Davis said having a local associate pastor at the out-of-state campus was crucial. “There is someone there to pastor them as if it were on the campus of the Madison church,” he said. “That way people in Bowling Green still know that the church cares for them.”

Seven years ago, Bethel World Outreach Center was bursting at the seams. Sunday services drew 1,200 people to Bethel’s building at Old Hickory Boulevard and Granny White Pike, and there was no more room in the pews.

So the multicultural church made plans to expand. Those plans failed when neighbors objected.

That turned out to be good news, said Rice Broocks, Bethel’s pastor.

Instead of building a bigger church, Bethel became what’s known as a multisite congregation. On Sunday mornings, the church’s 3,500 members meet in six locations in Middle Tennessee, from Clarksville to Murfreesboro. Bethel members also have begun meeting in the suburbs of Phoenix and Dallas, trying to re-create what they experienced when attending services in Nashville.

It’s part of a movement among megachurches to expand their reach across state lines. Several Middle Tennessee churches are expanding to locations around Nashville, into Kentucky and beyond.

“We have a desire to take our brand and expand it,” Broocks said.

For Bethel, their brand comes down to what he calls the three Ds — diversity, devotion and discipleship. When Brooks became pastor at Bethel in 2000, the congregation was mostly white. Today, about 60 percent of the church is African-American or from other ethnic backgrounds.

The Dallas and Phoenix groups were started by people who used to attend Bethel in Nashville. Mike Gowans leads the Phoenix site, which began as an independent congregation known as Gateway Life Church. But leading a church on his own was a struggle, Gowans said.

So he called Broocks and asked about the possibility of teaming up. He said he wanted his congregation to reflect the same values that Bethel holds. And he missed the camaraderie of being part of Bethel.

“That’s the main thing,” he said. “There is a real relational spirit and community feel. It is not consumer Christianity.”

Having parishioners in another state is nothing new for Broocks. In 2001, he co-founded a church in New York City while also leading Bethel.

The New York church was started after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Broocks had gone up to minister to people after the attacks and said he felt called to start a church.

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