Jesus Factory

The problem with megachurches is that they create little cocoons of safety so that members can limit the amount of time they spend with unbelievers. The "extras" do nothing but provide comfort for members.

Additionally, I am hard-pressed to believe that any church $7 million in debt, also making plans to expand, is being a good steward of its money.

i'm not saying that small churches are bad in any way and it seems that by the way you are talking you believe in God, i don't want to get into a huge fight and get all pissed off about it, but if you are a FELLOW Christian then why are you bashing me, another FELLOW Christian. i love God with all my heart and i know where our church stands in our purpose to expand GODS kingdom in HIS NAME, NOT OURS. You say that i'm not Christ like because i belong to a cultish horde of a church... listen to yourself... God uses churches in different ways for different people. if your church has the same views about FELLOW Christians that are living a life for God, then i don't want to be a part of it. yeah there are people that can step up and do more, but we can't make them, we can only encourage them to and pray that God works in their hearts. i don't think that the way that you judge every big or mega church the same way is what Jesus would want you to do but that's just me and please show some respect to someone you have never met who is trying to give their side of the view on the subject. i haven't bashed anyone in any of my posts and still people trashed about my church that they have never been to, call us names and say we don't LOVE GOD!! i know that isn't the way that God wants you to look at others, because ultimately he is the great judger of EVERYONE. so please, i'm asking you as a fellow christian and human being, to be thoughtful in what you write and i promise to do the same.

yes. it does mention that Jesus goes and clears out the temple in three places in the Bible. Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45, and John 2:14-17. In the New Living Translation version of the Bible, Jesus states"The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be a house of prayer,' but you have turned it ineo a den of theives." Luke 19:45. Jesus was angry because the people were "selling animals for sacrifice" (Luke 19:45). The merchants weren't focusing on the Temple as a house of prayer, which is why Jesus was angry. By selling the animals for sacrifice they were trying to sell salvation to the people of the city, but salvation can only be gained through faith in Jesus Christ. The churchs making money aspect can only work if the church has their priorities in line, God first then money.

As for the impersonal aspect of the a mega-church, yeah I don't know our pastor or everyone there. But why do you have to pin it on the pastor? Why does he have to know everyone? George Bush doesn't know everyone in this country, and yet he is still the leader of our country. The church helps individuals through its members more than anything. Thats why small groups are important so the members help eachother in thier walk of faith, not just the pastor. I've got a question, do you know all the people in the churchs that your church interacts with? I have also been a member at a small church as well and there was a lot of bickering and fighting unfortunately because they were worried about small things. I'm just saying that if you stay in your comfort zone in a small church or where ever and don't get to know people even just for five minutes and thats it, it might be five minutes that would have helped them to find Christ. I see that the people that are the ones that are going "through the motions" are the ones that don't want to get involved because they don't want to have to fit it into their schedule or their scared.

Also, small churches aren't for everyone. If they were, wouldn't every church be a big church then? Or would there be five churches on every street? I don't want to come off as judgemental and I'm not saying that small churchs are bad, it's just that people worship different ways and that means that there needs to be different oppurtunities for them to do that.

About two minutes into the video it says that these mega-churches are also part resort, mall, and town square. As far as the mall part, isn't there a story in the Bible that tells of Jesus becoming angry when he finds a market set up inside a temple?

Also, I see mega-churches as a place where people just go to "go through the motions." There is no personal connection with God. How can a church or pastor help an individual when that individual blends in with thousands of others?

Well it is true that there might be a lot a churches in a big town. However there is one problem about big churches, the impersonal relationship you have with you and the rest of the people in the church. I have been both to a big church and a small church and I prefer the small church because i know that the pastor will know my name and face outside of five minutes i last talked to him

I agree with what Brandon's church is doing because I am a member of a mega church myself. Many people in our community think that our church is out for monetary gain, as previously stated, but what most people don't know is that while we are trying to reach as many people we are able to by building at our new location; we are also in approximately $7 million in debt. And even with this debt that we have, we are already making plans to expand into the rest of the community only after a year at our new location.
Brandon, thank you for sharing your church and faith here on current. I pray that you and your church does great things in Cincinnati and where ever God takes you.
-Justin from Amarillo, TX.

Thanks for looking into this, Brandon.
I go to a church of 30 or so people, and we can each do so much individually. But megachurches have the advantage of letting more people know about ways to help out in the community.
Rwmacevoy, buildings are a semi-accurate way to see where power lies, but the best way to see is to get to know the people there.

I am not a dogmatic person at all since I feel that strict adherence to ism's usually does not allow for fluid or scientific solutions. Religion has the same problem, to the extreme.

In addition, Marx was clearly correct when he stated that religion was the opiate of the masses. The strength of the opiate an individual needs may vary. Some may only need a mild sedative and go to church only on religious holidays like Christmas and Easter. Others may need a stronger painkiller, an OxyCodone say and go to church every Sunday. A few may be hard core addicts who attend mass every day or even offer themselves as human bombs or bomb abortion clinics.

This place offers one stop shopping for a wide variety of comfortable Middle American Christians on a low end to mildly addicted scale. All you have to do is look at the facility to know they are racking it in. An old history prof once told me to know where power lies in a society and a community, look at the buildings.

religion is not a synonym for freedom, religion is a form in which you apply freedom. if religion tries to set limits, they are going against themselves, at which time they blame others who dont share their thoughts as the ones responsible.

ps: you can replace the word religion w politics, its just a matter of time

time :-)

I believe that churches in general use people for monetary gain. The very fact that there is a charismatic leader (pastor) of this church makes me believe that he is using his followers so that he can be financially stable. I'm not discriminating between different churches. I just see organized religion as a way for people to feel good about themselves without actually doing anything good.

I would like to know how people see god; how does one decide what "god wants". How can you trust some book that was written by humans, and edited by a king?

If donating money is our way of participating in religion, I just have one question, how do you give money to god? If that was possible, what could god possibly do with it? "I think god has plenty of money" -Eric Cartman

In my experience, religion is people participating in their experience, not sitting there blindly following.

Even so, I wouldn't want a church replaced with a Target....