So, Who Are These People Who Go to Megachurches?

No surprise here. Those who attend megachurches are much "more likely to be young, single, more educated and wealthier," says a major new study. The evidence also shows a lot of lookey-loos, and very high turnover. Click here: Survey Examines America's Megachurchgoers | Christianpost.com

I grew up in a Christian Bookstore, and managed our family's bookstore until 1995.  One of the giants was Berean.  They used to sell mostly books, but like most other "Christian stores," Christian trinkets and T-shirts displaced serious theology books and commentaries.  Now, Berean is on the verge of going the way of all flesh.  Click here: Berean Christian Stores Files Chapter 11, Seeks Buyer - 6/12/2009 7:10:00 AM - Publishers Weekly#&source=title

If I commanded a warship (as an Arleigh Burke Desron 23 fan, its my fantasy), I'd not only ban Brussels sprouts, but Okra as well.  That slimy stuff is of Satan--no doubt, a post-Fall phenomena.  Peas might make my list as well.  I'd ban all the stuff I hated as a kid, but my parents made me eat anyway.  You know, the stuff you'd hide in a napkin, or give to the dog.  Problem with our dog was he wouldn't eat Okra.  He wouldn't even take it out to bury.  I'll bet cats like Okra.  Click here: Royal Navy captain bans brussels on Plymouth warship

Speaking of things I don't like to eat, be careful at the local Sushi-Bar. There's critter eggs in that raw fish. Click here: Are urban tapeworms on the rise?: Scientific American Blog

Comments

[robert kellly]

Dear Brother in Arms,

Its not so much what is preached in today's churches mega or not, its what is not preached. Do you think 501c3 churches have sold out for money exemption for silence as LBJ had planned in 1954 ? I do.

In 8 short years, prayer in school was struck down by US Supreme Ct, in 10 years bible taken out of school. Roe v Wade followed.

. Pastors have the continual attention of many people on a regular basis, probably the only person church folk listen to on a regular basis. As a result, Christians end up not caring about politics, and as a result we have lost political skills as conservatives. Momentum has been stilled.

Nowaday pastors turn their focus on the flock and are upset when they aren't growing as a church to mega status. But we are not encouraged to stand politically together as salt. We have lost our dialogue of engagement with the culture as a result. My last church was afraid to offend people in community and this was a strategically placed churches in a very liberal city.

Churches end up becoming mentally ill places because of the inertia and inaction. We are more than conquerors yet are being silenced.

Our youth become bored easy in church because of this inaction. We are not " exposing the lies" of satan vis-a-vis politicians etc..

Btw, nowadays where are the preacher clubs? A Billy Graham could not be discovered if he lived as youth in todays culture.

We have lost our way, sold out to mammon, and forgotten God is God in our theology.

[wayne pelling]

Very interesting . The Mega churches here in Australia are usually small compared to USA. our biggest is HIllsong which has about 20,000 members (and poor publicity, after there was an allegation that they had not spent federal government funds allocated for alcohol programs with indigenous youth.The Senior pastor is reputed to live in a mansion on Sydney Harbour)
Usally here Assembly of God or other Pentecostal groups draw the young people,with the occassional mega Baptist church.
I read that Hillsong has a drop out rate of 19-26%. I think after a while, one gets sick of an enviornment of triumphalism and repetetive singing of hymns? that are not really inspiring to sing. Not Hymns Ancient and Modern but Hymns Awful and Mournful

[George]

I'd rather dwell on the Okra. Seems more compelling for some reason...
Nuthin' wrong with the stuff. I used to grow it all the time when I lived where I could have a garden. Had a great recipe for Southern-style stewed tomatoes with okra. But I didn't mind just boiling and eating it straight, either. Down yonder they like it fried, but I think that ruins the delicate texture and flavor.

[Chris Sherman]

I ♥ Brussels sprouts! Sorry Pastor Riddlebarger, you just went down a notch on my Pastor-o-meter. Good thing for you we agree about cats and okra. Well, actually I do like cats, they taste just like chicken.

I check out the local Berean Christian Accessory store every about once a year. Not only has the book section dwindled, but many of the books they have kept on their shelves are the pop-Christian prosperity gospel stuff- Joyce Meyers, TD Jakes etc. It was hard to find anything with some real meat in it.

Robert Kelly ,
If we allow Christian prayer in schools, then do we not also have to allow buddhist and islam etc. prayers as well? Wouldn't it be better if the schools just stuck to teaching academics?

[Steven Carr]

Okra is the stuff of angels. There is nothing better than fried Okra, but I love it in soup or stew. Too bad for you.

["lee n. field"]

Re megachurches and stuff: After Kim was on Issues, etc. yesterday (16 jun 2009)-- (and that was good too), Todd Wilkin talked to Warren Cole Smith, author of "A Lover's Quarrel with the Evangelical Church". ( There's getting to be an identifiable genre of books like this. I've read 3 within the last year or so, Horton's Christless Christianity, Julia Duin's Quitting Church, and David Wells' Courage to be Protestant.)

http://www.issuesetc.org/podcast/252061609H2S1.mp3

Worth the half hour to listen to. I learned some things I had not known before. Fer instance, the target consumer of Christian radio is notional "Becky", a 34 year old woman who has two kids, drives a minivan, may or may not actually be a Christian, but wants her radio listening to be "safe for the whole family". What Becky listens to gets sung in the contemporary worship service in a couple years.

<sigh>Another book for the queue.

[Zrim]

Lee,

Weird. My sister-in-law is named Becky. She's 40, has a Christian radio DJ husband, three kids and is mainstream mega-evangelical. She also drives a minivan. Man, those advertisers sure know their work--that sounds just like Beck. She also loves pop neo-con politics (read: Rush!), Mel Gibson movies and thinks political incorrectness and incivility are the same thing. That last one makes me laugh and laugh and laugh.

Robert,

I'm sorry, where in the Bible are we called to "have political skills as conservatives"? And don't we "expose the lies of Satan" when we participate in Word and sacrament? And speaking of Billy Graham, have you ever heard of Stuart Robinson?

[wayne pelling]

A young woman who was a member of Hillsong in Sydney,has written a book about her experiences there ,entitiled PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES. She has now become Jewish,but the book is not flattering about Hillsong per se.There was a case of sexual abuse by the present Senior Pastor's father,himself a pastor,and his son sacked him. At a subsequent service,the Senior Pastor asked for prayer for his family,nothing said about the victims requiring prayer.This was the last straw for this young woman who then left.

Zrim,
The Stuart Robinson i know of, is or was Senior Pastor of Crossways Baptist Church here in Melbourne,about 8 kilometres from where I live, and it is meant to be the largest Baptist Church in Australia,having approximately 3000 members. small as i said compared to America. But he probably has a namesake over the BIG PUDDLE (ie the pacific)

[Zrim]

Wayne,

The American Stuart Robinson was a Presbyterian during the civil war in the border state of Kentucky. He distinguished the two kingdoms in ways that might make those tempted to take Christianity captive for egalitarianism and abolitionism squirm. In addition, in stark contrast to the likes of Graham, he actually thought the church was necessary to the gospel, not merely incidental at best or negligible at worst. Something tells me he'd've made a really bad mega-churcher.


http://www.infibeam.com/Books/info/Preston-D-Graham/A-Kingdom-Not-of-This-World-Stuart/0865547572.html

[Karen]

That funny. I am "Becky" for all practical purposed - I'm 34 years old, have two kids, I am a Christian, and I do care about what my kids listen to, but no minivan. I absolutely cannot stand Christian music stations and I can't think of any friends who particularly like them. I do listen to Christian talk radio occasionally but mostly the off-hours shows (I remember R.C. Sproul used to come on around 11 PM as I was getting off of my work shift). I think there are actually a lot of Beckys out there who have little patience for the mediocrity of Christian radio - I really can't remember the last time I got into a friend's car and heard KLUV playing.

[wayne pelling]

zrim,
Thanks for the post and the link. I take it that this Stuart Robinson would have been a contemporary of Robert Dabney,"Stonewall " Jackson's chief of staff and chaplain in the Confederate Army?
Yes you are right,the church is the necessary vehicle of the Gospel,imperfect at times,but still necessary ,and we know that One day it will be made perfect. I get annoyed when emergents "stick the boot in", to the Church and think they can do without it.What happens-they form new churches but under other names ,such as "alternative worship groups" or celebration of life etc.

regards

[Zrim]

Wayne,

Emergents, as they 'dis ecclessiology, are just warmed over evangelicals trying to re-invent themselves. In that way, they are really nothing new. Like KR said in his WSC address: there is nothing new under the sun, just variations on a theme. Another gem-Riddlebargerism. You go, boy, Kim.

[DB]

Baptist church in Australia with 3000 members? Maybe they are more honest in there accounting than in the US. I live in an area where there are at least a half dozen such churches (of various denominations). The one around the corner from me boasted a membership of 16000, but they NEVER had more than 2500 in attendance on a good Sunday. I used to attend there. One Sunday the pastor was rabbit-trailing away from the main point of the sermon (it didn't matter -- the main point was pretty weak). He said on his excursion that the way they count attendance was this: If the youth pastor held a Bible study at lunch in a highschool they counted the attendance. If the college minister held a Bible study in a dorm or frat house at a local college, they counted the attendance. If the geriatric ( ;-) ) minister held a Bible study at the rest home they counted the attendance. They added all this attendance and probably a lot more to their Sunday figures, so I imagine some highschoolers, some college students, some elderly people, etc. who attended there and attended church were counted twice.

I left there long ago and belong to a reformed church, where the attendance is LARGER than the membership, where the elders take seriously the care of the souls under their charge, and where the main thing isn't numbers, but "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" presented in Word and Sacrament.

[Alberto]

Dr. Riddlebarger, perhaps it was the way the Brussel Sprouts were prepared which made them so unpleasant. They do become unpleasant when cooked for too long due to a chemical in them. I think they're great roasted with a little olive oil and salt.

As for peas, you should watch an episode of Good Eats on the Food Network which I think is titled, "Give Peas a Chance."

[Auk]

My dear esteemed Dr. Riddlebarger,

Regarding the increase of the dreaded Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense (salmon tapeworm):

Dude should've thought twice before eating a salmon sashimi salad in a place that's 700 miles from the nearest ocean (the Great Lakes don't count)!

Auk

P.S. everytime I go to an aquarium, and see tuna, salmon, or other yummy sealife swimming around, I can't help but think, "...alll I need are a pair of chopsticks, some wasabi, and little soy sauce!"