America's 50 Most Influential Churches

The Church Report is pleased to once again announce this year’s 50 Most Influential Churches in America. Each year, we look forward to working with Dr. John Vaughan and appreciate the input of pastors from throughout the country that provide their insight as to who is really influencing America's churches.

This year’s list has several new churches and you also note movement of other churches through the list. If you have comments, please feel to send us an email to crdaily@thechurchreport.com.

Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, Ill.), Saddleback Church Lake Forest, Calif.), North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Fellowship Church (Grapevine, Texas) lead this years 50 Most Influential Churches list.

New to the top 10 churches are Granger Community Church (Granger, Ind.), Mars Hill Church (Seattle, Wash.) and Seacoast Church (Mt Pleasant, S.C.). All but Granger Community Church and The Potter’s House are multi-site churches.

Four of the top 10 churches are affiliated with denominations and six are non-affiliated. Lakewood Church and The Potter’s House are the only two of the 10 that are charismatic congregations. Two of the churches (Saddleback and Fellowship) are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Life Church is Evangelical Covenant and Granger Community Church is United Methodist. Some are new churches and others date back to the late 1950s. Lakewood Church began in 1959 and is both the oldest of the five top congregations and largest in the nation. North Point was the youngest church in last year’s group and began in 1995 with about 1,200 people. Among the other three churches, Willow Creek is the second oldest and began in 1975 with a core of 75 people. Seattle’s Mars Hill Church, youngest of this year’s top ten list, began with 12 people in 1996, Granger began in 1986 with five people and Seacoast Church was launched with 65 people in 1989. Saddleback followed in 1980 with only Rick Warren and his wife Kay initially. Fellowship Church is the second youngest of the five and began in 1990 with 150 people. Each of these 10 churches now average more than 5,000 in weekend attendance.

Two United Methodist congregations, Granger Community Church (Granger, Ind.) and Resurrection United Methodist Church (Leawood, Kan.) were named by other church leaders for this year’s list of churches. Another returning mainline church is Menlo Park Presbyterian Church of Menlo Park, Calif., a PC(USA) congregation.

The 2007 survey was emailed to leaders of more than 2,000 of the largest non-Catholic congregations in the nation in April-June. Participants were asked to recommend up to 10 churches they considered to be among the nation’s most influential. A total of 77 churches were recommended. A total of 53 percent of all church leader recommendations named the five churches. The top 10 churches received a total of 65 percent of all recommendations. A summary of all 50 churches reveals:

Affiliation and/or Networks of Churches

Non-Affiliated (15)

Southern Baptist (12)

Assemblies of God (3)

Christian Churches/Churches of Christ (2)

United Methodist (2)

Calvary Chapel (3)

Baptist General Conference (2)

Presbyterian-PCA (2)

Evangelical Covenant (2)

Church of Christ (1)

Evangelical Free (1)

Foursquare (2)

Presbyterian –PC(USA) (1)

Reformed Church in America (1)

Vineyard (1)

Association of Relating Churches (1)

Note: Los Angeles International Church/Dream Center is affiliated with both the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and the Assemblies of God.

Location by Region

North East (3)

North Central (9)

South East (10)

South Central (6)

Southwest (8)

Mountain (2)

Pacific North West (2)

Pacific South West (10)

New to This Year’s Recommended Churches

New pastor’s to churches previously listed:

(16) Dave Stone, Southeast Christian Church – Louisville, Ky.

(34) Jonathan Falwell, Thomas Road Baptist - Lynchburg, Va.

New churches listed for the first time:

(25) Mariner’s Church – Irvine, Calif.

(37) Northland, A Church Distributed – Longwood, Fla.

(38) Bellevue Baptist Church – Cordova, Tenn.

(39) National Community Church – Washington D.C.

(41) World Changers – College Park, Ga.

(47) New Light Christian Center Church – Houston Texas

2 Saddleback

Lake Forest, Calif.

Rick Warren

9 The Potter's House

13 North Coast Church

14 First Assembly of God

Phoenix, Ariz.

Tommy Barnett

15 United Methodist Church of the Resurrection

Leawood, Kan.

Adam Hamilton

16 Southeast Christian Church

Louisville, Ky.

Dave Stone

17 Brooklyn Tabernacle

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Jim Cymbala

18 Calvary Chapel

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Bob Coy

19 Community Christian Church

Naperville, Ill.

Dave Ferguson

20 New Hope Christian Fellowship

Honolulu, Hawaii

Wayne Cordeiro

21 New Spring Church

Anderson, S.C.

Perry Noble

22 Prestonwood Baptist Church

Plano, Texas

Jack Graham

23 Redeemer Presbyterian

24 Second Baptist Church

27 Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa

28 Christ Fellowship

Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

29 First Baptist Church

30 First Baptist Church

31 Menlo Park Presbyterian Church

Colorado Springs, Colo.

Ross Parsley – Interim Senior Pastor

33 NorthRidge Church

34 Thomas Road Baptist Church

Jerry Falwell / Jonathan Falwell

36 Harvest Christian Fellowship

37 Northland - A Church Distributed

38 Bellevue Baptist Church

39 National Community Church

40 Crystal Cathedral

Garden Grove, Calif.

42 Fellowship of the Woodlands

The Woodlands, Texas

43 Vineyard Community Church

44 New Birth Baptist Church

46 Bethlehem Baptist

47 New Light Christian Center Church

48 First Baptist Church

49 McLean Bible Church

50 LA International Church / Dream Center

Matthew Barnett / Tommy Barnett

(*) Max Lucado recently resigned as Minister of the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio.

These churches are recommended by other church leaders as congregations that represent the passion and sense of mission mandated in the New Testament. They do not all share the same view of all biblical doctrine, their recognition came from others, and they do not view themselves as better than other churches. Each just considers itself as a church wanting to be pleasing and useful to God and their understanding of His mandates to them.

Changes in this year’s list reflect the rapid change and diversity of ministry across the nation from year to year. It appears to also affirm the new expressions of ministry by emerging churches while also affirming the best of churches that endure through eras of dramatic change. We look forward to the churches that you will be recommending next year.

To compare last year’s list click here.

Dr. John N. Vaughan is an author and consultant for Church Growth Today in Bolivar, Mo., which provides consulting and research services for church growth and development.

11. Falls Church Episcopal Church

Falls Church isn't Episcopal. It's part of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

21 posted on 07/17/2007 3:35:23 PM PDT by PAR35

Go ahead, but don’t puke on me. I’m only the messenger.

22 posted on 07/17/2007 4:17:34 PM PDT by dangus

>> True, but Roman Catholics don’t influence elections/Republican politics. If that were the case Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey would be fountains of religious activism and Republican strongholds. <<

The Catholics in those states vote far more conservatively than the Protestants do.

23 posted on 07/17/2007 4:18:51 PM PDT by dangus

What a false report this seems to be to me. (Not faulting you for posting it.)

The Catholic Church is not mentioned anywhere, anytime, anyhow.

Go figure.

24 posted on 07/17/2007 4:21:47 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)

... and please don’t associate religiosity with Republicanism. As late as the 90s, the Democratic party in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania was heavily influenced by Catholic prolifers.

For instance, pro-abortion Republican Gov. Weld beat pro-life Democrat nominee Silber in Massachusetts in 1994; Lieberman ran as a pro-lifer when he defeated Republican pro-abortion Senator Lowell Weicker. In 1992, Pennsylvania Democrat Gov. Casey was the strongest pro-lifer in the nation. When the Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island Democratic parties insisted on following the nation pro-abortion lead, they quit being able to elect Democrats to the governorship until the Bush-led immigration debacles led to Democratic surges across the country.

25 posted on 07/17/2007 4:25:50 PM PDT by dangus

It’s name is the Falls Church Episcopal Church.

26 posted on 07/17/2007 4:26:47 PM PDT by dangus

Go ahead, but don’t puke on me. I’m only the messenger.

Do you think it is a coincidence that the LA Cathedral was designed to look like a Maximum Security Prison?

27 posted on 07/17/2007 4:28:18 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)

Thank you for posting this — I’m sure it reflects the numbers along the way. This article certainly didn’t.

28 posted on 07/17/2007 4:38:09 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)

To: AzaleaCity5691

>So they say in the survey that Catholic churches were intentionally excluded, and then when you read the results you find that other high church denominations were kept out.

>Nothing more than a bunch of evangelical nonsense.

I tend to somewhat agree with that. I mean, if they include Olsteen and Warren, they might as well include the Pope’s boys too...

But then, it would be pretty weird for a Catholic site to include Evangelical churches in it’s top 50, ‘specially with what the Pope said about the churches of the separated brethren.

29 posted on 07/17/2007 4:46:57 PM PDT by Ottofire (O great God of highest heaven, Glorify Your Name through me)

Awesome. Congratulations to all these churches for influencing society and changing lives.

30 posted on 07/17/2007 4:54:29 PM PDT by ovrtaxt (The FairTax and the North American Union are mutually exclusive.)

Johnny Mac? I cannot be a self respecting bible believing Calvinist and say that he is the FINEST teaching pastor in America. ( somewhat tongue in cheek there... in reference to his opening statements in the Shepherd Conference... )

31 posted on 07/17/2007 5:05:13 PM PDT by Ottofire (O great God of highest heaven, Glorify Your Name through me)

It’s name is the Falls Church Episcopal Church.

Where do you find that? Their web site just refers to it as 'The Falls Church'.
http://thefallschurch.org/templates/custhefalls/default.asp?id=29455

Both Falls Church (Episcopal) and Falls Church (Anglican) are in the state corporate database as 'reserved', but neither is an active corporate entity. Falls Church Anglican Day School is in there as well, but the Falls Church Episcopal Day School shows as 'purged'.

I'd be surprised if they called themselves 'Episcopal' when they aren't.

And the folks in Virgina appear to be using mid - 1980s technology for their database.

32 posted on 07/17/2007 6:29:49 PM PDT by PAR35

How influential can the Catholic church be? They can’t even influence their own members in the senate to be pro-life.

33 posted on 07/17/2007 6:34:52 PM PDT by PAR35

****North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, Ga.)****

As someone said on a previous FR Thread. This church is a mile wide and an inch deep.

34 posted on 07/17/2007 6:58:05 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (I've been funny I've been cool with the lines ain't that they way loves supposed 2 be?)

To: fkabuckeyesrule

I wonder why I’m not surprised...

Life TV church (Craig Groeschel) is the sweetheart of the Evangelical Covenant denomination. Then again, all the Emergents are too.

35 posted on 07/17/2007 7:03:18 PM PDT by Terriergal ("I am ashamed that women are so simple To offer war where they should kneel for peace," Shakespeare)

To: Resolute Conservative

****Looks like Serpenthead got religion #23.****

LOL!!! Good observation.

36 posted on 07/17/2007 7:05:34 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (I've been funny I've been cool with the lines ain't that they way loves supposed 2 be?)

I agree. I like MacArthur alot. I ordered two of his books this past week and listen to his radio show nightly. I geuss that since he only has 2 morning services (from what I’ve seen at the churches website) that he’s just not packing them in enough. Maybe if he put a McDonalds in the “fellowship” hall there he might do better. LOL!

37 posted on 07/17/2007 7:09:38 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (I've been funny I've been cool with the lines ain't that they way loves supposed 2 be?)

You forgot to mention John Kerry’s church. LOL!

38 posted on 07/17/2007 7:10:37 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (I've been funny I've been cool with the lines ain't that they way loves supposed 2 be?)

Have you any idea what some of these people teach?

"If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your home, neither bid him Godspeed: For he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds."(2 John 1:10,11)

39 posted on 07/17/2007 7:12:57 PM PDT by Terriergal ("I am ashamed that women are so simple To offer war where they should kneel for peace," Shakespeare)

Of course my dad used to always say that the Southern Baptist Church is the Roman Catholic Church Of The South.

40 posted on 07/17/2007 7:13:07 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (I've been funny I've been cool with the lines ain't that they way loves supposed 2 be?)

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