Decade-old Church is Largest in Alabama

Greg Garrison |

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Just a decade after its founding, Church of the Highlands has weekly attendance of 13,500 worshippers. They listen to Senior Pastor Chris Hodges' sermons in more than 20 Sunday services, at a main campus in Irondale and five branch locations.

With two of the satellite locations in the Birmingham area and others in Auburn, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa, Church of the Highlands has become the largest church in Alabama. It was ranked the 27th largest church in the country by Outreach magazine and was named the fastest-growing U.S. church in 2008, just seven years after its founding.

The secret is to keep it simple, Hodges said.

God isn't boring, so don't make it seem like he is with boring sermons, uninspired worship or unenthusiastic music. Don't badger members for money.

``Don't ask for it,'' Hodges said. ``Model generosity.''

When offerings are taken, visitors are told they are not expected to give, Hodges said. Members are never pressured for fundraising campaigns, pledges or building projects. ``There's no pressure,'' Hodges said. ``I didn't ever want to be behind the pulpit needing that Sunday's offering.''

The congregation met at Mountain Brook High School until it had money in the bank to buy land and build on a hilltop off Interstate 459. ``We had $16 million in the bank,'' Hodges said. ``We just went and wrote a check.''

Hodges said he never could understand why churches charge their members for recordings of sermons. ``It's like double-charging you,'' he said. ``They're selling you things they bought with your money. We gave everything away.''

Financial transparency and trust is important, he said. ``We have a fully disclosed cash policy,'' Hodges said. ``Everybody knows how the money is spent.''

The church sets its annual budget as 90 percent of the previous year's income, to leave a 10 percent cushion in case of an economic downturn, and limits salaries to 35 percent of the total budget.

Without the pressure and guilt, people respond with generosity, he said. ``In 2010, we had a 30 percent increase in giving,'' Hodges said.

That formula created a growth arc that rivals the fastest growth for a megachurch anywhere in the country. Hodges never anticipated this much growth when he started the church with a mass mailing and 300 people showed up to worship at the high school fine arts theater on Feb. 4, 2001. While many religious organizations laid off staff and cut budgets in a difficult economy the past two years, Church of the Highlands hired 22 new staff members in 2009 and added 20 more last year.

``It's a miracle,'' Hodges said.

Associate Pastor Layne Schranz, who raised his own salary in 2001 to become the first paid staff member, said Hodges has a gift for leading people to God. ``He's been my pastor since I was 17,'' Schranz said. ``He really loves God and he really loves people. He helps people connect with God.''

Hodges said he wants to make getting to know God fun, instead of a chore. He's trying to reach people who have been turned off by past negative experiences with religion.

``Chris aims at those who are not in church,'' said Rick Bezet, pastor of New Life Church in Conway, Ark., which was founded the same day as Church of the Highlands. A year after Church of the Highlands was named the fastest-growing church in America, New Life Church took the top spot the next year.

Bezet grew up with Hodges in Baton Rouge and served on the staff of Bethany World Prayer Center with him for seven years.

Hodges said he and Bezet helped each other research and write the life-oriented biblical sermons for both congregations the first two years after the churches started. It made sense to share since they were both trying to achieve the same goal of reaching people and teaching them the Bible, he said.

Schranz said the staff of Church of the Highlands spent several weeks in January fasting and praying, as they have every year since the church founding.

``This can't happen without the favor of God,'' he said. ``God has to touch us. It's about the grace of God, not about us, so we pray for God's favor.''

Hodges and Schranz say that getting members active in small groups is the key to maintaining the success of a megachurch as it grows. ``We believe it can be 100,000 people and still be intimate and caring if small groups are healthy,'' Schranz said.

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