Mega Church = Mega Trouble

Before coming to Evergreen I was a part of a very large church in Damascus. After my normal introvert warming up period I became very involved in the youth ministry, helping to lead the jr. high group for a time as well as teaching two youth classes and attended various special events. There were well over 100 youth in the church and over 1000 adults, so it was a pretty big church. And I didn’t know hardly anyone over age 16 (and that’s just not healthy). Since we jumped ship for Evergreen the church has continued to grow and now has a separate “video venue” campus and multiple thousands in attendance-it’s a mega church.

When I was in high school I attended what I considered a large youth group of about 80. The size of the youth group was all that much more impressive since the whole church, counting the youth, had maybe 150 people. After five years at the church the youth minister moved on to plant a new church in Idaho. Starting with 50 people, they now have 5 campuses in three states and number around 10,000. This man was a spiritual mentor to me, a father figure in many ways, and now he is untouchable. There is no contact information, as he is a celebrity of sorts, and even if there was I doubt he would return my contact. A professor of mine from college, also a spiritual mentor to me and a major influence in my life, joined the staff there several years ago-never to be heard from again.

I have been trying to adopt the position that if someone is happy in their mega church and they are growing and serving, then bully for them-it’s just not my way. Right now I’m thinking a little more dogmatically, that mega churches just suck. As I was once again attempting to discover a way to contact these once important people in my life I came across a site badmouthing my former youth pastor. I have no doubt that this WOULD NOT have happened had he managed to start a small church that started other small churches-there is simply no reason to create an anti-my former pastor site if he is the pastor of a small church, no one cares how much you hate him. But if you screw up or piss someone off as a mega church pastor you bring trouble on the whole lot of us.

So for right now, mega churches suck.