America's 50 Most Influential Churches

Church Report Online ^ | July 2007 | Church Report Online

[Terriergal]

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

 

 

  

 

3 Fellowship Church

Grapevine, Texas 

Ed Young

 

 

 

 

 

4 North Point Church

Alpharetta, Ga.

Andy Stanley

 

  

 

 

 

5 Life Church

Edmond, Okla.

Craig Groeschel

 

 

 

 

 

6 Granger Community Church

Granger, Ind.

Mark Beeson

 

 

 

 

 

7 Lakewood Church

Houston, Texas

Joel Osteen

 

 

 

 

 

8 Mars Hill Church

Seattle, Wash.

Mark Driscoll

 

 

 

 

 

9 The Potter's House

Dallas, Texas

T.D. Jakes

  

 

 

 

 

10 Seacoast Church

Mt. Pleasant, S.C.

Greg Surratt

 

  

 

 

 

11 Mosaic Church

Los Angeles, Calif.

Erwin McManus

 

 

  

 

 

12 Mars Hill Church

Grandville, Mich.

Rob Bell

 

 

 

 

 

13 North Coast Church

Vista, Calif.

Larry W. Osborne

 

 

 

 

 

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

New York City, N.Y.

Timothy J. Keller

  

 

 

 

 

24 Second Baptist Church

Houston, Texas

Edwin Young

  

 

 

 

 

25 Mariners Church

Irvine, Calif.

Kenton Beshore

  

 

 

 

 

26 Bayside Church

Granite Bay, Calif.

Ray Johnston

 

 

 

 

 

27 Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa

Santa Ana, Calif.

Chuck Smith Sr.

  

 

 

 

 

28 Christ Fellowship

Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Tom Mullins

 

 

 

 

 

29 First Baptist Church

Jacksonville, Fla.

Mac Brunson

  

 

 

 

 

30 First Baptist Church

Woodstock, Ga.

Johnny Hunt

 

 

 

 

 

31 Menlo Park Presbyterian Church

Menlo Park, Calif

John Ortberg

 

 

 

 

 

32 New Life Church

Colorado Springs, Colo.

Ross Parsley – Interim Senior Pastor

 

 

 

 

 

33 NorthRidge Church

Plymouth, Mich.

Brad Powell

  

 

 

 

 

34 Thomas Road Baptist Church

Lynchburg, Va.

Jerry Falwell / Jonathan Falwell

  

 

 

 

 

35 Wooddale Church

Eden Prairie, Minn.

Leith C. Anderson

  

 

 

 

 

36 Harvest Christian Fellowship

Riverside, Calif.

Greg Laurie

 

 

 

 

 

37 Northland - A Church Distributed

Longwood, Fla.

Joel Hunter

  

 

 

 

 

38 Bellevue Baptist Church

Cordova, Tenn.

Steve Gaines

 

 

 

 

 

39 National Community Church

Washington D.C.

Mark Batterson

  

 

 

 

 

40 Crystal Cathedral

Garden Grove, Calif.

Robert A. Schuller

  

 

 

 

 

41 World Changers

College Park, Ga.

Creflo Dollar

 

 

 

 

 

42 Fellowship of the Woodlands

The Woodlands, Texas

Kerry Shook

  

 

 

 

 

43 Vineyard Community Church

Cincinnati, Ohio

David Workman

 

 

 

 

 

 

44 New Birth Baptist Church

Lithonia, Ga.

Eddie L. Long

  

 

 

 

 

45 Oak Hills Church

San Antonio, Texas

Max Lucado *

 

 

 

 

 

46 Bethlehem Baptist

Minneapolis, Minn.

John Piper

 

 

 

 

47 New Light Christian Center Church

Houston, Texas

Ira Hilliard

  

 

 

 

 

48 First Baptist Church

Hammond, Ind.

Jack Schaap

 

 

 

 

 

49 McLean Bible Church

Vienna, Va.

Lon Solomon

 

 

 

 

 

50 LA International Church / Dream Center

Los Angeles, Calif.

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.

He is author of the World’s 20 Largest Churches, The Large Church, Megachurches and America’s Cities and a new 10 volume series America’s Most Influential Churches.

Visit his homepage www.churchgrowthtoday.org .

[Terriergal]

Well, in spite of the fact that I have problems with Catholic doctrine, I do find it odd that they left them out. Probably because there aren’t any ‘big name’ Catholics on TV (e.g. seeking attention for themselves)

[x_plus_one]

IF the church doesn’t offer holy communion every week then who cares what they say or think?

[LiteKeeper]

I guess it all depends on how "influential" is defined?

BTW, I had the privilege of studying under him while in seminary, and he officiated at our wedding! I am truly blessed!

[JCEccles]

The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints.

It's a participatory "roll up your shirtsleeves" church staffed by almost exclusively by an unpaid lay ministry, a church where worshippers are expected to show their love for God and Jesus Christ through service to others. There isn't a single Rick Warren-style "rockstar" among any of the leadership. No entertainment value to be had. No pressure to satisfy itching ears.

[Terriergal]

Joel Osteen Teeth Whitener

[Terriergal]

lol you’re not serious...

I agree that asking the leadership isn’t the most scientific method of getting these results... but ... are you saying that Lakewood should be #1 in this survey...You’re not saying that Osteen is biblical? are you?

[Terriergal]

I think you may be right. But another question is — is social justice/social gospel/social reform supposed to be what Christ’s church is focused on?

[murphE]

“Megachurches” aren’t influential; sees are. People attend whatever megachurch they feel comfortable with.

Don't you mean "Mega-ecclesial communities"? ;-)

[CANBFORGIVEN]

Sounds like a popularity contest to me!

[ovrtaxt]

Yes. Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

As for non-essential doctrines, I can live with some variation.

[Vision]

I sure am. The Lakewood message has been growing for 40 years and isn’t showing any sign of stopping.

[al_c]

I don't know about influential, but when you are able to write a check for $600 million to avoid trial, you are certainly one of the richest.

The TV news stated that most of this money will have to be loaned or donated. They do not have enough to write a $600 check.

[Resolute Conservative]

So far so good.

[VOA]

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

OK, I’ll be honest that I’m cynical enough to wonder what that is
all about.

Took a little searching, but it appears that a health concern is
the reason behind Max Lucado stepping down.
(But his writing career should see him through his retirement years!)

http://www.oakhillschurchsa.org/about/employment/seniormin.php

[Terriergal]

That equals biblical?

[Terriergal]

Yeah, it would have piqued my curiosity too. But not much. I haven’t heard much strange about Max Lucado except his fluffy pretty shallow writing.

[Terriergal]

Ever hear of file-cabinet orthodoxy? (e.g. we have a statement of faith that sounds pretty orthodox, but that’s not what we preach every Sunday)

[VOA]

Most influential churches:

1. Roman Catholic Cathedral of Los Angeles

Influential, yes.

As for Roger Mahoney and his Taj Mahoney...
for good or for evil, that's a whole other question.

[Vision]

Let's just say the traditional religion you seem to be proud of doesn't work for me. BTW, if you see the Pope, tell him he's not speaking for God when he condemns the US role in Iraq, and he should be ashamed of himself.

Many people begin coming to God once they stop being religious, because there is only one master of the human heart— Jesus Christ, not religion.

[VOA]

I haven’t heard much strange about Max Lucado except his fluffy pretty
shallow writing.

Yes, Lucado sure does seem to have found a niche in religional writing.

At least he hasn't yet been revealed to be a Ted Haggard.
And he does seem to be a pretty decent and unassuming type compared
to some (mainstream) Church of Christ preachers I've been
exposed to.