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The Top 50 Most Influential Churches in America
The Church Report ^ | 7/12/05 | staff

Posted on 07/12/2005 7:31:32 AM PDT by ppaul

Top 50 Most Influential Churches
The 2005 survey was sent to 2,000 church leaders with the goal of ranking the nation’s fastest growing churches and churches with more than 2,000 weekend attendance. The 127 churches nominated for the 50 Most Influential Churches survey were located in 32 states and represented 27 affiliation groups and/or denominations. The term affiliation is used to include networks of unaffiliated, independent churches.

(Excerpt) Read more at thechurchreport.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: christianity; christians; church; churches; denomination; gospel; influence; jesus; jesuschrist; lakewoodchurch; mcleanbiblechurch; megachurch; pastor; pastors; religion; saddleback; seekersensitive; top50; top50churches; topten; willowcreek
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To: ppaul
.....elders, to spread the workload (like Moses did).

...uh,.....Moses was WRONG!

/murmering......lawyers will destroy a nation.....ie. Rome too!

121 posted on 07/13/2005 7:09:28 PM PDT by maestro
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To: ppaul

Bumped for later.


122 posted on 07/13/2005 7:30:16 PM PDT by Ol' Sox
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To: ppaul
I noticed that Brooklyn Tabenacle was on the list. Our choir does music from there. We can tell their songs from any of the others by the way they sound.
123 posted on 07/13/2005 7:41:08 PM PDT by MamaB (mom to an angel)
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To: maestro
...uh,.....Moses was WRONG!

Huh?
What are you talking about?
The Scriptures say:

"What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied." Exodus 18:17-23

Are you saying that a pastor should shoulder all of the burden of shepherding the flock, and not appoint capable men to share the burden (contrary to the clear teaching of scripture)?
124 posted on 07/13/2005 11:59:15 PM PDT by ppaul
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To: ppaul; fortheDeclaration; editor-surveyor; xzins; bondserv; Commander8
........uh,.....Moses was WRONG!

Huh?

What are you talking about?

The Scriptures say:.......

WRONG AGAIN!

.....The Moses'....Father-in-law SAYS......

/ACLU types

/OFF the clear teaching of Moses'.....Father-in-law.....

Answer:

Moses SHOULD HAVE SOUGHT THE LORD!!!!!!!!

Maranatha

/Gnostics

125 posted on 07/14/2005 3:31:57 AM PDT by maestro
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To: ppaul

bump for later


126 posted on 07/14/2005 3:35:15 AM PDT by Ulysses ("Most of us go through life thinking we're Superman. Superman goes through life being Clark Kent!")
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To: absolootezer0
i haven't heard of a catholic church ever being referred to as "fast growing"

Bible-belt Catholics
TIME ^ | 2/7/2005 | Tim Padgett
Posted on 02/09/2005 6:15:55 AM PST by sinkspur

Eight years ago, a handful of Roman Catholic families in Huntersville, a suburb of Charlotte, N.C., started a new parish. The home of their church, St. Mark, was a bowling alley. Our Lady of the Lanes, as they jokingly called it, was an apt symbol of the scarcity--and supple ingenuity--of Catholics in a region known as the buckle of the Protestant Bible Belt. Soon St. Mark was gaining a family a day. Now its almost 2,800 families hear Mass in a cavernous gymnasium as they await completion of a new church. Among the newcomers is Ben Liuzzo, 54, a financial-services manager who a few years ago moved his family from New York to North Carolina. He had thought Catholics in the area might be as outnumbered as Jews or Muslims--and that the meager church life that did exist wouldn't engage his 14-year-old son. Instead, the Liuzzos are attending standing-room-only services like St. Mark's teen Mass, complete with a pop-music ensemble that could be mistaken for one of the area's rollicking Christian rock bands. "This I was not prepared for," says Liuzzo, who flashes a smile at a recent service as an altar girl marches a crucifix past 1,000 parishioners.

Yankee transplants like the Liuzzos aren't the only ones helping fill the pews in the Charlotte diocese. Mexican immigrants are the fastest-growing group, and Hispanics as a whole make up half the diocese's 300,000 Catholics. Thousands of Vietnamese and Filipino Catholics are settling in too. "I've wondered often how bishops in the Northeast handled the waves of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries," says Bishop Peter Jugis, 47, who took over the diocese in 2003. "It's exciting." It also transcends demographics: the newcomers are practicing a more conservative Catholicism than their brethren in many other parts of the country.

127 posted on 07/14/2005 3:47:22 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter (John 6: 51-58)
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To: maestro
Correct!

Jethro gave human advice, not God's wisdom.

Men who were to lead the nation were to be spirit filled (Nu.11:25) as were those who are to lead the local church (Acts 6:3).

Natural ability (as espoused by Jethro) is of little concern to God.

128 posted on 07/14/2005 4:21:14 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Gal.4:16)
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To: fortheDeclaration
Men who were to lead the nation were to be spirit filled (Nu.11:25) as were those who are to lead the local church (Acts 6:3).

And your point is?

129 posted on 07/14/2005 11:44:18 PM PDT by ppaul
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To: ppaul; maestro
Men who were to lead the nation were to be spirit filled (Nu.11:25) as were those who are to lead the local church (Acts 6:3). And your point is?

The point is that Jethro leaves God out of his plan.

Moses doesn't even check with God to see if that is how God wanted it done.

Jethro represents the common view that natural abilities are a substitute for spiritual gifts.

130 posted on 07/15/2005 2:49:40 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Gal.4:16)
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To: ppaul; maestro
Where do you read in the account that Moses was getting tired?

God's power was sufficent for Moses.

Moses had the Holy Spirit enough for 70 men!(Num.11)

131 posted on 07/15/2005 2:52:29 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Gal.4:16)
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To: ppaul

CAN'T BELIEVE THEY DIDN'T INCLUDE JOHN MACARTHUR AND GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH IN LA!


132 posted on 07/15/2005 3:15:37 AM PDT by razorbak
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To: fortheDeclaration

Amen!


133 posted on 07/15/2005 3:16:38 AM PDT by maestro
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To: TommyDale
A couple of points: First, Saddleback is not a Southern Baptist church. While Rick Warren claims to be Southern Baptist, and he received his Divinity degree in a Southern Baptist Bible college, he denies that organization (except when he is among them!). Secondly, "Purpose Driven Life" (and its predecessor, "Purpose Driven Church") have been divisive to many traditional congregations worldwide. When you say that book is "incredible", if you meant "NOT credible", then I agree 100% with you. It is full of scriptural error, not the least of requiring church leadership to sign covenants, in defiance of Jesus teaching otherwise.

Amen!

134 posted on 07/15/2005 4:40:16 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Gal.4:16)
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To: loftyheights; txzman
txzman, You wrote, "don't tout infant baptism as a crux of faith." Are you saying that those who tout infant baptism as a crux of faith are wrong and are scismatic, so to speak? I'm saying that those who deny infant baptism (and baptism in general as the way to be saved) are not to be considered Christian but scismatic. We can't both be right. If you are right then the Christian Church was wrong for about 1,600 years.

That would mean that the first 400 years they got it right.

135 posted on 07/15/2005 4:41:52 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Gal.4:16)
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To: Terriergal
I think you should read Deceived on Purpose by Warren Smith.

Amen!

136 posted on 07/15/2005 4:42:56 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Gal.4:16)
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To: SonnyBubba
I am a Christian, but if you attend a Church where the pastor doesn't know you personally, or you know him , in my humble opinion, find a smaller church.

Amen!

137 posted on 07/15/2005 4:48:20 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Gal.4:16)
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To: fortheDeclaration

"Who's Driving The Purpose Driven Church?" by James Sundquist would be another book worth reading. The author goes through the Rick Warren book and refutes it by Spripture, item by item.


138 posted on 07/15/2005 4:53:09 AM PDT by TommyDale
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To: absolootezer0
i haven't heard of a catholic church ever being referred to as "fast growing".

That's probably because Catholic's weren't included in the poll, and that because many non-Catholic Christians don't really believe Catholics are Christians or at least not a Christian on equal footing. BTW, my parish church seats approximately 800 people, and it is generally SRO for each weekend Mass. There are seven total, which means we're pulling about more than 5500 people a weekend.

139 posted on 07/15/2005 4:53:40 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: gamarob1; Terriergal
Depends. The Bible does say that the Lord adds DAILY to the church,

No, the Bible says that the Lord added daily to the church.

That verse is not a proof-text for church growth being a sign of God's blessing.

140 posted on 07/15/2005 4:56:32 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Gal.4:16)
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