Bible . Now, despite the fact many of you think im a godless, marxist heathan, i went to church a lot as a kid. I dont even like the marx brothers. Like a lot of us i dont go now. But it is easy to find new ways to fill up sunday mornings like protest the nfl and i found ways to get the message. A lot of folks are still looking for the message of jesus. Thats the god we serve and thats the first miracle he does. Those folks are joining megachurches in record numbers. You know the ones. Filling up arenas and stadiums with kevin hart size audiences. The places where bieber became born again and pastors beg their members to tithe for their private jets. If i want to believe god for a 65 million plane you cannot stop me. Joel osteen got so big he bought the building where the Houston Rockets played. Would you pray with me . Right now if youre thinking havent i seen this go badly before . Yep. Remember jim and tammy baker begging for your tithes between 8 00 and noon . Make a pledge of 500. Then jim baker had a sex scandal with jessica hahn, was indicted for wire fraud, and spent eight blessed years in prison. Today he has changed his ways and be found selling meal buckets for the rapture . Oh, boy. We have been doing what god spoke to me in prison would happen. He says the last days are coming. The prosperity gospel is put on steroids and Church Leaders are rolling in the profits. To be clear that is profits with an i. Churches of this magnitude wield a lot of power not just spiritually, also financially and politically. To find out what theyre doing with that power, im going megachurch hopping in dallas, texas. Dallas is the birth place of the megachurch. With over 200 megachurches in texas, dallas is the buckle of the bible belt and ground zero for some of the most powerful churches in the country. Its sunday morning outside of dallas and im attending Fellowship Church in grape vine, texas. Megachurches have become a pretty new expression the last couple decades. They dont want it to look traditional. They want it to look like the mall of god. Ive invited my man of cloth pastor Michael Mcbride to attend sunday service with me. Pastor mike and i met on a high level activist email chain that i had no idea how i got on it but michael b. Jordan is on it. I found out his church is down the street from me. Weve gotten into some trouble together and i like his church. It has the feeling of my grandmas with 21st century justice. I have been to your church in berkeley, california. Yeah. My church dont line up with this. Yours is a beautiful church. A little more homie. Is it wrong when i see places like this i get a little suspicious . Wrong . Yeah. No. I dont think its wrong. This is like a method to try and amplify a message. So im curious about the message. If the message is whack then all of this is really, you know, quite problematic particularly given the moment of time were in. I am excited to take a peek in there. Im excited because not only are you my spiritual backup. Youre also my black backup so i feel good today. Power to the people. All right. Lets go. Fellowship church is a Southern Baptist church. Lets break it down real quick. It is time america finally learns about christianity. A megachurch is defined by the Hartford Institute as any Protestant Christian Church having 2,000 or more people in average weekend attendance. Protestants are one of the three main divisions of christianity along with the catholic and orthodox church. Fellowship church is one of the big ones in this state where everything is big. Fellowship has nine campuses across dallas and attracts 25,000 people a week with a broadcast reach to millions online. The other satellite churches are broadcast for all of his members to see. That means thousands of people get up, get out of bed, get dressed, and go to a church to watch tv. Meanwhile, i have 1100 youtube followers. Jealous . I got to see how this whole thing works so i asked them to take me to the holy command center. This is our control room. Is the pass number like a bible verse . Im going to turn you guys over real fast to derek. Pastor ed is here. Ill connect with him and make sure were ready for the message. A preachers kid ed grew up under the shadow of his father ed sr. Who runs second baptist megachurch in houston. After playing hoops at florida state, and cutting his teeth against smaller churches around texas he founded Fellowship Church with his wife lisa and figured out a new way of doing church. Our message is that god is pro sex. While his unorthodox methods have received pushback from more Traditional Church goers ed isnt in the tradition of being traditional. Not only a pastor but a brand. Ed has written 15 New York Times best sellers, owns a line of casual fishing clothes, and if you google his net worth sources say 11 million. Eds relatable messages and occasional stage stunts are pulling in more and more people to walk with ed. So different camera shots, pastor is on stage right now going through his message. Amazing. Nathan . Youre literally running through the whole program twice. Every week. Where do you rehearse your sermon . In my bathroom mirror. The level of production, this is like doing the grammys. Thanks. This is amazing. Its still early and i need my coffee. Since were at church obviously theyll take me to get coffee in the church basement. What . Lattes for the lord . This is the best Coffee Shop Church coffee that ive ever had in that it is the only Coffee Shop Church coffee ive ever had. Well take it however we can get it. These are volunteers back here. How many volunteers you have . Like a week total . So across the board i think around 1500 across all of the campuses every week. Wow. Yep, i almost did it when i realized everyone i had seen are working for free. The baristas, people in the control room, people in the parking lot. This guy, that guy, her, them. Everybody. People volunteer to support their church and serve the community. The cds aint free. The other things arent free. Whats with all that money . Doing good. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Thanks for being here, man. All right. Touch your neighbor. I might use that today. Thank you for having us. It is an honor to be here. Normally i go through the kind of vibe and the flow of everything and i thought you might want to see some of the stuff i mean, maybe that we do. Yes. I dont know if its unique or not. Its unique to me because ive never been in a place like this. Im not sure if ed is putting together a sermon or pitching a marvel movie. We talk about the bible and get microscopic. I appreciate the enthusiasm. Does he go everywhere with that microphone . Say im more confused now than when i walked in. One second he is figuring out details on the sermon. Next thing he is Live Streaming on instagram. Welcome to Instagram Live everybody. Were going through the old and new testament today. This is amazing. A run through. Lets go to Instagram Live. Boom. The kingdom splits. How close are we to the First Service . About 45 minutes away. All right. Im exhausted. You got it . Got it from andy. Is this the same one . This is typical. This is every week. We have a saying. Fc means frequent change. My staff quits. All right. Fair enough. paul great. Another wireless ad. So many of them are full of this complicated, tricky language about their network and offers and blah blah blah. Look. Sprints going to do things differently. And let you decide for yourself. Theyre offering a new 100 total satisfaction guarantee. Try it out and see the savings. If you dont love it, get your money back. See . Simple. Now sprints unlimited plan comes with one of the newest phones included for just 35 a month. So switch now. For people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay. Com hey, who are you . Oh, hey jeff, im a car thief. What . im here to steal your car because, well, thats my job. What . What . . What . laughing what . . What . what . [crash] what . haha, it happens. And if youve got cutrate car insurance, paying for this could feel like getting robbed twice. So get allstate. And be better protected from mayhem. Like me. Now im just waiting at the bar. Theres nothing i can do theres a really big crowd at the bar. Summer jams with dos equis keep it interesante. Summer jams with dos equis yesss, im doing it all. The water. The exercise. The fiber. Month after month, and i still have belly pain and recurring constipation. So i asked my doctor what else i could do, and i said yesss to linzess. Linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. Linzess is not a laxative, it works differently. It helps relieve belly pain and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. Do not give linzess to children less than 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to less than 18, it may harm them. Do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. The most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. Im still doing it all. The water. The exercise. The fiber. And i said yesss to linzess for help with belly pain and recurring constipation. Ask your doctor. Do you remember your First Experience here . I do. I thought this is a rock concert. In a good way . Right. I was like, is this really church . Yeah. Good morning, Fellowship Church. How are we doing today . Ive been at fellow church all morning learning how they megachurch. I always remember as a kid not liking having to dress up for church. What do you love about this the most, this church . The message is so easy to understand. After rehearsal is over me and pastor mike are ready for the message. How you all doing . Again, its megachurch so this aint your usual marathon. Today im talking about the new testament. In about 27 minutes and 56 seconds. In just under one hour this congregation throws their hands up to three catchy rock songs, ed runs around the stage and tells us about every book in the bible. Talking about the disciples. These guys were tough. Then like he said he would, ed used pastor mikes line. Touch your neighbor say youre a disciple and so am i. The word power is dunamis. We get the word dynamite from it. Did he just make a good times reference . You dynamite want to update your black reference or you might look like a jive turkey. Another day of worship is in the books for ed and his crew. As pastor mike and i sit in the pulpit i realize ive been seeing as much show business as church business. As a comedian i look at this as a performance. You had two shows today. Yeah. No doubt it is a performance. Im not scared of saying we entertain because if you look at the gospels, i could argue that jesus entertained. What is the Word Entertainment . It means to capture and hold someones attention for an extended period of time. I hope we dont come off, im sure some people, slick, polished, whatever. I hope not. I dont want it to be. I think people who do not feel invited into the church, one of the things they see when they see a church like this is that, why is that where theyre spending all that money . Exactly. Ive covered that may whole life. I mean, do you feel do you feel weird about the money . You know what . No. I dont but i understand exactly where youre coming from. When we started Fellowship Church i dont know i was making 20 something thousand dollars a year. And we lived in a rented house and all that stuff. We brought more than 10 to fellowship. Now i make a lot more than that and we bring well over 10 . Dont talk about how much money you have. What are you bringing . What are you giving . So god has blessed us and we give it to him. We do stuff from with haiti and guatemala and from our camps to the up and out, the down and out. Could we do a better job . Heck yes. How do you make sure you dont go down that jimmy and tammy baker this requires a lot of money. No doubt. How do you prevent yourself from going down that road . You can put boards and systems and this and audits and whatever it is. You can still be going crazy. How does all the money get here . Churches are both started and maintained with money given by the congregation. Its Industry Standard to tithe 10 of your yearly earnings to the church you are committed to. At this point like a gym membership they can take it right out of your bank account. Those tithes make up the pile of money then spent on construction, mission work, equipment, coffee shop supplies, and salaries. Megachurch pastors like ed sit together on independently run boards kind of like their own unions. These groups determine a, quoteunquote, reasonable wage for each pastor on the board. Whats reasonable . God only knows. They certainly didnt tell us. I think in texas right now i think of texas as being a very political state. Do you ever bring up the things that are going on in a political moment in your services . Not that much. Ive done stuff like what would jesus say to lebron james . What would jesus say to donald trump . Slow down. Slow down. Hold on a second. What did he say to donald trump . Get thee behind me, satan no. But i try, bible one hand, newspaper in the other. Our message is going to be go out and vote. I have never endorsed somebody. Given the polarizing moment where we see white nationalism. Yes. And racism and tribalism, do you ever worry that the American Church has not figured out how to disciple people away from racism . Yes. Was jesus a racist . Probably not. So where is the disconnect . I believe when someone is sincerely saved, their eyes are opened and hopefully they live that out. Thats a conversation we need to have more and more. We do. I totally agree with that. If we dont love each other were going to tear this earth apart. Exactly. Yes. I just think these conversations, not just conversations, action. Application. Information without application is an abomination. Im preaching better than youre shouting amen. This is our not pastor eds. Youre not jesus. That is not jesus either by the way. Thats Charles Manson. Come on, man. Golly. Im happy we got to talk to ed today. I got to give him credit for letting me and pastor mike ask him questions, he didnt get offended even when pastor mike said jesus looked like Charles Manson. His congregation clearly loves him and does good work. Lets pray before we go. Show us god how to have these hard conversations and what it means to live out what were talking about, god. Amen. Let me hear it. Touch your neighbor. With consent you know. Touch your neighbor. With consent. Yeah, but, you know. It wasnt as good. God bless you, man. In the bible of texas its advised to wash your prayers down with a bowl of chili after the service. You know how texas works. Eat, pray, football. Ooh, touch your neighbor with consent. Wow. Just for clarity, am i supposed to eat this . Eat it. Youre going to be sweating though. So i should be careful . Yeah. When talking to pastor mike about fellowship i couldnt help but think about something. Does ed ever get political and talk about politics in his sermons . I havent seen it. Okay. To me how are you not reckoning with the political moment . Im telling you, that is quite a, you know, to be like jesus, you know, so humble and holy. Oh, i want to be like him. Except except when you Start Talking about who you get to marry or simply talking about opening up the borders. Yeah. I want to be like jesus cant serve a jesus who was an immigrant and then be hating on immigrants when they show up. Either youre following a jesus of your own making yeah. Which i would argue many of us are. Or youre following the jesus that forces you to have to wrestle with a real what would jesus not do what did jesus do. What did he do . We got a ways to go. Yeah. A ways to go. I just feel like i got challenged. He looked at me like i couldnt handle it. Dont let your ego get the best of you, bro. I see the sweat. Im starting to see jesus. He doesnt look like Charles Manson so thats good. Right now get incredible savings on behr. Exclusively at the home depot. 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I still have a lot of questions about megachurches. You know what . Time to lawyer up. Do they have Church Lawyers . Of course they do. Is church a business . Is church a business . Churches have to be run like a business oftentimes. Im here to talk to matt anthony who runs the Church Law Group here in dallas. You know, have their budgets and do things like that in order to accomplish their charitable purpose. I know charities have to report how much money theyre given ends up where you think it is supposed to go. Do churches have the same responsibility . Charities have to file a Public Information tax return called a 990. Churches do not. Do you think there is separation of church and state in america . Yeah. I think primarily there is. There are exceptions and times when the line is crossed especially when it comes to politics. As far as im concerned church and politics intoed to mix but as jesus intended. I know a famous pastor who would agree. Enjoy your holiday. Lets get into one of the most controversial topics, along with affirmative action, right to bear arms, the separation of church and state, coined by baptists in virginia in 1802. They didnt think they should be treated like a business but instead a haven for the community away from any political or financial ties and the first that Congress Shall make no law respecting religion. And then came taxexempt and no checks and balances on what is happening in the church. The founders never imagined megachurches the same way they never imagined a billionaire wanting to sell you a flame thrower. Now megachurches are using religion to get tax free money and then funding political campaigns. Things havent quite separated like the virginia baptists planned. How does the lack of separation affect the people in the pews . Let me ask you this. You dont have to ask me. Thats not what they told me. I already cleared it. Im at Half Price Books talking megachurches with dallas native charlene pruett. Could you see yourself as a member of a megachurch . I went to church as a kid. Kind of go occasionally now but real occasionally. Tell me at what point you decided to start going to church yourself. Back in 1994 when my sister passed away unexpectedly. I was searching for answers. Then a friend of mine called me. She said, im going to the Potters House. You know t. D. Jakes . The church was rocking and then just came in and he took us on with the sermon. It was unbelievable. I was there for 16 years. So you enjoyed it and had a good time. Why arent you still going there . Over time i started to see i wasnt as focused. My mind was drifting. Okay. Whats he talking about . You know, i couldnt remember the sermon. And one night i was channel surfing. I had heard about gateway but this was the first time i actually heard Robert Morris preach and it was tuning into gods frequency. That was the message. I was like, wow. That was really good. Like fellowship Gateway Church led by pastor morris is a multi site megachurch in dallas with a weekly attendance of nearly 30,000 people, one of the biggest and most conservative megachurches in the country. It reports revenues of well over 120 million. Suddenly pastor ed looks like one of the meek that jesus was talking about. What i learned at gateway was how to have a relationship with god. What is the difference between gateway and Potters House . Well, the primary difference is it is predominantly white. Im black. I got a fro. Sometimes im rocking it. You know . Im walking into this predominantly white church and theyre like trying to figure me out. And i remember going to shake someones hand. I was kind of like, okay. So you im the only you havent touched very many black people, you know, that sort of thing. The limp handshake. Exactly. You know. Im used to it. But you dont want to be used to it at church. No, you dont. How long did you go to gateway . I left promptly after november 9th, 2016. The day after the election of trump. Yes. What made you do so promptly . Robert morris had given what i call talking points. We need to vote biblical principles. Basically telling people to vote for trump. He said everything but his name. Were going to give you a voter guide that simply shows you the values that each person stands for and then you pray and please cast your ballot. In the 2016 election, 58 of trump voters were protestant christians. When you have thousands of people attending your church each week and millions of people watching online, Church Leaders can tweak the message of jesus to look like it alines with the candidate they want you to support and sway elections. And just what a couple weeks prior to that or so there was an announcement, were going to start tearing racism down one conversation at a time. Then its like okay. Now youre telling me to vote for a racist . You know. That doesnt jive with me. I couldnt just dismiss the fact that we have different ideologies, politically. But we also have different social ideologies it sounds like. What has been your process for trying to find a new church . I just wrote down the names of some churches that i wanted to go visit. And threw them in a ziploc baggy and pulled it out and i was like, this is where were going. I havent found anything that resonates with me. And except for the Potters House. I may wind up back there. I dont know. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. Like lebron going back to cleveland. Oh, do we have to go there . But i mean, that would be a big return. Yeah, it would be. God works in mysterious ways. Thats for sure. My time is thin, but so is my lawn. Now theres scotts thickr lawn 3in1 solution. With a soil improver seed and fertilizer to feed now yard time is our time. This is a scotts yard. You know those butterflies arent actually in the room . Hey, that baker ladys on tv again. Shes not a baker. She wears that apron to sell insurance. Nobody knows why. Shes the progressive insurance lady. They cover pets if your owner gets into a car accident. Covers us with what . You got me. [ scoffs ] shes an insurance lady. And i suppose this baker sells insurance, too . Progressive protects your pets like you do. You can see the secret life of pets 2 only in theaters. The secret life of pets 2 lets see, aleve is than tylenol extra strength. And last longer with fewer pills. So why am i still thinking about this . Ill take aleve. Aleve. Proven better on pain. The bigger the church the more powerful the church. Since churches dont have any kind of official government oversight, that power can lead to abuses of the worst kind. Weve heard about it a lot in the catholic church. But it aint just a problem with the vatican. New reporting is revealing troubling accusations of sexual abuse at independent fundamental Baptist Churches across the country. Virgin is not a sexual preference nor is it your birth right baby. Emily is a poet and activist who uses her story to confront the churchs history of abuse. This ends with me. Inspired by me too emily dropped the hashtag church too. A lot of my poetry is about religious stuff. I mean, its all rife with religious metaphors and stuff. It is just the language my brain speaks. What was church like for you as a kid when you were a little kid . I mean, my dad was a Southern Baptist youth pastor when i was born. I would say church was like the locust of my purpose as a young person the church most formative for me in junior high and high school was a nondenominational evangelical megachurch. There was a lot of lights and fog machines and, you know, little orders everybody had to follow. It was also like my entire social life because we were home schooled. And so we didnt have school friends. So being a part of a Church Community that was so large gave us the opportunity to make lots of friends. When i think about church in my life i think about my grandmother specifically. It wasnt just this thing that happened on sunday. It was a thing you touched into all week and it allows people to check in with you regularly. If you werent at church they find out what was going on with you. Then somebody would text you and youre like oh, i have a community that cares where i was at. With my grandma it wasnt text. They just stopped by her house. Yeah. It is this all encompassing thing so important for so many people. So when it betrays you, you almost feel like your whole life is having the rug ripped out from under you. You know . Yes, yes. Essentially what happened was i was groomed for a romantic relationship when i was 16 by a respected volunteer leader who was in his 30s. The way the predators work is they groom their victims by slowly breaking down one boundary at a time but its little. A chip here and a chip here and a chip here and then all of a sudden youre having conversations that are way inappropriate. There was a lot of talking about how, all the things he wanted to do to me and how he wanted to marry me and all of this stuff. At 16, you know, you fancy yourself an adult. And no one had ever explained to me a 16yearold cant consent to a romantic relationship with a man in his 30s particularly not a man who is supposed to be like a spiritual authority, you know what im saying. Yes. So when it was found out, the church kind of swept it under the rug. And my parents blamed me. Punished me. They made me call him and apologize to him and that was the last time i ever spoke to him was me apologizing to him. It was extremely painful. And put me in a really dark place for a really long time. I mean, ive seen that as like its so complicated with the church because i imagine there is also confusion about im supposed to be sharing my feelings with people at church. Yeah. Im supposed to be sharing my feelings with my youth leaders. You probably are not going to see Harvey Weinstein justifying his actions with a chapter and verse from a bible. No. But you will see a pastor doing that. Right . I just dont know what to do with this. Me too happened. And i was like, should i out my abuse other than twitter right now . Like probably, huh . Okay. Im going to do it. Yeah. So i sat down and i wrote it out. And i pressed the button. By the morning it had gone viral. This feels like a thing people want to talk about. Clearly this is a thing thats resonating. Did you include his name in it . Oh, yeah. And the name of the church. I do names always. I think some people want to name names. So many people dont. Sometimes its not safe for people to name names. For me it was so i did. How did you feel about the response . I was shocked that all of a sudden, like, it was actually gaining traction. You know, and people were caring and sharing the stories and people were like, calling me wanting to do interviews and all this kind of stuff. I was like, you all care . So many people, so many lovely people have all been trying for a really long time to get these stories into the public eye. Now they are and im really grateful. Do you ever imagine seeing the abuser again . Do you ever have those ideas or thoughts like what you would say . Ha. What i would say . I dont know. Im just wondering. Yeah. No, i would say, you messed with the wrong hi mrs. Carmen hey theo. Cop onstar, i have the stolen vehicle in sight. [police sirens] cop onstar, slow it down. Onstar advisor mr. Grantham, this is onstar. The police have your vehicle. Mr. Grantham thank you so much. The police have your vehicle. With advil liquigels, what stiff joints . What bad back . Advil is. 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Bring out the best in it with crest 3d white. Crest removes 95 of surface stains. In just three days. Jesus with giant cathedrals and seating for thousands they may all start to look the same but there is more than one kind of megachurch in dallas. Just a jesus whos up there, but a jesus who is in janice even when she does drag shows at s4 on sunday nights. Cathedral of hope is the largest lgbtq church in the world. Pastor neil harris leads worship here. His mission is simple. Change the narrative. I view this congregation as family. In 1972 out of the lbgt movement i can tell from your accent you were born and raised here in dallas. Yeah, yeah. East dallas. Very east dallas. No. I was born and raised in great britain. Was 18 when i went to seminary. I came to learn very quickly that the church could be wrong. And the church is really a human made institution that has all its rules and regulations that often have nothing to do with the one that we follow as we call jesus. Yeah, yeah. That was helpful to me as i later came out as a gay man. I mean youre doing all the things. So how long you been here . About three and a half years. Part of what i wanted to do was welcome people who have left churches because they cant cope with the hate that is often preached in their churches. I know megachurch pastors who would never admit they know me. But i know megachurch pastors who say i wish i had the courage to preach what you preach. But if i do, i lose my pulpit. Attendance falls. But how does this become the face of christianity . Do you feel a need to compete with that in some way . No. I think you live with authenticity. I think people are tired of unauthentic leadership. We have to take some responsibility for what the church has created. The church has created racism and sexism and ageism and homophobia and trans phobia not because of jesus but because of White Privilege and power and money. And so our job is to break those systems of oppression and that includes calling the church to repentance. No social justice effort in the United States has ever been successful without the church onboard. We head south of the city, one of the largest megachurches in dallas is also a the forefront of social justice. Friendship West Baptist Church was founded by dr. Freddy haynes. Toxic masculinity devalues women. Racism devalues people of color. Ageism overlooks the aged and those are treated as second class citizens. The impoverished are rendered invisible and have no voice. You could go on and on and on. For 35 years dr. Haynes has served as a visionary for the ministry and membership has grown from less than a hundred members in 1983 to nearly 14,000 today. Because of the work he does and also because he shaved off that horseshoe. So how do you fit into this megachurch universe . Strange because ive been told a church that emphasizes social justice cant grow and attract people but thats been our emphasis. So i think we contradict that. A lot of it is also connected to wealth. Some nba basketball players. Maybe not starting money but six man money. You know. Doing all right. Which is good money. I just googled your net worth. I didnt find anything. That may be a reflection of what i have. But being in a building thats huge and beautiful and ornate do you feel you suspect you are in line with other people whos net worth you cant google . No question. For me it is an instrument of service to the community. Thats why it is called the friendship worship and conference center. This is our Backtoschool Community block party. We are doing free hair cuts, free immunizations. We are having a massive career fair. We use it for much needed Economic Empowerment on a side of town thats neglected, you know, my ministerial hero is Martin Luther king jr. And who would Kings Ministry look like in the 21st century . Thats what weve tried to build. Yeah. Some pastors say i stay out of politics. Right. But there are certainly people who stand in the pulpit and say everything but. You know, i think you should vote for somebody who is making America Great again, you know, that kind of thing. Kind of blatant. What do you think about that thing you should not be political . Well, i mean, honestly i think its kind of fake to say youre not political. You cant even go to the bathroom without it being political so why not have some kind of influence that is righteous . For me its like i cant help but be involved in politics because im pushing for justice. 26yearold was shot and killed in his own apartment by an offduty Police Officer amber geiger. John, who she thought was a burglar, was watching a football game. This young man in his apartment minding his own business, a Church Worship leader, and he gets shot. I was determined we take advantage of this moment to make some serious systemic changes. I joined in the marches, the protest. And also have been in conversation with the mayor, the district attorney, as well as the police chief. We are calling for the Dallas Police department to do everything that they need to do to reform that police department. So weve been involved from talking to those in the suites to dealing with trying to push for change in the streets. Yeah. So what are you doing tonight . Whats happening tonight here . Tonight is bible study. When i think bible study i think church basement, stale cookies, quiet reflection. Not at the west. Tonight there is a message to be heard just like any given sunday. Theres a choir, choreographed dancers, and a cathedral packed with eager members ready to hear the pastor tell it like bitter. Have you ever felt betrayed by a country . It happens. I told you all how theres a t shirt that says dont let your president [ applause ] yall are church people. Youre not supposed to know about that t shirt. When you are secure in your walk with god, dont let what they do to you get in you, but keep your eyes on the destiny that god has for it and your eyes on that destiny says even betrayal can be used to get me where god is trying to take me, and i always rise again even when you throw me down. Its coming out of friendship west, listening to pastor freddie haines. They call it bible study. It just felt like preaching. When i was in there, i wasnt watching a tv show. I was just in church. All of the stuff he was talking about, i talk to my friends and people about. I think a lot of americans stop going to church at some point because its not speaking to them anymore. I was like whoa, wait a minute. This ones talking to me. Anyway, im glad to know its here. Because one day i might need it. 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Dont imagine results, see them. Coolsculpting, take yourself further. Behr presents a job well done. Painting be done. And stay done. Behr, ranked 1 in Customer Satisfaction with interior paints. Right now get incredible savings on behr. Exclusively at the home depot. Than the education theresof a young mind. Portant lets go. Lets go. Lets go. Except maybe being first in line to the grand opening of the Worlds Largest rollercoaster. [ cheering ] the volkswagen atlas. More room means more fun. The pros of going into ministry is because you have a calling and you want to share the message with the people. If you talk to god and get a message, you have to build your church. Hi. How are you . Good. How are you . Im michael. Were about to hop a fence. Were hopping a fence . This is real texas. Were hopping this fence for the lord . You show me the holy hop. Four years ago they met in a living room. Today its one of the Fastest Growing churches in dallas. Michael arm strong is copastor at the well. This is your property . It will be in a few months. How big is your property now . The next probably decade there will be tens of thousands of homes a half a mile from here. This is an if you build it, they will come situation. Well, theyre coming. Where does the money come from from this . We share the vision of what we want to do on this piece of property. We dont ask people for money. We dont pass a plate. If people believe, they ask how can we give to this . Theres a box in the back. Put your money in it. If they dont believe in it, theyre not going to give. Right now theyve given enough for us to buy the land. This is all donations from your congregation . Isnt that amazing . I remember the bible verse about rich man, heaven. You probably got it. Its in there some where. About a rich man getting to heaven. Harder than a camel through the eye of the needle. You see preachers living high on the hog. I cant imagine you would get into the ministry ever thinking you were going to be rich, but all of a sudden your church grows and if you dont have accountability in place, you start thinking its all about you. Weve done everything we can to make sure thats not going to happen. Because i think the Church Culture in america is suffering. I think people maybe fall away from the church. Why . I know a lot of churches, its like a self help seminar with a rock show as the opening act. Thats great free entertainment but you leave saying man, that was good, but its not changing you. We go to buildings one day a week and go home and try to live life. But when jesus came, it was about this. If we do this the right way, this is church. I need you. You need me. More than where two or more. Yeah. Two or more are gathered. I dont know if youve noticed, but its tough. Right . Yeah. Where do you go for answers . You go to friends. We need to be able to just talk and have hard conversations. How do you do this, man . I do it by having a tv show where i get to talk to interesting people and have hard conversations. Im privileged. This week im talking to multiple different ministers. Even still, im a person who as i got older and had more kids, im like i need to show up back in church again. You dont have to go back to a building. You have to find people you can have these kinds of conversations with. Everything youre saying is everything i think people want to hear and some people think churches arent doing anymore. We want people to come here not on sundays but just like this. I love the feeling of standing on this land and imagining whats coming next. Its excite can you pray for me right now . Yeah. Is this okay . Yeah. Youre talking about it. I just. Lets do it. Can i put my hands on you . Please do. Lord, we love you. I thank you for ka maul. This is unbelievable that you have from where he was raised and born you have him on this platform where he gets to speak to the world and talk about things that no one wants to talk about and he can change the world and change it for the good. We ask all those things for your name in jesus name, amen. Amen. Can i give you a hug . Im a hugger. Im going to hug you. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. I want to come back and see it be the place you want it to be, and mostly im coming back to see if you act like you dont know me and have sunglasses on and a cessna is there and you get out wearing a linen white suit. Man, youre going to the wrong church, bro. And your boots will be bedazzled. Keep checking in on us. Today the face of christianity is the megachurch. And if you want a megachurch, if you want to do good deeds in your community, great. If you want to confront the political system we live in, absolutely. If youre okay with your pastor getting rich in the process, thats up to you. Its like pastor mike said. Not what would jesus do, what did jesus do . We need to get the message because these churches will tower, influence and shape the world we live in. All in these beautiful buckets. Xxxxxx this week im in tacoma and Seattle Washington heading out with the john brown gun club. Im walking to white people who want to end white supremacy. Im going to do it by hash tagging it. Right now theyre protesting a nazi owned tattoo shop. I say