There seems to be a growing trend among missional churches of creating church in a fully-operating coffeehouse. The coffeehouses are open during the week, furnish free-trade joe, and the proceeds go to fund community outreach.

Most notably, Chris Seay is doing this with Ecclesia in the Gay and Arts district in Houston. Mark Batterson has also been successful with the largest coffeehouse in DC: Ebenezer's. And a CATALYST group leader is making plans to do this in Guatemala with ESH.

With so many church buildings sitting empty during the week, could this be a more effective model for engaging culture, building community and generating revenue for outreach?

What are the benefits? What are the drawbacks? Should we have more churches in commercial areas? Tell us your thoughts . . . (or read what Chris Freeland says in a semi-related topic)

Here's an interesting map from the good 'ol NY Times. It's a nationwide map of mega churches (2,000 or more people).

But how do they fit on those little dots?