Wal-mart Churches [gateway]

Looking through my Google Reader, I've noticed a spike in stories on multi-site churches, or churches that open new campuses operated by the originating church. They are not a new phenomenon, but have taken on a new form in recent years as the internet allows one pastor to be several places at once via telecast.

So take this as a gateway topic, ie. a blog post where people can share resources and opinions and we can base future blog posts off of this one.

Previous Topics

We've talked about multi-site churches previously here at HX!

Walmart Church Devours Small Churches - notes on how well-financed and trained multi-site campuses siphon from other churches.
Saddleback's Gated Church Community - notes on how new sites are directed towards closed groups, even those *not* in gated communities!

Links for Discussion

Here's a linkdump from my GReader to bring more discussion!

A schismatic Presby church in Tulsa plans a new site - interesting to note that the site of the church plant will also be sold to local businesses to create a community.
A USA Today article (h/t @gavoweb) on the multi-site phenomenon struck me when it said "even if people are just watching a preacher on a screen"...I wonder if embracing preaching as televised edutainment is a problem...
Jenny Smith has notes from Rick Warren, one point which I would contest. Warren claims moving from large gatherings to small groups, from large church meccas to multi-site parishes, is decentralization. I disagree because the theological agenda still comes from the head...Rick Warren.
Mark Driscoll has five reasons why multi-site is awesome (and he's pledged 100 sites of Mars Hill).

Terms for Discussion

Here's the definition of Wal-marting. It is my contention that it is an accurate label to give multi-site churches, as I've said previously. Let me know if you see some parallels to the multi-site model.

The Wal-Mart business model includes: marketing to a broad "family" demographic that includes rural as well as urban, ethnic minorities as well as mainstream, people without a higher level education, lower- or working-class consumers, as well as the middle-class; one-stop shopping based on a very large selection of goods and services; the use of intense price competition and high-technology inventory management to stimulate and satisfy end-user demand; extreme economies of scale based on big-box delivery of consumables; aggressive supply-chain management that requires producers to reduce their costs significantly to find an outlet for their goods; employment of store workers for low wages, few benefits, and little job security to reduce overhead.

Thoughts or other links? Post them below or start conversation on this topic.