A new report written by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Leadership Network, “Megachurches Today 2005,” has tallied the number of U.S. megachurches at 1,210: double the number of churches with 2,000 or more congregants that existed five years ago, reflecting a growth rate not likely to slow down any time soon. Arguing that megachurches are tremendously important from a sociological perspective, and for their example of how churches draw congregations in today’s “cultural reality,” and that also, “not a week passes without megachurches figuring prominently in one or more national news stories,” or megachurch pastors landing books on bestseller lists, the authors undertake to dispel “11 megachurch myths.”