Compare the top ten mega churches for 2003 and 2006. The changes are phenomenal.  Several churches took major hits in their attendance.

2003

  1. Lakewood Church (Oasis of Love) Houston 25,000
  2. World Changers College Park, GA 23,000
  3. Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, CA 20,000
  4. Potters House Dallas 18,500
  5. Second Baptist Houston 18,500
  6. Willow Creek South Burlington, ILL, 17,000
  7. S.E. Christian Louisville, 16,500 Southeast Christian Church (independent Christian) Lousiville, KY has over 15,000 in a 9,400 seat, state of the art, worship center with multiple screens, and costing more than $95 million
  8. Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale, 15,900
  9. Los Angeles CC 15,160
  10. First Assembly Phoenix 15,091

2006

  1. Lakewood Church, Houston 45,000
  2. Without Walls International, Tampa, 23,900
  3. Second Baptist, Houston, 22,266
  4. New Birth Missionary Baptist, Lithonia, GA. 22,000
  5. Willow Creek Community, S. Barrington, 21,500
  6. Saddleback, Lake Forest, CA, 20.595
  7. Southeast Christian, Louisville, 18,520
  8. Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, 18,300
  9. Fellowship, Grapevine, 18,124
  10. Apostolic Church of God, Chicago,18,000

Several of these top mega churches have taken large hits in attendance. For example: Potters House dropped from 18,500 to 14,000. World Changes dropped from 23,000 to 15,000. Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa dropped from 20,000 to 8,000. Los Angeles fell completely out of the top 100 churches.

So the next time you think you can’t do much because you are a small church, keep in mind that some of these churches lost over 10,000 people in three years!