Your new landlord: God

So suppose you're a megachurch and you're running out of space — what do you do? If you're a Houston church, you probably buy a strip center and start having classes and services there. For example, Tallowood Baptist Church, which took over a shopping center a few years ago and recently started having church in a former Circuit City store:

The glass front doors are triggered by motion sensors like many big retail boxes. And the high ceilings and white acoustic tiles are added reminders of this property's previous life.

Still, Brad Tidwell, a senior at Needville High School who has attended Tallowood since 1999, said he feels just as comfortable worshipping in the new center as he does in the main sanctuary. But he said his brother jokingly calls the strip center location "the spokeschurch for Ikea."

These properties allow churches to reach out to a younger crowd. Tallowood plans to convert the storage room and part of the loading dock, where car stereos were once installed, into a youth center that will have a basketball court, Ping-Pong tables, foosball and a snack bar.

Churches used to lease extra space when they needed it, but there are so many large churches around here — and they're so big — that it now makes more sense for them to buy property. And many of the retail properties aren't abandoned, so the churches become landlords. Second Baptist is an example: The church paid $25 million for the Woodway Village center at Woodway and Voss where La Madeleine, Cafe Express and Whole Earth Provision Co. are located. Tallowood is trying to lease vacant space in its center and has signed a deal with 59 Diner, which plans to build a location there.

Restaurants near churches? Ah yes: natural symbiosis. The potental for Luby's, we think, is enormous.