Bethany Baptist Church thinks so big that when Sunday service is held there are traffic jams on nearly every road leading to it.
Bishop David Evans, does not have to worry about feeding the 5,000. He has a congregation of 20,000 faithful at his church.
The church, in the New Jersey town of Lindenwold, is a larger than life building in smalltown America.
The huge white windowless structure is one of more than 850 mega-churchs whose numbers have tripled across the United States over the past decade.
The biggest is at Lakewood in Houston, Texas -- the home state of President George W. Bush, -- with 25,000 members.
And the growing religious fervour in the United States has not been lost on Bush, a born-again Methodist, or his Democratic rival John Kerry as they step up the battle for the November 2 election.
Bush in particular sees fertile ground among American evangelists and baptists.
Mega-churchs now play pivotal roles in local communities. Their success is a testament to a sign of religion's strength and some slick marketing.
John Vaughan, a specialist on religion, told how the leaders of 30 different denominations held a special meeting in Chicago in 1990 to find ways to revive their institutions, "to reach and aggressively go to the unchurch people."
He said: "Big churches have a mission. They are able to reach different kinds of people and communities: the poor, the rich, African Americans, Asians, Whites.
"They have more space, they have a multiple staff of 100 to 200 people. A big church can saturate a whole city. In Jackson, Florida, they trained people to go to every home.
"They can send out tens of thousands of volunteers every year, all over the world, who are willing to give their own money," according to Vaughan.
Bethany calls itself "the church that never sleeps". People can come to pray anytime of any day.
"People are coming back to God," said Evans, a 52-year-old former banker, who started preaching to a handful of followers in 1990 and now runs a 13 million dollar site which was finished in 2000.
There are 70 staff and hundreds of volunteers helping Evans, the main pastor and teacher as well as Prelate of the Abundant Harvest Fellowship of Churches, which says it has churchs in Africa and India.
At Bethany, and other mega-churchs, the recipe is basically the same: a charismatic preacher who mixes evangelical fervour with religious spectacle. The outside cultural and social activities make the congregation ever closer.
At Bethany, there are services, but also dance and theatre courses, "Makeover Day" with stylists, barbecue days, support for the retired and soon a swimming pool and basketball court.
"It meets all my needs," said social worker Linda Sykes, who has to drive for an hour to reach the church, where she is a volunteer helping battered wives and children. "It's good for every aspect of life."
Bethany thinks modern with none of the intricate decor, candles and stained glass windows of traditional churchs.
The autiorium has water displays, an orchestra, giant screens and light displays that throw up coloured crosses onto the ceiling.
At a typical service, about 30 young singers belt out hymns with a modern soul beat. Doctors, staff and teachers -- mostly African Americans -- watch as the rhythm mounts. Women wearing nurses hats hand out handkerchiefs.
"I like excellence as a standard," said Evans. "When you drive an hour, you want to find a good show."
Evans, who preaches a strict following of bible texts, then follows with a sermon, broken only by shouts of "amen" and "come on bishop" from the ecstatic congregation.
"I was very broken in my life when I came. The service is very healing," said Pamela Drayton, a prison visitor. "It's not the old traditional church, it's fun, there is always stuff going on, the songs are upbeat."
The church is almost full but the pastor has discovered other ways to spread the word. He appears on radio and brings out DVDs.
Evans is interested in politics. He says is conservative about gay marriages and abortion and sometimes liberal about women's rights, including women priests.
But he insists "this is not a social activism church. Evangelism is the core of what we do."
"We are fishers of men, we bring people to a knowledge of Jesus Christ."
The church's work targets all areas of the population. Last Saturday, the church showed "Bibleman" a masked hero for children who combats evil by reading the texts against a background of flashing lights and rock music.
At the end, Bibleman called on the children to repeat: "Dear Jesus, I think you're really cool and I want you to be my best friend."
For Halloween, when American kids normally dress up as ghouls and ghosts and collect candies from neighbours, the church plans its own "Alleluyah Day" for children who will get their own gift bags and sweets so they do not feel they have missed out.