There are some new trends in the mega-church sector, and they’re worth noting by LDs and manufacturers. Second Baptist Church in Houston (Texas is the epicenter of the mega-church trend) has had to spread its 40,000-member congregation over three campuses that hold a collective 12,000 seats. Even with some of the locations holding multiple services each weekend, they still needed more space. Rather than consolidating, Second Baptist instead diffused its congregation. Every Sunday, they take over several local cinemas, and between 6:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., church teams bring in prepackaged lighting systems and plug various sources into the theatre’s projection and sound systems. The Saturday night service has been videotaped using high-definition cameras and is played back in full. The entire system is then broken down, loaded out and the theatre readied for the noon movie showings.
– From Dan Daley’s The Biz column in the April issue of PLSN
