Encouraging article.
Speaks well of Hybels and Bibbs, and it points to the need of making a concentrated effort to reach such goals.

I wonder what concrete steps these churches are taking to make this change?

Your Name #2-
From the article:
“I (Hybels) hadn’t [preached] about it in 24 years.” So he promised his congregation, “I’m not going to overwhelm you.” Yet he persisted, sermonizing repeatedly about America’s racial history and continuing inequities. He pledged to open Willow to every ethnicity. In 2003, he recalls, he threw down the gauntlet, telling his flock that the church’s racial outreach was “part of who we are, and if it can’t be part of who you are, you probably need to find a church that doesn’t talk about this issue”
The article goes on,
“Hybels and Bibbs re-engineered the church to match its preaching. They built “Bridging the Racial Divide” gatherings into Willow’s massive grid of laity-led “small groups.”…There were also larger race-oriented seminars and reconciliation-themed book clubs. Bibbs founded an annual “Justice Journey,” busing Willow staff and black Chicago pastors together to bloodstained civil rights pilgrimage sites. Hybels added black, Hispanic and Asian performers to Willow’s music and worship teams. In 2006, Willow introduced a Spanish-language service for Latinos, who were streaming into the area.”

#2, as one serving a predominantly white Evangelical church (I’m African-American), I can tell you the efforts for multiculturalism have to be intentional. Otherwise, it can be a painful experience for those of in the minority and probably frustrating for the majority to be constantly reminded of changes of heart, mind and practice that need to be examined.

I am no fan of mega-churches – I see them as the Walmart of the kingdom of God. But this is a fantastic story indeed.

Speaks well of Osteen, too.

Are megachurches more likely to be located in ethnically diverse urban/suburban areas than are smaller churches?

I agree with Pat that efforts at desegregation have to be intentional. I wonder however if desegregation tends to happen easier in large churches where our differences don’t show up as easliy??