MEGACHURCHES, MEGABUSINESSES

Luisa Kroll,

NEW YORK - Maybe churches aren't so different from

corporations. World Changers Ministries, for instance,
operates a music studio, publishing house, computer
graphic design suite and owns its own record label. The
Potter's House also has a record label as well as a daily Megachurches,
talk show, a prison satellite network that broadcasts in Megabusinesses
260 prisons and a twice-a-week Webcast. New Birth
Missionary Baptist Church has a chief operating officer Alternative Music,
and a special effects 3-D Web site that offers videos-on- Alternative Message
demand. It publishes a magazine and holds Cashflow Spiritually Profitable
101 Game Nights. And Lakewood Church, which Gaming
recently leased the Compaq Center, former home of the David Vs. Goliath
NBA's Houston Rockets, has a four-record deal and The Good Book
spends $12 million annually on television airtime.
On A Script And A
Prayer
Welcome to the megabusiness of megachurches, where
pastors often act as chief executives and use business Book Value: As God is
tactics to grow their congregations. This entrepreneurial My Witness
approach has contributed to the explosive growth of That Old-Time Religion
megachurches--defined as non-Catholic churches with at Say A Prayer
least 2,000 members--in the U.S. Indeed, Lakewood, Holy Real Estate
New Birth, The Potter's House and World Changers,
four of the biggest, have all experienced membership Dear Harper
gains of late. Of course, growth for them has a higher Quiet Crusade
purpose: to spread their faith to as many people as they can. "In our society growth
equals success," says Scott Thumma, faculty associate at the Hartford Institute for
Religion Research. "And religious growth not only equals success but also God's
blessing on the ministry."

In 1970, there were just ten such churches, according to John Vaughn, founder of
Church Growth Today, which tracks megachurches. In 1990, 250 fit that description.
Today, there are 740. The most common trait that these churches share is their size;
average number of worshippers is 3,646, up 4% from last year, according to Vaughn.
But they also demonstrate business savvy, with many holding conferences (47%) and
using radio (44%) and television (38%), according to a 1999 survey conducted by the
Hartford Institute for Religion Research. The average net income of megachurches
was estimated at $4.8 million by that same survey.

Churches are exempt from income taxes. But in some cases they do pay an unrelated
business income tax on activities not substantially related to the church's religious,
educational or charitable purposes. (Churches do pay payroll, sales and, often,
property taxes.)
Church Attendance* City, State Pastor
Lakewood Church 25,060 Houston, Tex. Joel Osteen
Rev. Creflo
World Changers 23,093 College Park, Ga.
Dollar
Calvary Chapel of Costa Pastor Chuck
20,000 Santa Ana, Calif.
Mesa Smith
Bishop T.D.
The Potter's House 18,500 Dallas, Tex.
Jakes
Dr. H. Edwin
Second Baptist Church 18,000 Houston, Tex.
Young
Southeast Christian Church 17,863 Louisville, Ky. Bob Russell
Dr. Tommy J.
First Assembly of God 17,532 Phoenix, Ariz.
Barnett
Willow Creek Community
17,115 S. Barrington, Ill. Bill Hybels
Church
Calvary Chapel of Ft. Fort Lauderdale,
17,000 Pastor Bob Coy
Lauderdale Fla.
Saddleback Valley
15,030 Lake Forest, Calif. Dr. Rick Warren
Community Church
*Catholic churches are not tracked for this study. This is all 2003 attendance data
and represents total weekend attendance for each congregation. Source: Dr. John N.
Vaughan, Church Growth Today
Technology also plays a large role in helping these giant churches communicate with
members and keep track of them. Many provide a transcript of the weekly sermons
and an events calendar on the Web site as well as sell products, such as books and
CDs. They also allow members to post prayers and donate online. Almost all (99%)
have Web sites. "Cell phones, e-mail, complex phone systems and the Internet all
enhance the way megachurches work," says Thumma, faculty associate at the
Hartford Institute.

Helping churches grow is a business in itself. There is even a publicly traded

company, Kingdom Ventures (otc: KDMV - news - people ), whose sole mission is
to help faith-based organizations get bigger. In its latest 10Q, the company did
disclose that it's received a subpoena from the Securities And Exchange Commission
relating to its stock and transactions. Founded in 1999, the tiny company operates 12
subsidiaries and claims to work with 10,000 churches on everything from fundraising
to event planning (it provides speakers and artists for events) to upgrading technology
by helping sell new audio and visual equipment and sound systems. "One of the
reasons megachurches are as big as they are is because they use the technology of
today," says Kingdom Chief Executive Gene Jackson, "We can help smaller
churches become big with technology."

If that doesn't help, they may steer folks to a new book they are about to publish:
PastorPreneur, which is hitting Christian book stores this month. The book teaches
pastors to think like entrepreneurs; for instance, encouraging them to set up strategic
partnerships with nonchurch groups and to use event marketing to draw in new
members.

For a lesson in marketing, religious leaders would do well to study the success of Bill
Hybels and his Great Barrington, Ill.-based Willow Creek Community Church. In
1975, he and members of his student ministry went door to door asking residents what
kept them away from church. Hybels then crafted his services to address their
concerns, becoming one of the first pastors to use video, drama and contemporary
music in church and encouraging a more casual dress code. "Hybels really showed
that churches can use marketing principles and still be authentic," says Michael
Emerson, a Rice University sociology professor who has studied megachurches.
Willow Creek, which has a staff of 500 full and part-time employees, is renowned for
its conferences and seminars that teach other churches how to market themselves as
well as for its "buzz" events, featuring well-known personalities such as country
singer Randy Travis, NASCAR Champion owner and former Washington Redskins
coach Joe Gibbs and Lisa Beamer, widow of Sept. 11, 2001, hero Todd Beamer--all
intended to attract nonchurch goers.

Media has helped spread the message, particularly for Lakewood Church, the largest
megachurch in the U.S. In 1981, Joel Osteen, son of then-pastor Joe Osteen, quit
college to set up his father's television ministry. The services eventually aired in 140
countries. He also advertised Lakewood on local television and on billboards
throughout Houston where the church is located. After his father passed away in
1999, Osteen became pastor and expanded the church's media strategy.

Like most churches, Lakewood's broadcasts had been relegated to the very early
Sunday morning shows. Lakewood instead decided to target the top 25 markets in the
nation and negotiate for timeslots on the four top networks between 8 A.M. and 10
A.M., rather than working with just one network. It also agreed to increase its budget
for airtime to $12 million from $6 million. Its program now can be seen in 92% of the
nation's households.

Never satisfied, the church analyzes its media strategy each quarter.

As for the services themselves, Lakewood makes sure to put on a grand show. It has a
12-piece stage band, a lighting designer to set the mood and three large projection
screens. The technology will be even more spectacular when it moves into its new
home in the former Houston Rockets' stadium "We really want it to feel like a
concert," says Duncan Dodds, Lakewood's executive director. Something is working:
Church attendance has grown from 6,000 in 1999 when Osteen became pastor to
25,060 today.

Pastor Rick Warren, who founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., in
1980, has deftly used technology as well as marketing to spread his message. His
Pastors.com, which reaches 100,000 pastors worldwide each week, has e-mail forums,
archives of all of his sermons from the past 22 years and a place to post prayer
requests. He also sends a free weekly newsletter, Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox, to
pastors. When it came time to launch his book, The Purpose Driven Life, last year,
Warren used Pastors.com to invite churches to participate in a "40 Days of Purpose"
event (to correspond with the book's 40 chapters). The 40-day-long event attracted
1,562 churches and was kicked off with a simulcast broadcast to all those churches.
Some 267 radio stations ran a "40 days campaign" during the same time period. And a
CD of "Songs for a Purpose Driven Life" featuring well-known Christian artists was
also released. From the start, the books and CDs were distributed in mass-market
retailers such as Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ), Costco Wholesale
(nasdaq: COST - news - people ), Barnes & Noble (nyse: BKS - news - people ) and
Borders Group (nyse: BGP - news - people ). It quickly became a New York Times
bestseller and has already sold 5.8 million copies, outselling Billy Graham and
making it one of the most successful book promotions in Christian publishing history.

No doubt, churches have learned some valuable lessons from corporations. Now
maybe they can teach businesses a thing or two. Companies would certainly
appreciate having the armies of nonpaid, loyal volunteers. "The business world would
love to have that kind of fellowship," says Vaughn.