By James Applegate

HERRICK CHAPEL CORNFIELD SKIES CHURCH™©, GRINNELL CAMPUS –  Following the wild success of Grinnell College’s sweeping renovations of Loose Hall into the Loose Penthouse Village and Suites, Nollen House has made the bold decision to sell Herrick Chapel, Grinnell College’s 118-year-old former Congregationalist church building, to Cornfield Skies Church™©, a so-called “megachurch” based in Des Moines that will convert the chapel into one of its many satellite campuses scattered across Iowa.

Founded by Lead Pastor Dodge Tacks, Cornfield Skies™© belongs to a network of similar megachurches headquartered in Washington, D.C., The Chosen People™©, with locations in each of the 50 states. A video introduction on the home page features Lead Pastor Tacks boasting about increased intake through the “baptism tanks” in recent years and calling for ever-increasing numbers of adherents and subscribers as The Chosen People™© megachurches sweep across America. “The more people we get in here, the better. Also, help us cook up the perfect motto for the next quarter at the QR code below,” Tacks says with conviction and verve.

Cornfield Skies’s™©’ website features two of the soon-to-be staff at the up-and-coming Grinnell campus: Campus Pastor Jude S. Dewitt and Campus Coordinator Ida Scariot. A quick glance at their bios reveals that they both received B.A.s from the Cornfield Skies Training Center and Business School™© in Des Moines, and their bios list experience as worship leaders, brand ambassadors, and motto designers.

After a brief email exchange, I met with Pastor Dewitt in the gutted shell of Herrick Chapel in the throes of megachurch-style remodeling. I discover that he is a middle-aged, half-bald man with a great sense for relatable flannels, unassuming white tees, working-class jeans, and a humble 2025 Cadillac Escalade SUV for his aesthetic nuclear family of four. I ask him what his plans are for the future, and accidentally let slip the potentially offensive and derogatory term “megachurch.” After clapping me on the arm and smiling broadly, the good pastor launches into my very own personally targeted sermon:

“A lot of my peers don’t really like the term ‘megachurch’ because it perpetuates a notion of a sort of business-oriented, commercial approach to Christ. But I say, embrace it! Megachurch, you say?” He throws out his arms in an ecstatic embrace of the world and its riches, and his voice raises to a Spirit-filled shout. I cover my ears. “Mega in Christ! Mega in welcome and growth! Mega in obedience and tithes! Jesus has told me, ‘This is my beloved megachurch, with whom I am well-pleased, which is why I’ve blessed you with such a large and generous congregation.’” He claps his hand on my shoulder, causing my knees to buckle. I collapse to the floor and begin to roll around with the power of the Spirit, or maybe a psychosomatic stress disorder that only obedient tithing can cure. “It’s what Jesus said, after all, right there in the Cornfield Skies Study Bible™©! ‘Come, and be megafishers of men!’”

Construction will begin in October. Plans include covering the interior and its historic stained glass with windowless black plaster walls, tacking on a brand-new coffee-and-donuts foyer, child-care center, and basement for the imprisonment of political dissidents, and installing RaptureOfTheSpirit™© technology, an all-in-one next-gen surround-sound/LED lighting/smoke machine system (“preset modes for weddings and funerals,” boasts the brand website, smokeandmirrorsforjesus.com). The chapel is expected to reopen mid-March 2026, just in time for Holy Week, or, as listed in Pastor Dewitt’s campus calendar, “Give Us and God Your Money”™©, a sermon series on “Obedience to Christ and His Cornfield Skies Church™©”™©. All (mostly) are welcome to attend.*