The Puzzling Story of a Texas Megachurch That Vanished into Thin Air

The massive megachurches that have gained fame and popularity in Texas tend to live up to their reputations.

There are reportedly more than 200 megachurches in the Lone Star state, The largest of these churches boast weekly average attendances of about 45,000 people. And as one would expect, the massive buildings are constructed to accommodate the growing population of churchgoers--think college campus, rather than a church.

But of the 18 megachurches that are named and linked to under Wikipedia's Megachurch category, there is one that seems to wear the description as a disguise.

Experience Life in Lubbock, Texas

The Wikipedia page for Experience Life is scanty but states that the megachurch was founded in 2007 and rapidly grew to a weekly attendance of 3,500. The lead pastor, Chris Galanos, is credited as the youngest mega-church pastor in the country.

By 2010, the church had purportedly been named the "2nd fastest-growing mega church in the country" by Outreach Magazine (a Colorado-based publication centered mainly on growing churches).

Yet, the entry abruptly states that by the fall of 2019, the megachurch's congregation had dispersed into the community of Lubbock. Their worship is described as "meeting in many homes across West Texas".

The article ends with a blunt statement that the megachurch website "is focused solely on monetary donations" and does not list any physical location for worship services.

Where Did Experience Life Megachurch Go?

Indeed, a little more poking around yields a few clues that hint at a tangled web of questionable misdeeds.

The website for Experience Life is still fully functional and seems to heavily market training sessions for megachurch ministry. But how can one be a megachurch without a megachurch?

An in-depth investigation done by a news outlet in Lubbock paints a picture of a local church congregation who found themselves feeling mislead and physically locked out of their own church. One of the board members for Experience Life provides the news outlet with an email that is chilling in its obfuscation and liberal use of religious jargon.

Stale social media profiles sputter out around 2022. And the only other proof for the megachurch's existence seems to be a slim Reddit thread and a website simply called www.elifesucks.com

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