibid.

[32] Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, "Changes in American Megachurches."

[33] Ibid.

[34] Kimberly Karnes, Wayne McIntosh, Irwin L. Morris, and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz, "Mighty Fortresses: Explaining the Spatial Distribution of American Megachurches."

[35] Jim Henderson and Matt Casper, Jim & Casper Go To Church, (US: BarnaBooks, 2007), 65.

[36] Amy C. Sims, "Religion Gets Supersized at Megachurches," Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,356,110240,00.html; Internet; accessed 18 October 2008.

[37] Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, "Changes in American Megachurches."

[38] Ibid.

[39] Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, "Changes in American Megachurches."

[40] Ibid.

[41] Amy C. Sims, "Religion Gets Supersized at Megachurches."

[42] Wilbur Zelinsky, "The Uniqueness of the American Religious Landscape," Geographic Review 91.3: 565-585 [journal on-line]; available from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3594741; Internet; accessed 17 October 2008.

[43] Ibid.

[44] "Where Megachurches are Concentrated," The New York Times.

[45] Kimberly Karnes, Wayne McIntosh, Irwin L. Morris, and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz, "Mighty Fortresses: Explaining the Spatial Distribution of American Megachurches."

[46] Miller McPhearson, Lynn Smith-Lovin and Matthew Brashears. National Science Foundation. "General Social Survey." American Sociological Review. 2006.

[47] Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, "Changes in American Megachurches."

[48] Ibid.

[49] Ibid.

[50] Julia Baird, "The Good and Bad of Religion-Lite," Sydney Morning Herald 23 Feb 2006 http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/the-good-and-bad-of-religionlite/2006/02/22/1140563858123.html?page=2; Internet; accessed 20 October 2008.

[51] Rick Warren, "Myths of the Modern Megachurch," Pew Forum Biannual Faith Angle Conference on Religion, Politics, and Public Life, 23 May 2005 [transcript of discussion on-line]; available from http://pewforum.org/events/index.php?EventID=80; accessed 18 October 2008.

[52] Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, "Changes in American Megachurches."

[53] Jim Henderson and Matt Casper, Jim & Casper Go To Church, 5.

[54][54] Stephen Ellingson, "The Megachurch and the Mainline: Remaking Religious Tradition in The Twenty-First Century," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 47.2: 333-334, 22 May 2008 [journal on-line]; available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/120083097/main.html,ftx_abs; accessed 18 October 2008.