Branson/Springfield

[slyder1]

Sice Springfield is known as the bible belt, along with Assembly of God Headquarters located here and bosting more churches than any other city in the US I thought I would give some info for those of you interested.

Assemblies of God Headquaters

Springfields ever growing MEGA Churches:

These mega-churches are places where members can not only pray, but work out in a gym, eat at a food court or browse in a bookstore. James River Assembly, High Street Baptist, and Ridgcrest Baptist are among the US 2000 mega churches.

James River Assembly grew from just 24 people with services in a srip mall 15 years ago to more than 7,000 fulltime members and a 2,000 seat sanctuary along with its own youth church.

Youth Church (this youth church alone is bigger than most churches not to mention the main church)

Youth Church Sanctuary

James River also hosts its own 4th of July Firework Spectacular called I Love America. Initially, I Love America was held at James River Assembly's current location at Highway 65 and CC in Ozark. Through the years attendance at the event has grown from 13,000 initially to over 77,000 in 2003.

The Youth Church hosts concerts given by big christain artists such as Stacy Orichio, RJ Helton, Lifehouse.....

Check out thier website: www.jamesriver.org

[johnnydr87]

Sice Springfield is known as the bible belt, along with Assembly of God Headquarters located here and bosting more churches than any other city in the US I thought I would give some info for those of you interested.

Praise the Lord.

Nothing quite says "Christ-like" like a fully decked out, state-of-the-art behemoth of a church.

[slyder1]

Springfield,

At the NW corner of Springfield is Airport Plaza, a Mixed Use developmnet at the intersection of I-44 and West By-pass. Already completed is a T-mobile call center (will add 700 jobs), Baymont Suites, Cody's convience store and gas station, and TSA office building. Under construction are Chili's, Ruby Tuesday, Medical Plaza, 500 upscale apartments, lots of green space , retail stores and much, much more.......

Traffic:

With I-44 at 79,000 average daily traffic at that intersection and Kearney and West By-pass in the 20's-30's you can see why a development like this will do very well there as well as being close the Airport.

I couldn't find a website for it but here is a layout of the development: Airport PLaza

There is also a Courtyard by Marriott and The Cafe' across the intersection.

[Mith242]

Sice Springfield is known as the bible belt, along with Assembly of God Headquarters located here and bosting more churches than any other city in the US I thought I would give some info for those of you interested.

Assemblies of God Headquaters

Springfields ever growing MEGA Churches:

These mega-churches are places where members can not only pray, but work out in a gym, eat at a food court or browse in a bookstore. James River Assembly, High Street Baptist, and Ridgcrest Baptist are among the US 2000 mega churches.

Yeah seems like I've heard a little bit about there being a lot of churches in Springfield. We have a couple of mega-churches in NWA as well. Not sure how they compare to the ones you have up there.

[Mith242]

Hey Slyder I have an off-topic question for you. With things warming up, well somewhat, I like to go out and do some hiking. I've considered checking out the Missouri Ozarks a bit, but I'm not very familiar with them compared to the Arkansas Ozarks. Just curious if you had any particular scenic areas you'd recommend.

[masons_dad1]

Hey Slyder I have an off-topic question for you. With things warming up, well somewhat, I like to go out and do some hiking. I've considered checking out the Missouri Ozarks a bit, but I'm not very familiar with them compared to the Arkansas Ozarks. Just curious if you had any particular scenic areas you'd recommend.

I can tell you where I'm planning my Missouri Ozarks camping trip... Roaring River State Park. There are several trails and the best trout fishing in the Ozarks.

I haven't been there yet but their website has some great pics and information.

[Mith242]

I can tell you where I'm planning my Missouri Ozarks camping trip... Roaring River State Park. There are several trails and the best trout fishing in the Ozarks.

I haven't been there yet but their website has some great pics and information.

Thanks for the info. I've heard of it but haven't checked it out before. I guess I haven't checked it out before because I'm not that big into fishing. I guess I'm also looking for areas maybe a little bit like the Boston Mtn area of the Arkansas Ozarks. I guess I've been spoiled by that area. Most of my experiance of the Missouri Ozarks are areas like much of NWA where it's more flat with some occasional hills and such. But as I said I can't say I know a lot about the Missouri Ozarks so I could be missing some pretty nice areas.

[slyder1]

Thanks for the info. I've heard of it but haven't checked it out before. I guess I haven't checked it out before because I'm not that big into fishing. I guess I'm also looking for areas maybe a little bit like the Boston Mtn area of the Arkansas Ozarks. I guess I've been spoiled by that area. Most of my experiance of the Missouri Ozarks are areas like much of NWA where it's more flat with some occasional hills and such. But as I said I can't say I know a lot about the Missouri Ozarks so I could be missing some pretty nice areas.

Missouri has lots of mountains just like NWA. In the Eastern Central Eastern part of the state there are plentifull camp grounds as well as rivers to canoe and float. Springfield boosts the James River which is a very fun river to float on and camp. The best part of James fiver would have to be Hootentown (I think thats how you spell it) south of Nixa. There are camp sites galoor in that area! Then in eastern Missouri there is Johnson's Shut In's that took a devistating blow because a resavoir on top of a mountain broke, but the area resembles the rivers in Colorado with the "smooth as a baby's butt" rocks as well as some great trails along with Mark Twain Forest. I will get back to this later.

[slyder1]

Yeah seems like I've heard a little bit about there being a lot of churches in Springfield. We have a couple of mega-churches in NWA as well. Not sure how they compare to the ones you have up there.

I could be wrong but there were no MEGA churches in NWA and Arkansas in general on the list. The MEGA churches have 2,000 full time members. They compile this by getting an average attendance over a 6-month period. St. Louis dosen't even have one and Kansas City has one while Springfield has 3. This is just because of the status that Springfeld has with religion. We are known as the Christian Capitol in Church World.

I could be wrong but there were no MEGA churches in NWA and Arkansas in general on the list. The MEGA churches have 2,000 full time members. They compile this by getting an average attendance over a 6-month period. St. Louis dosen't even have one and Kansas City has one while Springfield has 3. This is just because of the status that Springfeld has with religion. We are known as the Christian Capitol in Church World.

Sorry I meant to put nation! Im a little Happy right now In other terms........

[Mith242]

I could be wrong but there were no MEGA churches in NWA and Arkansas in general on the list. The MEGA churches have 2,000 full time members. They compile this by getting an average attendance over a 6-month period. St. Louis dosen't even have one and Kansas City has one while Springfield has 3. This is just because of the status that Springfeld has with religion. We are known as the Christian Capitol in Church World.

Sorry I meant to put nation! Im a little Happy right now In other terms........

I'm pretty sure there's at least one mega-church in NWA, the First Baptist Church in Springdale here in NWA. There apparently is another large mega-church in the area but I'm not as familiar with it. I can't say how many people attend on a regular basis but I am pretty sure they have around 10,000 members and they have a pretty large facility.

[masons_dad1]

I'm pretty sure there's at least one mega-church in NWA, the First Baptist Church in Springdale here in NWA. There apparently is another large mega-church in the area but I'm not as familiar with it. I can't say how many people attend on a regular basis but I am pretty sure they have around 10,000 members and they have a pretty large facility.

I really don't know if Northwest Arkansas really has any Mega Churches... at least nothing close to comparing with Assemblies of God's headquarters in Springfield. I've been to a few medium sized churches in Rogers and Bentonville and although their auditoriums are large they're very rarely even half filled to capacity. First Baptist of Springdale may be one of the largest churches in NWA, but I couldn't even guess as to how many full-time members they have. First Baptist in Rogers is pretty big but I couldn't guess to what their attendance is either and none of the curch's websites have info on attendance, so it must not be extraordinary.

Tell you the truth the curches that I've been to are getting desperate to keep members. Makes one wonder how many Christians live in NWA and what percentage goes to church on a regular basis.

[masons_dad1]

That sounds great. Springfield is lucky enough to have the Dickerson Park Zoo and Exotic Animal Paradise (America's Largest drive-thru wild animal park). I actually have a friend that works at Dickerson Park Zoo and is always talking about all the compliments they get. I personnaly have not been there in quite some time but now that were talking about it I want to see all the new exibits. Springfield also boots the American National Fish and Wildlife Zooquarium called Wonders of Wildlife on the Campus of Bass Pro Shops. This Aquarium and Museum houses anything from sharks to venemus snakes, it is also affiliated with the Smithsonian Institute.

If any of you ever comes to visit you should definately check out Wonders of Wildlife or the Zoo.

I took my family to Wild Wilderness Drive-Thru Safari in Gentry on Friday... what a dissappointment. I figured we'd go while it was still cool out, but what we found was all the cages in the walk-thru portion of the park were empty, the petting zoo only had baby goats (used to have baby kangaroos), all the leaping lemurs were gone and overall it just wasn't what it used to be. It may just be because it was still too cold for a lot of the animals to be out, but I think it's more that the park is just getting worse. The big animals in the drive-thru portion were still there... lions, tigers, a giraffe, a few cougars, a couple leopards, a couple bear cubs, a panther, a rhino, a hippo, a few bison, a few water buffalo, an ostrich, emus and more emus, deer, a few baboons (one carrying a dead baby), oh and an alligator... can't recall seeing anything else. My son did enjoy seeing some of the big animals even from a distance and he enjoyed giving the baby goat a big hug. If not for his enjoyment it really would have been a wasted trip. This is just a reminder of how things like a decent zoo just don't exist in Northwest Arkansas and probably never will.

[Mith242]

I really don't know if Northwest Arkansas really has any Mega Churches... at least nothing close to comparing with Assemblies of God's headquarters in Springfield. I've been to a few medium sized churches in Rogers and Bentonville and although their auditoriums are large they're very rarely even half filled to capacity. First Baptist of Springdale may be one of the largest churches in NWA, but I couldn't even guess as to how many full-time members they have. First Baptist in Rogers is pretty big but I couldn't guess to what their attendance is either and none of the curch's websites have info on attendance, so it must not be extraordinary.

Tell you the truth the curches that I've been to are getting desperate to keep members. Makes one wonder how many Christians live in NWA and what percentage goes to church on a regular basis.

I also wonder if the influx of people from outside the south could have some effects on percentages. I think most other areas of the country don't have percentages that the south usually have.

[Mith242]

I took my family to Wild Wilderness Drive-Thru Safari in Gentry on Friday... what a dissappointment. I figured we'd go while it was still cool out, but what we found was all the cages in the walk-thru portion of the park were empty, the petting zoo only had baby goats (used to have baby kangaroos), all the leaping lemurs were gone and overall it just wasn't what it used to be. It may just be because it was still too cold for a lot of the animals to be out, but I think it's more that the park is just getting worse. The big animals in the drive-thru portion were still there... lions, tigers, a giraffe, a few cougars, a couple leopards, a couple bear cubs, a panther, a rhino, a hippo, a few bison, a few water buffalo, an ostrich, emus and more emus, deer, a few baboons (one carrying a dead baby), oh and an alligator... can't recall seeing anything else. My son did enjoy seeing some of the big animals even from a distance and he enjoyed giving the baby goat a big hug. If not for his enjoyment it really would have been a wasted trip. This is just a reminder of how things like a decent zoo just don't exist in Northwest Arkansas and probably never will.

I've never been but I had heard people having problems with monkeys ripping their windshield wipers off and such so I never got around to making the trip over there. I don't know if I'd say a decent zoo will never exist in NWA but I admit it could be a while before one exists. I think I've heard someone mention that the Little Rock Zoo has gone downhill the past couple of decades. Speaking of zoos I went to the one in Albuquerque on my trip. Not bad, although I can't really say how it compares to other zoos or if it reflects well for a city that size. I wonder what it would take to try to get a zoo going here in NWA.

[masons_dad1]

I've never been but I had heard people having problems with monkeys ripping their windshield wipers off and such so I never got around to making the trip over there. I don't know if I'd say a decent zoo will never exist in NWA but I admit it could be a while before one exists. I think I've heard someone mention that the Little Rock Zoo has gone downhill the past couple of decades. Speaking of zoos I went to the one in Albuquerque on my trip. Not bad, although I can't really say how it compares to other zoos or if it reflects well for a city that size. I wonder what it would take to try to get a zoo going here in NWA.

Well you don't have to worry about monkeys ripping windshield wipers off anymore because they're all in cages now. Actually the baboons were the only "monkeys" that were allowed to roam around freely and I've never had any problems with them breaking anything on my car... except the time one of them decided to eat my Jack In The Box antenna topper. They were always so cute sitting on my side mirror while I fed them fruit and nuts. Maybe the reason some of the animals get rowdy or violent is because they're being teased of guests don't bring them something good to eat.

I'm not sure about how much it costs a city to run a zoo, but many cities that are comparable in population and tax-base have zoos and they don't seem to be struggling too much keeping it open. It's doubtful we'll get a zoo when Fayetteville is already planning to raise taxes to pay for their new library. A zoo in NWA is very unlikely unless one of the Walton's happens to really like animals.

[masons_dad1]

I'm pretty sure there's at least one mega-church in NWA, the First Baptist Church in Springdale here in NWA. There apparently is another large mega-church in the area but I'm not as familiar with it. I can't say how many people attend on a regular basis but I am pretty sure they have around 10,000 members and they have a pretty large facility.

Looks like the state of Arkansas doesn't have any Mega-Churches:

"First Baptist Church, located in Springdale, is the largest church in the state of Arkansas. A member of the Southern Baptist Convention, this church has exploaded in growth over the last several years. The church membership, along with a second location called the Church at Pinnacle Hills located in Rogers totals over 14,000."

So, technically FBCS and FBCR have over 2,000 full-time members each they still don't come close to 10,000 members each. Weird that FBCS is the largest church in the state of Arkansas... I figured at least Little Rock would have at least as big a church, if not bigger.

Oh well, I guess we're just a bunch of sinners down here in Arkansas!

[Mith242]

Looks like the state of Arkansas doesn't have any Mega-Churches:

"First Baptist Church, located in Springdale, is the largest church in the state of Arkansas. A member of the Southern Baptist Convention, this church has exploaded in growth over the last several years. The church membership, along with a second location called the Church at Pinnacle Hills located in Rogers totals over 14,000."

So, technically FBCS and FBCR have over 2,000 full-time members each they still don't come close to 10,000 members each. Weird that FBCS is the largest church in the state of Arkansas... I figured at least Little Rock would have at least as big a church, if not bigger.

Oh well, I guess we're just a bunch of sinners down here in Arkansas!

First Baptist in Springdale might not compare to some of the mega churches in Springfield but wouldn't it still be considered a mega-church?

[masons_dad1]

First Baptist in Springdale might not compare to some of the mega churches in Springfield but wouldn't it still be considered a mega-church?

From what I gathered from the web about the term "Mega Church" any church with more than 2,000 full-time members qualifies, yet the list of Mega Churches doesn't include any from Arkansas. I guess First Baptist in Springdale would qualify as Arkansas' Mega Church but just not in the national rankings.

[slyder1]

From what I gathered from the web about the term "Mega Church" any church with more than 2,000 full-time members qualifies, yet the list of Mega Churches doesn't include any from Arkansas. I guess First Baptist in Springdale would qualify as Arkansas' Mega Church but just not in the national rankings.

Form the Lists I found there were no MEGA Churches in Arkansas at all.

[slyder1]

Downtown Springfield's 2005 Wi-Fi launch:

"CTIA: Springfield, Mo., launches downtown Wi-Fi network Unlike other cities, it saw little opposition to the project

News Story by Matt Hamblen

MARCH 15, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - NEW ORLEANS -- In a bid to spur economic development in its downtown area, the city of Springfield, Mo., has set up a free Wi-Fi network using four BelAir 200 multiswitch service routers. The project was announced here by Kanata, Ontario-based BelAir Networks at this week's CTIA Wireless 2005 event.

The $70,000 project, while modest in comparison with Wi-Fi hot zones now under development in cities such as Philadelphia, has been launched with no opposition -- even from the predominant service provider, SBC Communications Inc., according to Dan Brewer, product and services manager for SpringNet in Springfield. SpringNet is a division of the municipal utility in charge of broadband services......."

^read more......www.computerworld.com

Are there any Wi-Fi hotspots in Fayetteville?

[Mith242]

Downtown Springfield's 2005 Wi-Fi launch:

"CTIA: Springfield, Mo., launches downtown Wi-Fi network Unlike other cities, it saw little opposition to the project

News Story by Matt Hamblen

MARCH 15, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - NEW ORLEANS -- In a bid to spur economic development in its downtown area, the city of Springfield, Mo., has set up a free Wi-Fi network using four BelAir 200 multiswitch service routers. The project was announced here by Kanata, Ontario-based BelAir Networks at this week's CTIA Wireless 2005 event.

The $70,000 project, while modest in comparison with Wi-Fi hot zones now under development in cities such as Philadelphia, has been launched with no opposition -- even from the predominant service provider, SBC Communications Inc., according to Dan Brewer, product and services manager for SpringNet in Springfield. SpringNet is a division of the municipal utility in charge of broadband services......."

^read more......www.computerworld.com

Are there any Wi-Fi hotspots in Fayetteville?

There's nothing major here, but there are some Wi-Fi hotspots around the city.

[tim2462]

Form the Lists I found there were no MEGA Churches in Arkansas at all.

GOOD! Having mega churches is nothing to be proud of.

People have the right to their own religion.

However, when you get churches that big, they really try to push

their religion down people's throats and their church is like a big cult.

[slyder1]

GOOD! Having mega churches is nothing to be proud of.

People have the right to their own religion.

However, when you get churches that big, they really try to push

their religion down people's throats and their church is like a big cult.

Thats the spirit! Every time I post some info for those interested you turn around and think I am sooooooo proud of what it is that I posted and then continue on to add negative thoughts. Please take a nice pill.

[slyder1]

Branson Landing is getting closer and closer to the Grand Opening in May.

Here is some info and rendering's of the Landing convention center:

Check out this website for more info and better photos: http://www.crawford.com.au/project.aspx?ID=46

(click the photos for larger images)

[tim2462]

Thats the spirit! Every time I post some info for those interested you turn around and think I am sooooooo proud of what it is that I posted and then continue on to add negative thoughts. Please take a nice pill.

My comment had nothing to do with you or springfield...it was just my rant of disgust toward "mega churches" So, please don't be offended.