“Loving the Sinner, Hating the Sin”: an Analysis of American
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Megachurches in Hampton Roads MEGACHURCHES in HAMPTON ROADS
Megachurches in Hampton Roads MEGACHURCHES IN HAMPTON ROADS hurch attendance is on the decline. The Pew Research Center’s longstanding Religion & Public Life Project indicates that the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated rose “from just over 15 percent to just under 20 percent of all U.S. adults” between 2007 and 2012. Fully one-third of adults under the age of 30 do not identify with a particular religion. The decrease in religious participation has been most evident among Protestants, both evangelical and mainline, whose share of the U.S. population fell from 53 percent to 48 percent in the same five-year period. The Pew Research Center suggests that these trends may Cbe informed by younger Americans’ distaste for the perceived associations between organized religion and conservative politics, and by their tendency to postpone marriage and parenthood until later in life. Secularization and a decrease in social engagement of all kinds in the United States today also might play a role.1 There is, however, a standout exception to Americans’ move away from organized religion – a simultaneous increase in both the number and size of the largest Protestant congregations, also known as “megachurches.” To be considered a megachurch, a church must have an average weekly attendance of at least 2,000 participants, although the attendance at the very largest churches actually is far greater. Lakewood Church in Houston, led by Pastor Joel Osteen, is the largest church in the country, with an average weekly attendance of around 44,000. According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, there are 1,546 megachurches in the U.S. -
How the U.S. Christian Right Is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa
Colonizing African Values How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa A PUBLICATION OF POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES BY KAPYA JOHN KAOMA Political Research Associates (PRA) is a progressive think tank devoted to supporting movements that build a more just and inclusive democratic society. We expose movements, institutions, and ideologies that undermine human rights. PRA seeks to advance progressive thinking and action by providing research-based information, analysis, and referrals. Copyright ©2012 Political Research Associates Kaoma, Kapya John. ISBN-10: 0-915987-26-0 ISBN-13: 978-0-915987-26-9 Design by: Mindflash Advertising Photographs by: Religion Dispatches, Michele Siblioni/AFP/Getty Images, Mark Taylor/markn3tel/Flickr This research was made possible by the generous support of the Arcus Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund. Political Research Associates 1310 Broadway, Suite 201 Somerville, MA 02144-1837 www.publiceye.org Colonizing African Values How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa A PUBLICATION OF POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES BY KAPYA KAOMA POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES i Colonizing African Values - How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa Foreword ganda’s infamous 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill, onstrates in Colonizing African Values that the Ameri- which would institute the death penalty for a can culture wars in Africa are growing hotter. Tracing U new and surreal category of offenses dubbed conflicts over homosexuality and women’s repro- “aggravated homosexuality,” captured international ductive autonomy back to their sources, Kaoma has headlines for months. The human rights community uncovered the expanding influence of an interde- and the Obama administration responded forcefully, nominational cast of conservative American inter- the bill was tabled, and the story largely receded ests. -
Guide Salvation with a Smile.Indd
Salvation with a Smile Joel Osteen, Lakewood Church, and American Christianity INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE Joel Osteen, the smiling preacher, has quick- ly emerged as one of the most recognizable Protestant leaders in the country. His mega- church, the Houston based Lakewood Church, hosts an average of over 40,000 worshipers each week. Osteen is the best-selling author of numerous books, and his sermons and in- spirational talks appear regularly on main- stream cable and satellite radio. Salvation with a Smile, the fi rst book devoted to Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen, offers a critical history of the congregation by linking its origins to post-World War II neopentecos- talism, and connecting it to the exceptional- ly popular prosperity gospel movement and the enduring attraction of televangelism. In this richly documented book, historian Phillip Luke Sinitiere carefully excavates the life and times of Lakewood’s founder, John Osteen, to explain how his son Joel expanded his legacy and fashioned the congregation into Ameri- ca’s largest megachurch. As a popular preacher, Joel Osteen’s ministry has been a source of existential strength for many, but also the routine target of religious critics who vociferously contend that his teach- ings are theologically suspect and spiritually shallow. Sinitiere’s keen analysis shows how Osteen’s rebuttals have expressed a piety of resistance that demonstrates evangelicalism’s fractured, but persistent presence. Salvation with a Smile situates Lakewood Church in the context of American religious history and illuminates how Osteen has par- layed an understanding of American religious and political culture into vast popularity and success. -
Tabalujan, Benny Simon (2020) Improving Church Governance: Lessons from Governance Failures in Different Church Polities
Tabalujan, Benny Simon (2020) Improving church governance: Lessons from governance failures in different church polities. MTh(R) thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/81403/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Improving Church Governance Lessons from Governance Failures in Different Church Polities by Benny Simon TABALUJAN A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Theology (University of Glasgow) Edinburgh Theological Seminary 10 December 2019 © Benny Tabalujan, 2019 i Abstract This thesis focuses on the question as to whether using a particular church polity raises the likelihood of governance failure. Using the case study research method, I examine six case studies of church governance failures reported in the past two decades in the English media of mainly Western jurisdictions. The six case studies involve churches in the United States, Australia, Honduras, and Singapore. Three of the case studies involve sexual matters while another three involve financial matters. For each type of misconduct or alleged misconduct, one case study is chosen involving a church with congregational polity, presbyteral polity, and episcopal polity, respectively. -
Minister in Gay Prostitution Scandal to Make 'Groundbreaking' Announcement Recommend 89 People Recommend This
EDITION: U.S. INTERNATIONAL Sign up Log in Home Video NewsPulse U.S. World Politics Justice Entertainment Tech Health Living Travel Opinion iReport Money Sports Feedback Minister in gay prostitution scandal to make 'groundbreaking' announcement Recommend 89 people recommend this. By the CNN Wire Staff June 2, 2010 1:56 a.m. EDT NewsPulse Most popular stories right now Ted Koppel mourns son's death Stuck blade stalls BP effort to STORY HIGHLIGHTS (CNN) -- Ted Haggard, the megachurch pastor and former National cap well Ted Haggard's career as a Association of Evangelicals chief whose career was undone by a gay pastor went south after a sex prostitution and drugs scandal in 2006, is expected to talk about the UK police find body believed to and drugs scandal in 2006 next step in his career Wednesday. be suspected Haggard admitted to the sex 40 years of marriage, then the allegations, but said he tossed With his family by his side at his Colorado Springs home, Haggard is the drugs separation expected to a make "surprise groundbreaking" announcement, He also stepped aside as pastor according to a news statement Tuesday. A jazzy wedding for 'Glee's' of the 14,000-member New Life Church Jane Lynch In 2006, Haggard admitted he had received a massage from a Explore the news with NewsPulse » Denver, Colorado, man who claimed the prominent pastor had paid him for sex over three years. Haggard also admitted he had bought methamphetamine but that he threw it away. After the allegations were made public, Haggard resigned as president of the influential National Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella group representing more than 45,000 churches with 30 million members. -
Megachurches and Popular Culture: on Enclaving and Encroaching
Chapter 4 Megachurches and Popular Culture: On Enclaving and Encroaching Simon Coleman and Saliha Chattoo 1 Introduction: Performing the ‘Mega’ Christians have always built large churches. Imposing cathedrals dominated the architectural profiles and often the economies of cities in medieval Eu- rope, and spread into the New World along with colonisation and missionisa- tion (Coleman and Bowman 2018). Yet, while such churches are often huge, we do not think of them as mega. Their size – expressive of ecclesiastical authority – has a different quality to the dynamic, ostensibly more democratic forms of expansion that we associate with today’s megachurches.1 If many Gothic and neo-Gothic cathedrals expanded upwards towards the heavens while ostentatiously occupying urban centres, contemporary megachurches have tended to expand sideways, taking up large swathes of land in suburban areas, or repurposing large-scale facilities such as sports arenas. Furthermore, these differences in models of growth go beyond the spatial or the architec- tural. Cathedrals have tended to represent ‘high culture’, embodying national identity, craftsmanship, education, and patronage. Megachurches inhabit a very different cultural realm, relying on an ability to attract people to their ser- vices and consumers to their products. An empty cathedral (and there are many) still provides an important symbolic and civic function. An empty megachurch serves no purpose at all. This chapter demonstrates the importance of popular culture to the devel- opment of megachurches, showing its intimate connection with such church- es’ performances of what is often made to seem like ineluctable expansion. Our use of the word performance here is very deliberate, since it is meant to convey the sense of both producing growth and displaying it through a variety of media (see also Goh 2008; Maddox 2012). -
Marcus Lamb, Founder and President of Daystar Television Network
Marcus Lamb, Founder and President of Daystar Television Network Marcus Lamb, founder and president of Daystar Television Network, was born October 7, 1957 in Cordele, Georgia and raised in Macon, Georgia. At the age of 15, in the summer of 1973, he began preaching as an evangelist. Upon skipping his senior year of high school in 1974, at the age of 16, Marcus enrolled in Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee on a full scholarship. At age 19, he began his final senior semester at the private liberal arts school and graduated Magna Cum Laude. In December of 1981, Marcus Lamb founded Word of God Fellowship in Macon. He married Joni Trammell of Greenville, South Carolina in 1982, and she began to travel full time with him as they ministered in more than 20 states. As an evangelist, Marcus quoted so many scriptures in his sermons that many began referring to him as the “Walking Bible.” While on a trip to Israel in 1983, God spoke to Marcus Lamb and told him to found a Christian television station in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1985, Marcus built WMCF-TV, “45 Alive,” in Montgomery. It was the first Christian TV station in the state, and Marcus was the youngest person in the country to build a full power television station. In 1990, the Lambs moved to Dallas, Texas, to build KMPX-TV 29. Through a series of miracles and divine favor, TV 29 went on the air full power in September of 1993. Daystar Television Network officially launched in 1997 with a live broadcast of T.D. -
Ii 2020 Megachurch Compensation Report
2020 MegaChurch Compensation Report August 2020 Church Compensation Services, LLC PO Box 801806 Dallas, Texas 75380 214-998-3340 www.churchcompensationservices.com Copyright © 2020 Church Compensation Services, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or shared in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, scanning, recording or by an information storage or retrieval system, without the permission of Church Compensation Services LLC. This does not apply to organizations who purchased the survey and intend to use the information strictly for their own internal organizational use. © 2020 Church Compensation Services, LLC No part of this report may be shared or copied without the express written consent of Church Compensation Services LLC ii Table of Contents Page Number Job List iv Ministry Descriptions vii Overview viii Participants ix Participant Demographics x Definitions xi Scope Cuts xiii Pay Practices xv COVID-19 and The Church xvi Employee Benefits xix Salary Structure Ranges xxi Compensation Data 1-88 © 2020 Church Compensation Services, LLC No part of this report may be shared or copied without the express written consent of Church Compensation Services LLC iii Pastoral and Ministry Positions Page # 1170 Senior/Lead Pastor 1 1180 Executive Pastor 2 1190 Executive Leadership Team Member 3 1200 Associate Pastor 4 1210 Community/Neighborhood Pastor 5 1220 Teaching Pastor 6 1225 Hispanic Pastor 7 1300 Multi-site Pastor 8 0265 Licensed Counselor 9 0780 Director/Pastor of Ministry -
Religious Motivation and Megachurch Behavior
Examining Growth: Religious Motivation and Megachurch Behavior Kevin Bohm March 6, 2012 Senior thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics at the University of Puget Sound 1 Introduction The application of rigid, seemingly stoic theories to religious practices is controversial and at times offensive; however there is insight into the realm of religious behavior that can be gained through the application of sociological and economic exploration. Since Laurence Iannaccone’s seminal article in 1994, “Why strict churches are strong,” the focus of economic literature has revolved around the concept of utility maximization, which examines behaviors and choices through the lens of club theory, and how the maximum net benefits of religion for members of a congregation can be produced. However, most models constrain the discussion to extreme ends of strictness: strict-sectarian churches, or religious groups so lenient that they require no sacrifices of their members at all. This leaves a large gap in the club theory of religion as such extremes hardly represent the true ecosystem in the religious market. The economic models can explain the extremes well, but cannot account for success of moderate religious groups, and most notably, a class of congregations called megachurches. Megachurch is not a pejorative term; it is a term that describes a class of Protestant congregations with over 2,000 members in weekly attendance. Megachurches are thriving in the religious market because they are able to draw in large numbers of members, and retain high levels of commitment. These congregations are able to make God accessible, and membership in the organization desirable to a diverse group by offering a variety of ministries and activity groups that engage and serve their membership more effectively than their mainstream counterparts. -
Catholic Reconquest: the Case of the Sainte Blandine Megachurch in Lyon
Chapter 6 Catholic Reconquest: The Case of the Sainte Blandine Megachurch in Lyon Valérie Aubourg For more than half a century, Evangelical Protestantism (and especially its Pen- tecostal version) has been showing undeniable vitality. Increase in member- ship around the world follows a reverse curve to that of Catholics in Western societies. Noting this “decline” (Le Bras 1976), the Catholic Church has sought to renew its approach so that the “Christian message reaches modern man”.1 With John Paul ii, the expression “new evangelization” was deployed and the Pope promoted it with determination.2 Currently, Pope Francis seeks to “renew the missionary impulse” and invites a “kerygmatic catechesis” favouring a “per- sonal encounter with the love of Jesus, who saves us”.3 In this context, many Catholic parishes are adopting a so-called missionary approach based on the principle of growth—in line with the Church Growth Movement and its founder, Donald McGavran—and are influenced by ex- amples from mega-evangelical churches. The most emblematic and oldest of these mega-evangelical churches is the Full Gospel Central Church, set up by Korean Pastor David Yonggi Cho (Hui-Yeon, 2011). The principles laid down by Yonggi Cho are subsequently taken up by megachurches such as the New Hope Community Church (Portland, Oregon), founded by American pastor Dale Galloway, and California’s Saddleback Valley Community Church. In Catholic circles, several parishes are inspired by an ecclesial model based on small units meeting in homes. In the United States, this was pursued by Michel Eivers, the pastor of St. Boniface Church in Miami, following the exam- ple of the Korean Yoido Full Gospel Church and the Calvary Orlando Church (Florida). -
Initial Study-Mitigated Negative Declaration Saddleback Community Church Expansion Project
Final Mitigated Negative Declaration Response to Comments on Draft Initial Study-Mitigated Negative Declaration Saddleback Community Church Expansion Project Subject: Response to Public Review Comments and Final Mitigated Negative Declaration This document has been prepared to respond to comments received on the Draft Initial Study-Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS-MND) prepared for the Saddleback Community Church Expansion Project (SCH#2019109096). The Draft IS-MND found that with implementation of the mitigation measures, impacts on the environment from the proposed project were less than significant. The list of comment letters received by the City of Lake Forest are listed below. Letter No. and Commenting Agency Date 1 State Clearinghouse December 3, 2019 2 California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), District 12 December 2, 2019 None of the comments received identified new impacts or resulted in a substantial increase in the severity of impacts. Responses to the comments received do not constitute new information that warrants recirculation of the Draft IS-MND. This Response to Comments (RTC) Document provides responses to comments received. Per the comments received, no changes to the Draft IS-MND were necessary. This RTC Document, together with the Draft IS-MND, constitutes the Final IS-MND for the Saddleback Community Church Expansion Project. Amanda Lauffer Date of Issuance of Associate Planner Final Mitigated Negative Declaration City of Lake Forest Saddleback Community Church Expansion Project Responses to Comments on the Draft IS-MND 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 PURPOSE OF THE RESPONSE TO COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT IS-MND This document is in response to comments received on the Draft Initial Study-Mitigated Negative Declaration (Draft IS-MND) prepared for the proposed Saddleback Community Church Expansion Project (project). -
ARTICLES Public Schools Are Not Religion Free Zones J. Brent Walker ...20 BOOK REVIEWS the Early Church On
Christian Ethics Today A Journal of Christian Ethics Volume 22, Number 1 Aggregate Issue 92 Winter 2014 “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’” Isaiah 40:3; John 1:23 ARTICLES Pope Francis and The Joy of The Gospel Walter B. Shurden ............................. 2 Evangelicals and Climate Change Charles Redfern ................................................. 5 Black Baptists and Same Sex Marriage Aaron Douglas Weaver ..................... 9 The Re-assassination of MLK Wendell Griffin .............................................................14 Sexual Predators Beware! Rita Hoyt Jenkins ................................................................17 Public Schools are not Religion Free Zones J. Brent Walker .........................20 Marriage and Contraception Nathan C. Walker .......................................................21 A “Duck Call” For All J. Randall O’Brien ..............................................................................22 God as Sister, God and Sister Martin E. Marty ...........................................................23 BOOK REVIEWS The Early Church on Killing, by Ron Sider Reviewed by Tony Campolo ...24 By the Rivers of Water, by Erskine Clarke Reviewed by Darold Morgan ...25 VERSE Bringing Transcendence in Play James A. Langley ................................................27 KUDZU by Doug Marlette Pope Francis and The Joy of the Gospel By Walter B. Shurden mazon gives it five stars! I think Francis’ intent could not be more Persons, and the