Mahler, J. (2005, March27). The Soul of the New Exurb. The New York Times Magazine, Section 6, pp 30-37, 46, 50, 54, 57.
OVERVIEW
A Megachurch in Arizona uses Xboxes, Krispy Krème doughnuts, Starbucks coffee, and 50-inch plasma-screen televisions to draw in a congregation of nearly 5,000. Alan Wolfe, a professor of political science at BostonCollege and author of the recent book, “The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith” wrote that “American faith has met American culture—and American culture has triumphed.” Pastor Lee McFarland of a church called Radiant, located about 45 minutes northwest of downtown Phoenix in a town called Surprise has embodied this notion of merging together religion and pop culture.
McFarland did not start out as a young vivacious pastor, but made a mid-life career change from a high-paying job at Microsoft to accepting the call of God when his old pastor dropped his name to a group of Christian seniors who lived in Sun City, a retirement community that abuts Surprise. They saw the growing city of Surprise as an outreach opportunity and a pastor who could relate to these new comers. They offered McFarland a starting salary of $26,000. McFarland said that “It was a miracle that I was willing to come, and it was a miracle that they were willing to hire me.”
Though McFarland can be seen as a pastor of a very successful church, he did not start off that way. When he first arrived he applied a lesson he learned a month earlier in a church-development seminar in Orange County, California about dressing nicely and introducing himself to the locals as the pastor of a new church in the area. This was extremely unsuccessful in which at several times those that greeted him were barely civil. Instead of giving up, he tried a different approach, one he learned from Rick Warren’s (pastor of Saddleback Church which is one of the largest churches in the country, roughly 15,000 members), church-building seminars that he attended before moving to Surprise. McFarland used nearly all the techniques like informal marketing study, communication cards, self-deprecating, Everyman’s persona; even the untucked Hawaiian shirt. McFarland used the informal marketing study as a way to communicate with the locals. Instead of the business-casual attire he had worn previously, he dressed down in a T-shirt and blue jeans, bought a clipboard and posed as the representative of a secular organization. He asked only two questions, 1) “What’s your favorite radio station?” 2) “Why do you think people don’t go to church?” The answers to these questions provided the framework and mission for his church.
The people of Surprise listen to rock music, do not go to church because they do not have any fancy clothes, do not like being asked for money, and lastly they do not see how any of the sermons they have heard are relevant to their lives. McFarland pledged to change all of that and by the looks of it, he did. Radiant’s slogan is, “You think church is boring and judgmental, and that all they want is your money? At Radiant you’ll hear rockin’ band and a positive, relevant message. Come as you are. We won’t beg for your money. Your kids will love it!”
At viewing this church, one might ask where is the Cinema? That is exactly the question that McFarland wants to hear. He wants his church to resemble something more like a mall rather than a church. There are no crosses, no images of Jesus or any form of religious iconography within the church or outside for that matter. Bibles are optional; all biblical quotations are flashed on huge video screens above the stage. The church operates almost like a surrogate government, offering residents day care, bookstore, athletic facilities, A.A. meetings called Celebrate Recovery, counseling, tackling social issues, and even providing a school. When members were asked about what first brought them to the church, you will almost never hear a mention of God but rather by the billboard displays, flyers, or through their child who has been coming with a friend.
Radiant is a successful and vibrant megachurch that is still growing; though it has not been able to escape the criticism by fellow believers. By modeling the church after a mall, McFarland is, deliberately or not, desanctifying it. The question is asked: “should churches really be chasing popular culture? Isn’t preaching only positive messages a reductive, if not distorted, approach to the Gospels? Shouldn’t true believers be in natural conflict with the secular world?” While McFarland’s self-help sermons on life improvement can be seen as subverting the real purpose of worship. “Worship is designed not to make people feel good about themselves. . . but to make them holy,” Gibbs writes in “Church Next,” his book about the future of Christianity in America. Gibbs also wonders about the ultimate effect of the steady diet of sentimental praise songs at places like Radiant: “Intimate worship that degenerates into a casual over-familiarity is both presumptuous and embarrassing to those who see God from a transcendental perspective.”
The author of the article ponders that thought of whether megachurches are the future of all churches? Statistics show that traditional attendances are on decline as megachurches are on a steady incline? McFarland’s church is a great example of the positive impact that religion and popular culture can do when combined together, however, “what remains to be seen is how many of the congregants McFarland is adding are just passing through evangelical Christianity the way that many of the are, no doubt, just passing through Surprise – in short, whether the exurban megachurch represents the future of Christianity in this country or whether it is just another chapter in the evolving story of the American seeker.
The new frontier of America is the exurbs (the fastest growing cities in America) like Surprise, Arizona in which the megachurch is the community center. In 1970 there were only 10 non-Catholic megachurches in American, today there are 282. That means that there is approximately eight churches started each year since 1970 and that number will continue to rise. Tom Beaudoin, an assistant professor of religion at Santa ClaraUniversity compared the 21st century megachurch to that of the frontier churches of the late 19th and early 20th Century churches with the idea of reaching and preaching on the commoners’ level, a missioners credo to live by when spreading the Gospel. Should the lure of video games, Starbucks coffee, and Krispy Kreme dough nuts be the driving force to get this next generation to enter the doors of Christianity?
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION
1. Do you think that megachurches are going to be the dominating church of the future, setting the trend for other churches to follow?
2. What are some of your thoughts on McFarland’s ideology of what a church should encompass?
3. Do you think that this form of evangelism is watering down the Gospel?
4. What about this church would entice or dissuade you from attending?
IMPLICATIONS
Evangelical churches are on the rise in America. There is no denying that there is something that Americans desire in these megachurches. American popular culture is transforming the church in more ways than just worship. Using Radiant as a Case Study and deciding whether this is something to implement within your own church or even youth group. We need to also give some thought as to the effectiveness that megachuches are actually having on creating committed, strong, and deeply spiritual Christians.
Abigail Drollinger, cCYS
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