Hahrie Han

You know, and even though Cincinnati is a city, you know, leans left, you know, in the politics of Ohio, you still had a significant number of people that had to have supported Trump and also supported this ballot initiative. So I wanted to understand more. And I was initially doing research in Cincinnati because of this ballot initiative.

You know, and even though Cincinnati is a city, you know, leans left, you know, in the politics of Ohio, you still had a significant number of people that had to have supported Trump and also supported this ballot initiative. So I wanted to understand more. And I was initially doing research in Cincinnati because of this ballot initiative.

And people kept telling me, you know, there's this church that are sending all these volunteers. And that's not infrequent when you study political campaigns to have say, oh, there's a church that was involved. And, you know, usually it's, you know, in this situation, a situation like this is probably I sort of assume that it'd be some like lefty unitarianism.

And people kept telling me, you know, there's this church that are sending all these volunteers. And that's not infrequent when you study political campaigns to have say, oh, there's a church that was involved. And, you know, usually it's, you know, in this situation, a situation like this is probably I sort of assume that it'd be some like lefty unitarianism.

You know, who sent people to, you know, make a few phone calls and here and there. And it turned out that it was this evangelical megachurch in Cincinnati that was sending hundreds of volunteers. And that's when I thought, okay, like this is unusual, like what's going on.

You know, who sent people to, you know, make a few phone calls and here and there. And it turned out that it was this evangelical megachurch in Cincinnati that was sending hundreds of volunteers. And that's when I thought, okay, like this is unusual, like what's going on.

And when I dug into it, it turned out that all these volunteers were coming, had been animated to get involved in the campaign through a program called Undivided, which was fantastic.

And when I dug into it, it turned out that all these volunteers were coming, had been animated to get involved in the campaign through a program called Undivided, which was fantastic.

a program that was started by the highest ranking black pastor in the church in you know in 2015 he had stood up and said he wants to do something on um you know the racial divide in cincinnati and he had such an outpouring of support after he preached about that that they decided to build a program and the program launched in early 2016

a program that was started by the highest ranking black pastor in the church in you know in 2015 he had stood up and said he wants to do something on um you know the racial divide in cincinnati and he had such an outpouring of support after he preached about that that they decided to build a program and the program launched in early 2016

It was a six-week program designed to equip people to get involved in the work of building racial solidarity. And then that people were so animated by that program, they then got involved in this ballot initiative in the 2016 election. And so that's how I came upon Undivided to start.

It was a six-week program designed to equip people to get involved in the work of building racial solidarity. And then that people were so animated by that program, they then got involved in this ballot initiative in the 2016 election. And so that's how I came upon Undivided to start.

And I was trying to understand how was it that it was having these really unexpected effects that we just aren't seeing in other kinds of programs like that.

And I was trying to understand how was it that it was having these really unexpected effects that we just aren't seeing in other kinds of programs like that.

So the technical definition of a megachurch is a church, I mean, it varies a little bit, but roughly about 2,000 people or more. But this church was the third largest megachurch in America. And so now it's a church that gets about 35,000 people per week to show up in person and about 500,000 people online.

So the technical definition of a megachurch is a church, I mean, it varies a little bit, but roughly about 2,000 people or more. But this church was the third largest megachurch in America. And so now it's a church that gets about 35,000 people per week to show up in person and about 500,000 people online.

So they have a scale that is unlike any of our political organizations because there are no political organizations that get 35,000 people once a week to show up, you know. And then at the time when I started researching them in 2016, there was about a 20,000 person a week church. So, you know, it's grown since then. But here's a couple other stats that I didn't know until I did this work.

So they have a scale that is unlike any of our political organizations because there are no political organizations that get 35,000 people once a week to show up, you know. And then at the time when I started researching them in 2016, there was about a 20,000 person a week church. So, you know, it's grown since then. But here's a couple other stats that I didn't know until I did this work.

The largest 9% of churches in America contain 50% of the churchgoing population. Wow. And so church attendance in America is heavily skewed towards large churches. And the average megachurch grew by something like, I don't have exact numbers right, but I have the magnitude right, by something like 34% between 2015 and 2020.

The largest 9% of churches in America contain 50% of the churchgoing population. Wow. And so church attendance in America is heavily skewed towards large churches. And the average megachurch grew by something like, I don't have exact numbers right, but I have the magnitude right, by something like 34% between 2015 and 2020.