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The editors at Online Christian Colleges decided to research the topic of Megachurch Megabusiness. Megachurch Megabusiness Churches across America are shutting down at a rate of 1% while megachurches are growing at rate of 8%. Many have criticized them for using corporate techniques to create economic empires. All the while, smaller churches watch their flock migrate towards a religious experience that's a little more... MEGA. THE MEGACHURCH (2000+ attendance/week)

- 1970: 10 mega-churches

- 1990: 250 mega-churches

- 2000: 600 mega-churches

- 2003: 740 mega-churches

- 2005: 1200 mega-churches

- 2011: 1,611 mega-churches



- 314,000 protestant churches (56 million worshipers/week)

- 1638 mega-churches (6 million/week)10.7% of church population & 2% of the US population

- 100 giga churches (1.3 million/week)

- Megachurches are tax exempt | they made $7.2 billion dollars/year in 2005

- Megachurches typically have a charismatic, authoritative, celebrity-like leader.

- Some meagachurches are like mini-cities with gyms, shopping, arcades, and even Starbucks.

- Most megachurches are evangelical (growth dependent), suburban, white, and southern. LARGEST MEGACHURCHES IN THE WORLD

- Yoido Full Gospel Church | David Yonggi Cho | Seoul, South Korea | 850,000 Members

- Annual Budget: $200 Million TOP 10 LARGEST MEGACHURCHES IN THE U.S. (ATTENDANCE) 1. Lakewood Church | Joel Osteen | Houston, TX

- 43,500 weekly attendance

- $70 million annual budget

- Located in the Compaq Center, former Houston Rockets Arena. (bought in 2010 for 7.5 million) 2. Lifechurch.tv | Craig Groschel | Edmond, OK

- 42,782 weekly attendance

- 45,754,000 in expenses | 71,338,000 in giving 2012

- 100,000 unique viewers tune in every week online from 120 countries 3. North Point Community Church | Andy Stanley | Alpharetta, GA

- 27,429 weekly attendance

- $38.5 million annual budget 4. Second Baptist Church | H. Edwin Young | Houston, TX

- 25,221 weekly attendance

- $55 million annual budget 5. Willow Creek Community Church | Bill Hybels |South Barrington, IL

- 24,377 weekly attendance

- $36 million annual budget 6. Fellowship Church | Ed Young Jr. |Grapevine, TX

- 24,162 weekly attendance

- $51 million annual budget 7. Southeast Christian Church | Dave Stone | Louisville, KY

- 22,496 weekly attendance

- $31 million annual budget 8. Saddleback Church | Rick Warren | Lake Forest, CA

- 22,418 weekly attendance

- $36 million annual budget 9. Central Christian Church | Jud Wilhite | Henderson, NV

- 20,145 weekly attendance

- $12 million annual budget 10. West Angeles Church of God in Christ | Charles Blake |Los Angeles, CA

- 20,000 weekly attendance

- $15 million annual budget U.S. DISTRIBUTION

- South: 49% (807 megachurches) Population Attendance: 2.65%

- West: 25% (406 megachurches) Population Attendance: 2.2%

- Mid West: 19% (306 megachurches) Population Attendance: 1.69%

- North east: 7% (119 megachurches) Population Attendance: 0.67% States with the most megachurches

- CA (218 megachurches)

- TX (206 megachurches)

- FL (120 megachurches)

- GA (91 megachurches)

- TN (66 megachurches) States with the highest percentage of population attending megaChurches

- DC (4.1%)

- GA (3.79%)

- TX (3.39%)

- OK (3.38%)

- TN (3.36%) THE MEGACHURCH ATTENDEES GROWTH

- Megachurches maintained an 8% growth in membership for the past 5 years.

- Average attendance grew from 2,604 in 2005 to 3,597 in 2010 to 3,823 now. RACE

- 82% white | 10% African American | 1% hispanic | 2% Asian (Megachurch Population)

- 64% white | 12% African American | 16% hispanic | 5% Asian (U.S. Population) AGE

- 70% are under 50

- AGE: 0-18 (22%) | 19-34 (20%) | 35-49 (28%) | 50-64 (19%) | 65+ (11%) EDUCATION

- 52% have college degrees REASONS FOR ATTENDING

- 82% came because of family or friends

- Reason for initial attraction - #1: worship style | #2: Senior pastor | #3: Church reputation

- Reason for staying - #1: Senior pastor | #2: worship style | #3: Church reputation WHERE THEY CAME FROM

- 40% of megachurch attendees are new within the last 5 years

- 72% attended a church immediately prior before changing to a megachurch.

- 18% attended a church prior before changing to a megachurch but not for a while

- 6% never been to church prior before changing to a megachurch

- 4% have only been at their megachurch MEGACHURCH PASTORS

- 75% white | 13% African American | 2% hispanic | 9% Asian (Megachurch Pastoral Pop)

- 64% white | 12% African American | 16% hispanic | 5% Asian (U.S. Population)

- The average Protestant pastor makes 40,000/year

- The average MegaChurch pastor makes 147,000/year (but that's not the whole story)

- On average Pastor Salary increases $8,000 per every 1,000 members Joel Olsteen

- Lives in a luxurious 17,000 square foot, $10.5 million mansion in Houston Texas.

- Money made through his books is estimated at $55 million. He has a net worth of $40 million.

- "We make plenty of money from our books, but we just live normal lives. We try to be conservative and honor God with our life and with our example." Ed Young

- Lives in a 10,000 square foot, $1.5 million estate, receives $240,000 a year in housing allowance plus a $1 million salary and flies in an $8.4 million french-made private jet.

- He also knows pastoral fashion: www.pastorfashion.com

- "Why are you even coming to church if you're not bringing the tithe?" Creflo A. Dollar

- Lives in a $1 million Atlanta home and a $2.5 million New York townhouse. He

- owns 2 Rolls-Roycees and a private jet. He refuses to disclose his salary or to cooperate with auditors citing "separation of church and state".

- "If you take time to tithe the tithe correctly, it's impossible to go to hell." John Hagee

- He was the highest paid non-profit CEO in 2004 with a $1 million salary. He then converted the non-profit into a church, thus relieving himself of the obligation to file a publicly available tax return.

- "Your income is controlled by your giving."..."Poverty is a curse." Bishop Eddie Long

- A charity (ran by Eddie) "love gifted" him a $1.4 million home on 20 acres and a $350,000 Bentley.

- Another charity (ran by Eddie) "love gifted" land which was sold for $1.4 million.

- He also makes 1 million a year.

- "We're not just a church, we're an international corporation." Charles E. Blake

- Makes $227,750 a year, but frequently gives a year's salary back to his church. He's the CEO of Save Africa's Children which has housed, fed, and clothed over 200,000 children in Africa - he takes no salary from this charity.

- "In order to be credible, [pastors must be] on the...cutting edge in giving." Craig Groschel

- Despite his churches mega profits, Craig lives a modest lifestyle, carpooling and sharing hotel rooms on trips.

- He gives away his resources for free and has no access to the church's checkbook.

- "[Toxic] religion is Christ plus anything...Christ plus church membership. Or Christ plus tithing." Rick Warren

- Has made tens millions of dollars off his books, such as "A Purpose Driven Life."

- He's made so much that, in 2005, he returned 25 years of salary to the church and stopped accepting new paychecks. He lives off 9% of his income and gives 91% to charity.

- "The opulent lifestyles of televangelists make me sick." SOURCES

- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/19/best-paid-pastors_n_1214043.html

- http://churchrelevance.com/top-71-largest-gigachurches-in-america-2011-edition/

- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300004575095864172124230.html

- http://thomrainer.com/2013/01/26/largest-churches-in-the-southern-baptist-convention/

- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-groeschel/toxic-religion-life-church_b_1468798.html

- http://www.christianpost.com/news/report-reveals-salaries-of-megachurch-pastors-46779/

- http://slaughteringthesheep.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/if-you-dont-tithe-youre-robbing-god/

- http://www.wfaa.com/news/investigates/Prominent-Pastor-Linked-to-Luxury-83600192.html

- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tanya-young-williams/bishop-charles-blake-shar_b_1852150.html

- http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/26/americas-biggest-megachurches-business-megachurches.html

- http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2007-11-29/news/osteen29_1_osteen-lavish-lifestyles-televangelists

- http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/bishop-eddie-long-megachurch-had-modest-beginning/nQkQc/

- http://christianstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2011-Megachurches-and-Emerging- Megachuches.pdf

- http://www.howmuchmoneytheymake.com/public-figures/joel-osteen-net-worth-and-salary-lakewoodchurch. htm

- http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/megachurch-2011-summary-report.htm

- http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/megachurch_attender_report.htm

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States

- http://djchuang.com/2010/churches-closing-and-pastors-leaving/

- http://www.forbes.com/2003/09/17/cz_lk_0917megachurch.html

- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16860611

- http://preachersaidwhat.wordpress.com/john-hagee-said-what/

- http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Business/story?id=617341&page=1

- http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.html

- http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=18228

- http://www.statisticbrain.com/mega-church-statistics/

- http://zedekiahlist.com/cgi-bin/quotes.pl?&id=24161744

- http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/database.html

- http://www.lifechurch.tv/2012review



