Mega-church melee

Have you seen all of these evangelical Christian mega-churches popping up everywhere? The ones that buy 20,000-seat stadiums to offer services. I'm sure you have, as the monstrosities spring up anywhere a large collection of disenfranchised worhippers live. These Churches apparently give meaning to the lives of their worshippers by letting them see the power of faith in JE-SUS.

Here in Cincinnati, we have a few mega-churches that bear mentioning. Solid Rock Church on I-75N near Traders World is a new mega-Baptist church that many might call beautiful. It is a stone and column structure built on a man-made lake near the interstate, with plenty of open space and green grass inviting the lonely and lost to come find "The Way." Also inviting those same people is a "Giant Jesus" rising out of the ground as if from the grave. Giant Jesus is truly giant, with arms nearly 65 feet in height and a span of 42 feet between hands. Though Solid Rock Church's congregation is not overly large, its grandiose King of Kings statue has left little doubt as to its pastor's dreams.

The Crossroads Community Church is another mega-church in Cincinnati that has expanded dramatically in the past year. It originally took over a HomeGoods store on Madison Ave. and Ridge Rd. Since that time, Crossroads has added on nearly 4 times, and from Kevin's meager opinion, it looks as if the facility (because it's no longer a single building) has probably quintupled in size. Crossroads now features helpful traffic directors on Sundays, no less than 50 staff members (as per their website), and a congregation of thousands that believe the non-denominational Church has brought back the meaning to their otherwise uneventful and dissatisfying lives.

Now, Kevin is obviously not a fan of the mega-church means of providing spiritual nourishment. Kevin enjoys his Catholic faith, instilled in him by his parents through many years waking up for 7:30AM mass. Kevin believes that mega-churches are large gatherings of suckers bent on giving money to a few people who call themselves "pastors" and in return receiving the love and peace of JE-SUS. Personally, Kevin feels that JE-SUS will love you whether you give money or not, but hey, Kevin is just a simple man.

However, over the weekend another simple man (that is not Kevin) took offense to the Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty of Tulsa, OK. The man, we'll call him Parishioner, approached Billy Joe and managed to get off a strong right jab before he was taken down by security. While no reports as yet tell why the pugnacious parishioner punched Daugherty, Kevin believes the reasons are threefold:

1. Daugherty refused to drive the evil spirits from Parishioner's body.
2. Parishioner's wife and daughter had left him to enter Daugherty's personal harem.
3. After thousands of dollars in donations to Daugherty's church, Parishioner was enraged that he had only achieved Operating Thetan level III.

Kevin says kudos to you, Parishioner! Kevin's only regret was that the left uppercut that was the second part of the combo never landed. Honestly, do these Churches really have the power of faith they claim to have? If Billy Joe Daugherty really had the power of JE-SUS beside him, do you think Parishioner could have landed that punch? Or if he had really been a follower of Christ, shouldn't Daugherty have let Parishioner hit him again? JE-SUS did tell his true followers to turn the other cheek! Mega-churches may be the new wave of religion, but Kevin believes that this recent episode just goes to show that Jesus doesn't like mega-churches any more than Parishioner.