Master of Gerontological Studies, Miami University, 2013, Gerontology

As Baby Boomers grow older in the innovative and youth-focused megachurches they largely helped build, questions arise regarding their futures and roles within megachurches. Using the sensitizing framework of age integration, this exploratory study sought to uncover the status of age integration in one megachurch and the implications thereof on the future of Boomers and the church. It is a first step toward addressing the lack of empirical research detailing the state of age integration or the success of age integration initiatives in various organizations. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with nine participants were augmented by limited participant observation and analysis of documents, media, and quantitative secondary survey data. Analysis utilized a grounded theory approach to transforming data that yielded two approaches to community building: categorically and values based communities/environments. Values based approaches were shown to offer greater opportunity for age integration than categorical approaches, which tend to lead to age segregation.

Committee: Kathryn McGrew (Committee Chair); Jennifer Kinney (Committee Member); James Bielo (Committee Member) Subjects: Aging; Gerontology; Organizational Behavior; Religion; Religious Congregations; Social Research; Social Structure; Spirituality

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2006, Arts and Sciences : Sociology

By focusing on two megachurches in “Midwestern City”, one a large independent megachurch and the other a large Protestant denominational church, I investigate whether the associations that go along with belonging to a denomination make a difference in the type and amount of civic engagement a congregation has in the community. Data come from sixteen interviews with key leaders of both congregations. I also collected church bulletins, attended worship services and other congregational events. I discovered that denominationalism has an impact on the amount of community outreach of a congregation. The congregations were similar with regard to the type (e.g. soup kitchens) but were very different with regard to style and the manner in which the congregation performed community outreach. The social networks that both these congregations participate help with regard to their outreach efforts. The “culture” of the denominational church played an important role in its outreach activities.

Committee: Dr. Rhys Williams (Advisor) Subjects: Sociology, General

Master of Liberal Studies, University of Toledo, 2011, Liberal Studies

This study of the emergence of today's Black megachurches (BMCs) is explanatory. It set out to identify specific plausible factors that contributed to the growth and success of BMCs at the start of the 21st century. This thesis indentifies four factors leading to the continued growth and success of BMCs: (1) Poaching potential members from other churches, (2) engaging the un-churched in and around a particular community, (3) merging smaller churches into the larger BMC, and (4) appealing to Blacks migrating to areas with higher concentrations of Black Americans, which formally meant migration to the North, but now, meaning migration to the South. These four factors were identified as a result of my studying and reflecting on the literature available on BMCs as well as megachurches in general. More specifically, my study has sought to identify and clarify factors that have plausibly contributed to the continuation of BMCs' success and growth.

Committee: Rubin Patterson PhD (Committee Chair); Morris Jenkins PhD (Committee Member); Carter Wilson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Religion; Sociology