$130 MILLION CAPITAL BUILDING CAMPAIGN:
Proposed 21st Century, State-of-the-Art Campus is Largest in Modern
History; Adds Spiritual Element to Downtown Dallas Revitalization
“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.”
**NOTE: When I first posted this, I mistakenly said it was Ed Young’s church. It’s NOT. It’s Robert Jeffress’s church. I’m sorry for the confusion.
But all Dallas churches look alike to me.
But really, $130 million for a church?
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Maybe create multiple campus’s or partner with struggling churches and create church plants where they can put young pastors in to get there start. Hmm. Now thats spreading the Word.
What’s really nuts is that the church has already raise $62 million for it. I’ll be excited when the pastor and I start getting a paycheck from our church.
I agree. If they are interested in spreading the Word, why not use that money to branch out or put it in a mission fund or something. Human beings as a whole are mostly focused on themselves and “what’s in it for me?” but that is not what we are called to do or to be. I keep on being saddened b/c the mission field is struggling for funding right now.
So in the middle of the financial upheaval our nation is going through…let’s build a huge church instead of setting aside that money to help the people who are really going to need it…(sigh)
i was watching the promo videos on the church’s website (http://ascendio.com/fbd/Learn-About-The-New_Campus.aspx)
i particularly like how they justify the escalators by quoting the Bible telling us to “go up to worship”…
Sheer gold, Jerry!
I can tell you that I wouldn’t build a 130 million dollar church campus. I would build a campus that fulfilled the immediate needs of the church, with some vision for the future, and then put that money into home and international missions….
130 million for a church is nuts…
Contrast that with Rolling Hills Baptist Church:
http://www.wheresthesteeple.org/TheFuture.htm
(story courtesy of Carlos Whittaker: http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/2009/07/wheres-the-steeple/ )
Yeah, pretty stark.
i’m sure there are no homeless people living in dallas who may need shelter…nor any hungry that may need fed…
Jeez, Matthew!
You need to put this into context. This is DALLAS! This isn’t just a ‘church.’ This building has to compete on Sundays with Jerry Jones 1.15billion temple to the Cowboys.
That makes it okay, right?
This just makes me sad.
How much…
housing
food
medical care
clothing
education
could this provide for people who are feeling hopeless and desperate?
Sometimes it embarasses me to be a Christian.
This makes me want to swear.
An hour and a half drive from Dallas, there’s a town that is the 16th poorest in the nation. Within the Dallas/Ft. Worth area itself, there have been problems with human trafficking/slavery, with very little funds available for aftercare of the people rescued. Dallas itself has a large homeless population, if a walk downtown is any indication.
How much you want to bet once this new campus is built, it’ll have 24 hour security to keep those homeless from sleeping on the front steps?
Gah. There’s so much wrong with the American church – this is just one of the many indications.
Also, I love how the BUILDING is what’s going to create “a spiritual aspect” in downtown Dallas. REALLY? A BUILDING.
I’m glad you commented on this. I saw this the other day and commented on what a gigantic waste of money this was, and proceeded to get into an argument with someone over it. Their argument was basically since I was not on the church leadership team, I had no right to criticize what God has called them to do. I just can’t/don’t want to imagine that God has called them to spend 130 million dollars on a building when there is such a huge problem with the homeless, the hungry, and a million other things within their city limits.
Still…that is one sexy church building
With 10500 current members, that breaks down to an initial eternal investment of about $12400 per person. Only $12400 for one soul’s eternal security?
Idk, doesn’t seem like that much money when you consider the alternative of an eternity in a lake of unquenchable fire and brimstone.
the strangest comment to me comes from the website’s explanation: “in a way, the glass has an evangelistic effect: people walking by have a view in from the street and feel drawn in.”
what?!?!?
Omigosh-makes me emberassed for them. So sad. This is not representitive of all other Dallas churches! I am so thankful for my church in Dallas which refuses to spend money on a bigger building or “fancy chairs” or flat screens or any of that junk because they’d rather use money biblically- to serve the poor, to help the needy, to love others. 🙂 that’s a church I am proud to belong to. I hope that giant glass thing doesn’t go up. Boo bible belt!!!
While a church of this size is an easy target, isn’t the same philosophy at work in smaller churches that would most likely do the same thing with similar people and resources?
The most constructive way forward with this involves saying that this is wrong and using it as a discussion-starter for our own congregations. If we don’t want to end up with this kind of huge building justified with lousy theology, what should we invest in today? Even this huge church started somewhere. We need to figure out if we’re on the same trajectory and whether or not we need to rethink our use of time and treasure.
This is an example of why I don’t understand why any church really needs to own property at all. But at the same time I go to a church that “worries” about meeting its multi-million dollar budget.
If not for the people, I wouldn’t attend a service there at all.
Ed, you are right, of course, but we aren’t finished venting yet 😉
NO NO NO! We MUST stop them! Whatever it takes! There are people dying from hunger in our own nation and this? Pardon me while I go throw up.
Chad, I’ve been working on a pun about venting and the ventilation at the new worship megacenter, but I don’t want to afflict Matthew’s blog with my inane jokes.
bleck. Dallas churches… we have a mega-church building syndrome, even in my own church.
I attended the school located within FBC for 13 years— my mother attended this church for 25 years until she married my dad.
What has been going on at FBC has been absolutely infuriating the past 10 years. My initial problem began a few years ago and was more related to the tearing down some historical buildings (including the chapel my parents were married inside), and building a super center with flat screen TVs. Ironically, FBC had a “heist” a few years ago when these TVs were stolen from the center (as I recall, it was an inside job).
But THIS? This is ridiculous. Believe me, that $130 million could be better spent— how about all the families with laid- off parents who need help with paying the bills? Heck, what about providing scholarships for poor families who want their kids to receive a private- school education as they are located in a terrible school district in the Metroplex? (I had some amazing teachers at FBA).
Also, if the population of FBC is so anti- government-mandated health care, then why aren’t they taking care of their own congregation who are probably struggling to pay these expenses? Ironic, no?
I know I know… all churches should work on their own planks before criticizing other church’s specks. But I feel very strongly about the direction this church is moving. then again, I tend to have very negative feelings in general towards FBC and the SBC.
Way too many churches have caught the “bigger is better” bug. I keep hoping all the megachurches on spiritual Viagra will end up with those erections that last way more than four hours.
I imagine them crawling to the emergency room begging for some relief and being told to sit there in all their gigantic glory until someone has the time (and inclination) to deal with their “huge’ problems. And then when they can’t get the latest and greatest treatment because their insurance Provider has denied it, they might understand why some people think a health care plan for those “less fortunate” isn’t such a stupid idea after all.
I’m from Dallas and so I can say this with love. There is a total bigger, better, more complex in that town that freaks me out.
it looks like an airport to me…does it include an airport?
Forget web-based churches. Just add an airport to your existing campus and people from all over the world can participate in person!
Yes 130 million bucks could be used to feed many homeless people. It could start 260 church plants with converted worship spaces… so much…
But where do you draw the line? So many of these people are complaining about churches using flatscreens. The local church IS the biggest evangelical tool we have. We must put emphasis on our weekend services because that is our number one area that we share the gospel with the most people.
So how much is to much for a church to spend on a building?
It is EXPENSIVE to create environments that compete for the attention of people. Especially in Texas!
So YES – the 5 million dollar lighting rig at Fellowship Church in grapevine could have built a homeless center… but so much of that is wrote off by the world as a “philanthropic” enterprise.
That 5 million has created an environment that THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS have heard the gospel.
So yes… the Dallas church is excessive – but where do you draw the line?
This is getting out of control.
@Brad Christian:
You sir, have nailed the problem on the head! Thank you.
The perception IN the Church is that ‘We MUST put emphasis on our weekend services because that is our number one area that we share the gospel with the most people.’
Church gatherings were never intended to be ‘evangelistic’. They are times of celebration for believers.
Because so many Christians live lives of impotence, we have had to change ‘church time’ to ‘evangelism hour’. It’s a pit-stop in the week to make us feel like we’ve actually done something that has lasting, transformative impact.
If you can’t be the Church every day, then you really have nothing to celebrate when the Church gathers. But maybe people like it better when all they have to do is show up to the building and get their eternity card stamped for the week instead of getting their hands dirty; idk.
People haven’t heard the gospel because of a $5MM lighting rig; they just got to see the pastor and worship leader better.
$5MM would, however, helped find jobs and cared for people in need (almost 10k just in the homeless population of Dallas Couty).
Mother Teresa once said, ‘you have to care for the person before you earn the right to care for their soul’.
So where do you draw the line? When everyone’s needs are taken care of around us. THEN we can afford those certain oh-so-essential things such as a $5MM lighting rig.