Multi-Site Megachurches Multiply in America

October 19, 2011

Many young Evangelical Protestant Christians shun the expansive form of worship that drew their parents to so-called megachurches and opt instead for a more intimate religious experience. But one congregation may have found a way to have both size and intimacy

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The way to church leads through turnstiles, into a ballpark.

It comes with a friendly greeting ... a concert ... and crowd-revving antics.

All a warm-up to the main act - Pastor J.D. Greear. "Here Jesus says this question is of the utmost importance, one that literally your entire eternity hangs upon!" he said.

Thousands of people came for this Church in the Ballpark event. But it is far from what this congregation looks like most of the time.

“The Summit Church is not a traditional megachurch. The main service is normally held in this chapel. And the pastor's sermon is simulcast from this stage behind me."

It goes out to satellite campuses that serve many neighborhoods.

Greear says it started when his congregation outgrew the school it used for services. "So we said why don't we see about putting congregations - rather than multiplying services or building one big, huge, multimillion dollar building - what if we multiplied congregations in the place where we are and took use of technology, and kind of had the best of both worlds - the best of a smaller congregation and the best of a larger congregation," he stated.