The following is a guest post by Marcia Colgar.  She owns the site OnlineChristianColleges.org and writes various articles about faith-based education.

1.  Lakewood Church (Houston, TX) – Pastor Joel Osteen – 43,500

This non-denominational evangelical Christian megachurch has the largest congregation in the country. It has four services in English and two services in Spanish each week. It is housed in the former Compaq Center, which housed the NBA’s Houston Rockets in the 1990s. It was started by current pastor Joel Osteen’s father with the same name in 1959. The weekly services appear on several television networks, including Trinity Broadcasting, Daystar, and secular stations including USA and Fox. They are viewed by 7 million viewers each week.

2.  North Point Community Church (Atlanta, GA) – Pastor Andy Stanley – 27,400

This evangelical Christian church spans 5 campuses in various areas around Atlanta. It was founded in 1995 and has a Southern Baptist heritage. Messages from the main church are simulcast to the other campuses so that all the satellite churches stay connected.

3.  LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) – Pastor Craig Groeschel – 26,700

Although based in Oklahoma, LifeChurch has 14 campuses in five states, along with one on the Internet and another on the virtual site Second Life. The church began in 1996 with 40 members and grew rapidly. It started to incorporate satellite video into the services in 2002 and has since opened other campuses across the country. It is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church

4.  Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, IL) – Pastor Bill Hybels – 24,300

This non-denominational evangelical church is located in the Chicago suburbs. There are six regional congregations with their own worship teams and pastoral staffs where the main message is simulcast from the South Barrington campus. In a national poll of pastors, the church was voted as the country’s most influential church.

5.  Without Walls International (Tampa, FL) – Pastor Paula White – 23,900

Without Walls church emphasizes New Testament-style evangelism, which involves preaching the gospel in the streets and local communities. This has brought a great amount of growth to the church. They have a number of outreach ministries with the local community. The church was founded as a non-denominational charismatic church with two locations around Tampa.

6.  Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY) – Pastor Dave Stone – 20,800

In spite of its size, Southeast Christian Church emphasizes meeting the needs of individual members with various ministries. It has three campuses, including one in Indiana. It is associated with the churches of Christ.

7.  West Angeles Church of God in Christ (Los Angeles, CA) – Pastor Charles Blake – 20,000

As part of the Church of God in Christ denomination, this church has a Pentecostal background with a predominantly African American congregation. It is known for its dynamic city ministries and celebrity members, including Denzel Washington, Stevie Wonder, and Magic Johnson.

8.  Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) – Pastor Rick Warren – 19,700

Located in southern Orange County, this church is associated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastor Rick Warren founded the church in 1980 and is known for his bestselling devotional, The Purpose-Driven Life. The church currently has nine campuses in the surrounding area.

9.  Woodlands Church (Woodlands, TX) -  Pastor Kerry Shook – 18,300

This church is located in the organized community of The Woodlands, located about 30 miles north of downtown Houston. It has three other campuses in nearby communities. Pastor Kerry Shook and his wife wrote the bestselling book, One Month to Live, about living with no regrets.

10.  Central Christian Church (Las Vegas, NV) – Pastor Jud Wilhite – 18,200

Central Christian is a non-denominational Christian church just outside Las Vegas. The main pastor, Jud Wilhite, struggled with addiction as a teen and now leads ministries to help those who are hurting to heal through church. There are several other campuses in the surrounding area, including prisons in a few states with the God Behind Bars program.

These kinds of things use to make me really mad.  For real, I would get upset all day over something I read or heard from someone I don’t know.  It could be unbiblical criticism of a contemporary “heretic” preacher or a bold stance wrongly calling something sin and condemning all who partake.  Reading/hearing that would ruin my day.

My reaction used to be anger.

I would get upset.  I would get mad.  I sometimes would even leave comments on the websites or write letters to “correct” them.  My online comments were rarely allowed by the authors.  This made me even more upset.

Then, I realized how pathetic my reaction was.

Now let me say that I believe condemning something God has not condemned is wrong and I personally believe legalists will be judged for their Pharisee like statements and the heavy religion they have tried to use to control others.  But setting them straight is not my job.

So what’s my reaction to these things now?

I feel sorry for them.  Honestly.  I used to get angry, and I still deal with some of that.  But for the most part I just feel sorry for them.  They usually portray themselves as unhappy, bitter people who think just because they have self-imposed strict religious ways that suck the fun out of their lives that everyone around them should do the same.

Besides, how did these people become legalists?

From sitting under and learning from other legalist!

So though it is sad that they have been brain-washed with an uptight religion that blocks a true view of God, it’s not their fault they were made that way by the false teaching of legalistic influences.

They are simply misguided.  Unfortunately, they are also stubborn (because they can’t handle conflict over their weak logic) so it is hard to show them the truth without becoming frustrated or mad, like I used to get.

So now, I simply feel sorry for those pastors, bloggers, and misguided followers when I hear/read such legalistic, unbiblical banter.  I want to be mad, but they are still a human created and loved by God.  Just as our hearts should go out to those misguided and manipulated into a cult, so our attitude should be toward those who have been lead astray down the path of legalism.

God deliver them!

Pastors, if you need a pump me up Sunday tweet from perry noble to preach you did not study enough this week.

Pastors, please stop telling me every time you are going to get an email for something you said.

If you can fall from it it’s not grace.

Someone asked me today if our church plant is going to be baptist or pentecostal. Are those the only two options?

anyone notice that as sermons went from 30 to 40 minutes church attendance dropped all across America?

I have been reading through the gospels and am amazed at how many times it says, “he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

popular christian quote that is nowhere in Scripture: ‘There’s a God shaped hole in your soul that only He can fill’

Common used “Christian” saying that is not found in the Bible: ‘Love the sinner, hate the sin’

Sayings not found in the Bible: God helps those who help themselves

Interesting how people always think god speaks according to what THEIR personality is.

Every church needs a ‘get crap done’ pastor on staff.

“The church is the most segregated institution in America” -Efrem Smith We need more hip-hop churches!

A prayer of confession god will always answer -philip yancey

“It’s not about delayed-gratification, but God-satisfaction.” -@wmattevans

Unless someone is teaching another way of salvation, they are not a heretic. that word gets used way too loosely

Say what you want about joel osteen…he’s not going around criticizing other pastors, telling them they should do ministry like he does.

Some in traditional church say if u don’t agree with them you’re not saved. Some in contemporary church say if u don’t agree with them you’re stupid.

If you are not careful you can get sucked into this trap.  On the front end of launching this blog I was very intentional about not allowing myself to criticize or ridicule others.  When sharing my frustration or opposition with what a person did or said I make sure I just list what was said or done and not who said/did it.  This is the best way I know to guard against becoming a bitter critic who tries to pull others down.

So why it is a trap?  Why do people get sucked into this?  It’s because criticism will always draw a crowd.  Somehow making jokes or taking cheap shots at celebrities whose lives have fallen apart makes us feel better about ourselves.  Almost anytime someone stands up in a large crowd and makes fun of another sports team, political group, or religious belief, there will be some who will say, “Yeah!  Get ‘em!”

The one who has made the criticism then feels they have support, so why not feel confident enough to make another remark and then another.  Before you know it the person is simply stabbing others in the back and using the term “Christian duty” as an excuse for slander and sin.

I will not give the name or the link because I do not want to even add to his page views, but there is a college professor who has become a poster child for the process of becoming a critic.  By his own admission he rarely blogged and had very few followers.  He put up one post about a few simple disagreements he had with a local mega-church and their pastor.  The post got several agreeing comments so he posted another and another.  The process evolved into a mess where he actually sued the church (and lost) and currently posts blogs several times a week that are nothing but rants and criticisms of the original church and pastor as well as many other pastors.  He’s basically attacking any name that he knows will get him a lot of feedback on his blog.

That’s an easy way to get a following but also a cheap one!

A few months ago I made a casual comment on twitter questioning a national, respected Christian figure.  In return I received a lot of negative feedback and a death threat (which was a joke).  I was not intending to stir up anything.  But in the moment I was tempted to defend myself and become very aggressive in digging up more information to boldly defend my point.  I later realized how pathetic that was and am sorry for the entire situation.  I did not want to become a critic.  Sadly, many people are so thirsty for attention though they will take it by whatever means necessary.

If our feedback cannot be private and personal I have a tough time believing it can be of any benefit.  We are not called to be the opposer of everything we don’t like.  And if we don’t want to have to deal with criticism, then why don’t we lead the way by simply not giving any.

However, the latest census shows there to be over 337,000 people in Hamilton County (which is the county Chattanooga is a part) and one research return I did showed that only 26% of adults in the city are regular church goers.  That means there are almost a quarter of a million people in Chattanooga who for whatever reason are not actively involved in any of the 747 current churches.

On top of that, the downtown area brings with it a lot of baggage most churches are not addressing.  24% of those who live within 5 miles of downtown Chattanooga live at or below the poverty line.  Many people who live and interact downtown would be classified as organic, green, or emerging while the vast majority of downtown churches are “First” churches or at least very old churches with a set, traditional way of doing worship.  In my observation, such is making no impact on the folks I listed above or the thousands of college students who attend UTC college right in the middle of the downtown setting.

There is a need!  My calling came well before the realization of this need.  Everything I shared with you is information I discovered after accepting the call to plant in Chattanooga.  But now, this information demands I respond to it and even take responsibility for it.

I fully believe God wants to do something in the city of Chattanooga like the people there have yet to experience.  I believe there is a deep need there.  This need and my deep concern for it are what compel me to take action.  More than church attendance and stronger family incomes the people of Chattanooga need Jesus.  That is there greatest need.  And that’s why I am planting a church there.

So in part one of this short blog series I simply answered by saying “I don’t know” – and I don’t.  So many things are yet to be determined.  In this part I will run the risk of being ambiguous again by saying that I don’t think it really matters what kind of church we start.  Again, that’s assuming those who have asked that question have very detailed things in mind.

Will we have modern, “contemporary” music?  Yes

Will we allow people to dress casually and provide coffee?  Yes

Will we be associated with a particular denomination?  We are still determining that

Those are the questions I find most people are really asking with their sweeping inquiry to the “kind” of our church.  But those are things we will do.  I believe it is not so important what a church does, but why they are.  In my book, I call this “be not do.”

If we are truly open to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, then how in this world could I sit here and type in all that our not yet existent church will do nine, five, or even one year from now.  Sure, there are some models we will be consistent to and other practices and structures we will use because I have found them to be most productive, but I will not pretend to predict the future by telling you the ministries we will have, the way discipleship will look for us, or what a Sunday morning service will look like for us – because I don’t even know yet!

What I can tell you is who we will be.  Freedom Church of Chattanooga will be a church committed to reaching out and accepting those who no one else in our community is successfully trying to reach.  We will be a church dedicated to and involved in our community.  We will be good stewards of the people, money, and resources that God is going to entrust us with and we will handle all matters of business and ministry with integrity that is above reproach.

We know who we are going to be.  As long as we stay true to who God has called us to be, what we specifically do will not matter, and yet at the same time will be effective.  If our focus becomes our actions over our character, we will fail every time, either physically or morally.  But as we seek God’s vision for who we are to be, we will carry out whatever He has for us in whatever way it takes so long as we don’t violate our identity.  That’s who we are.  That’s who we are going to be!

I saved this one for last because not only would I say that I have probably been hurt emotionally by insecure people more than any other of those I’ve listed, but I have also had a lot of insecurity issues before.  I lived very deeply in insecurity for much of my youth.  It was my insecurity that played a major part in determining who my friends were, the things I said to and about others, the activities I did or did not participate in, and, unfortunately, why I hurt a lot of other people.

Insecure people are very worried about finding their own security.  And in my case, if I had yet to find what made me feel accepted and confident, no one else should either.  This is why I was always very jealous of confident people and often burnt bridges to ever being their friends.  It is as though I was trying to justify myself but because I did not feel I could do that my showing good things in myself, I had to do it by constantly looking for the bad in others.  I did not see it in myself as much but when I began to automatically drift toward others who were themselves insecure, I was upset by the amount of criticizing and nit-picking done by our group of friends.

And we can be insecure either about ourselves or something we are a part of.  Just a few years ago, when I knew I wanted to start a church, I would visit other churches I had heard well of or look at their websites, all the while snooping for something negative about them.  In my mind, if I found a weakness or something that would allow me to say, “yeah, but they don’t do such and such well” next time that church was mentioned, it some how made me better.  I’m ashamed to say my insecurities about my own ability to lead a ministry actually caused me to rejoice on the inside when I found churches that were struggling more than they lead on or when I would hear others criticize the church.  I would nod and think, “that’s right…get ‘em!”

My life has been very affected by the insecurity of both myself and others.  This is what makes me feel for those who hurt others as a result of it and fear that I may at some point fall back into it.  A pattern I have seen in some others though shocked me as it was very different from my own story.  For me, insecurity caused me to feel that I was not good enough.  So as a result, I sat back, didn’t speak up, and tried to just stay out of the way.  To others, it looked like humility.  So I figured insecurity would also cause others to act “humble.”  But this is not always the case.

Some of the most insecure people I have known have at times been the most selfish people I have known.  It could be money, attention, time, whatever – but they think having that will make them feel more accepted or good about themselves and so they will do whatever it takes to get it – including being a jerk.  Insecure people are often high maintenance.  It takes a lot to keep them happy, yet they are never happy.  So they ALWAYS want to know they are your best friend or they ALWAYS want to get the last word.

And like on some of the other traits I’ve listed in this series, our human nature is to do the opposite of what is needed.  I did not work through my insecurities because someone put me in my place.  It was not a good yelling or a book telling me to get over it that worked for me.  It was something I had to recognize in myself.  It was something only I could work through.  Now, I needed the encouragement and building up of others, but through acknowledging my own successes and abilities, I found my identity in who I am as a person and that I am a person.

It was a breakthrough for me when I realized that every person is just a person.  For real.  I used to think there was me at the bottom, then the people who were content with themselves, and then on top were all the great people who were super-human with special powers and positions.  It helped me a lot when I just talked myself into realizing that the President, the athlete, the actor, the singer, the doctor, the author, are all just people.  Like me.  They may have talents or have been given opportunities I never will, but I won’t know unless I try.  So I realized I could not let my insecurity determine my failure because I was not even going to try.  When you let insecurities make decisions for you, your decisions will always lean in the do nothing direction.

Be willing to admit the insecurities you have – whether about yourself or something you are involved in.  Realize it is not others’ responsibility to make you feel better about yourself.  Choose friends who will lift you up and support you, but it’s not their job to make you feel accepted, and it’s not their fault that you don’t.  I kind of feel like an insecurity success story while at the same time constantly alert that I could slip back into those thought patterns.  Whenever I get negative or make judgments I must check myself to make sure I’m not saying or feeling those things because of fear or the feeling of inadequacy.  Being controlled by those things will only keep us in poor-image bondage and cause us to hurt those we love.

My wife and I had some really good and necessary conversations about our future this past weekend.  Before such conversations have been somewhat heated but this weekend we were able to be honest and blunt and I think we both feel like we are working together towards the same things in relation to family, living, and work.

I found out last week that a friend of mine from High School has redeveloped his passion for music.  This excites me because I consider the guy to be one of the best musicians I have ever heard play live and was sad when for years he neglected his talent.

I have been invited back to do another interview on the Shirley Thomas internet radio show on Wednesday, August 25^th at 10pm.  You can listen to the show anytime online though.

Also this week I met and got to spend some time with Justin Deweese, lead pastor at Awaken Church in Hixson, Tennessee.  Justin is a church planter and is an awesome guy.  I’m excited because I feel like he and I could become good friends and be a support to each other as we both do ministry in the Chattanooga area.

I have been reading in Ecclesiastes and it is causing me to have a “what’s the point?” kind of outlook on things.  I think this is good (for a time) because it helps you rid yourself of all the flaky stuff that gets in our lives.

What’s going on with you?

Last month though Katy and I attended a church planting conference in Cartersville.  Michael Lukaszewski (believe it or not – pronounces the way it looks) is the pastor of Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville and in session one of the church’s ‘Nuts and Bolts’ conference, he really challenged me.  He stepped before a group of hundreds of church planters seeking wisdom about church systems and strategies and addressed the deeper issue: spirituality.  Michael went through the story of Nehemiah, a book I had already been studying for leadership principles (posts coming soon) and mentioned how though Nehemiah had a passion and a vision, he was still patient and faithful in an extended time of waiting.  That time of waiting ultimately caused Nehemiah to be more prepared when his chance to carry out his God-given vision arose.

I’ve never been one to adapt a habit or system just to copy someone else, but after a very honest (and even heated) conversation with my wife on the way home, I determined that I needed to set aside forty days.  For the past month (and several more days) I have determined not to take any more steps toward church planting.  Rather than raising funds, making plans, and meeting with people, I have prayed.  Each morning during this time I have began the day by asking God what my prayer focus should be for the day, and then I have journaled what God has taught me throughout the days.

I have been lead to pray for things like purity, God’s favor, our marriage, and the less fortunate.  Most successful church plant stories include unexplained acts of God that will not come to a person or group that is pursuing their agenda and plan rather than God Himself.

So if any of you have wondered why you have not received any church planting updates from me lately, it’s because there simply is nothing to update you on.  My focus right now is not progress; it’s not movement.  My focus is God.  If I don’t make sure I have that right at this point, it will become more and more difficult to realign myself once things are in motion.  I’m taking the time now to make sure I don’t see the end as being another church in Chattanooga, but rather being in a place where I hear from God and am able to be used by Him.

Though we are still early in the game, we are being aggressive in pursuing any opportunities that could get us into Chattanooga or having us better prepared once we get there.  I have looked into a few job options up in C-town.  We are attending a one day conference for church planters later this month.  And I’m counting on my book selling half a million copies so I can quit work.

Ok, so maybe the last one is not very likely.  But we will be doing fundraising soon so we can minister full time and get plugged in to the city of Chattanooga.  So if you know of anyone with a generous heart, the resources to give, and a love for the people and souls in Chattanooga, please shoot me an email!  I plan on being intentional about building relationships with those who could partner with us in this way.

I also hope in the next year to put myself under the mentoring of some guys who have been successful church planters.  One of those is Michael Lukaszewski. Michael planted Oak Leaf church in Cartersville and is a great leader.  For real, you need to follow his blog and his twitter account as I think he always has solid and interesting things to say.  Michael and his staff are leading a one day conference for church planters and their teams.  By being just one day, June 26^th, and costing just $10, the Oak Leaf team is going out of their way to make this a user friendly resource for church planters in Georgia.

The conference is called nuts and bolts and if you would like information or to go with Katy and I, just click on the link or email me.

I’m looking forward to the conference Michael!