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Mega-Church Pictorial

Orginally published on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 8:28 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Joe Johnson, from Columbia, MO is a photographer with a love of 'mega-church' photography. Seriously, he has taken some great shots of mega-church facilities across the country that you can view at his website. Unfortunately, all of his photos are tagged with the city, but not the name of the church. For instance, this church (in the picture) has a 'plasma pulpit'. Honestly can't say that I've seen one of these before!

In an interview at FeatureShoot.com, Joe says: "It was physical and wholly alien from what my idea of organized worship had been. Christian iconography was either stylized into abstract obscurity or altogether absent. The subject had tension. It was visual, topical, and coolly secular. Once I realized that I had relocated to a part of the country where big- box mega churches seemed to sprout forth weekly along the highways of Midwestern ex-urbs, my new project was immediately clear. So I began to search the internet for churches within driving distance that had a weekly attendance of at least 2000 people and I called their public relations representatives. It was easier to gain access than I had expected and once I’d exhausted the possibilities within a two hour drive of my home, I began to organize multi-state driving trips’..."

You can read more of the interview here, or visit the mega-church photo gallery at Joe’s site. Just click on ‘projects’, then ‘megachurches’.

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There are 3 Comments:

Posted by

Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 9:52 AM

I like how you can see the huge hair and flashy smiles even in the pictures hanging in the background. The neon sign is a great touch, too.

http://joejohnsonphoto.com/open/images/church/02.jpg

Nothing says, “Jesus,” more than a punching bag, free weights, and a combat attack practice dummy.

http://joejohnsonphoto.com/open/images/church/17.jpg

A little opulent for the kids, don’t you think?

http://joejohnsonphoto.com/open/images/church/25.jpg

--
CS
Posted by

Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 11:01 AM

The Louisville, KY pics were taken at Southeast Christian Church. I used to be a college ministry intern there.
Posted by

Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 11:57 AM

If you read the interview you’ll note he doesn’t seem to be a Christian and he’s clearly looking for artistic impact. Therefore we shouldn’t take this as a “representative sample”. I saw a diversity of “stages”: some opulent with the wonderful faux columns, some plain and yes some with crosses.

I think we have to be careful here. For all the real and potential faults of mega-churches, its very easy to describe a vignette or take some pictures or do an interview that does less to enlighten us within and those outside the church and more to speak to our biases and pre-conceived notions.

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.