As daylight faded into its last hour on a recent Saturday afternoon, glowing greens and reds washed over the crowd filing into Farrington High School's auditorium for a weekly church service.

Under flickering stage lighting, radiant singers accompanied by jangly guitars and keyboards bounced and swayed, belting out rock-inflected Christmas tunes while closeup video of the musicians and their lyrics were projected onto overhead screens.

Pastor Wayne Cordeiro, who founded New Hope Christian Fellowship on O'ahu nearly 15 years ago, warmly greeted the faithful. Some scribbled notes as he guided them through a biblical message that would later be televised, posted online and downloaded as a podcast.

By the end of the weekend, between 9,000 and 10,000 people will have attended one of five New Hope services on the school grounds — the home base for the fast-growing evangelical church.

When Cordeiro, 57, is at the pulpit, his messages are recorded on DVD for same-day screenings at 19 satellite campuses across the island. About half of all weekends now, however, belong to younger pastors and others — a new guard that Cordeiro and the New Hope leadership are grooming.

Cordeiro estimates total weekly attendance — Farrington's numbers combined with satellites as well as sites on the Mainland and elsewhere — at 19,000. That makes New Hope within the top 50 largest megachurches nationwide, said Warren Bird, research director at the Dallas-based Leadership Network, a nonprofit that disseminates information about church practices.

"The big question in megachurches right now is one of succession," Bird said.

As the number of megachurches has grown steadily over the past four decades — doubling in the last decade, with 82 percent of churches having surpassed the 2,000-member benchmark under their present leader — Bird asks: "What happens to the next generation?"

At New Hope, Cordeiro said, to prepare for the future, "We decided long ago: 'Let's do it as a movement of churches — under the same banner and DNA — with a multiplicity of leaders."

Each weekend, some 1,500 volunteers set up the church's rented spaces, tweaking sound and lighting systems, pitching tents and checking inventory at ministry booths. At least a few of New Hope's top leaders started out as volunteers with tasks such as cleaning restrooms or helping with a music ministry.

So, what happens when Cordeiro and others spot a possible leader among volunteers and newcomers?

"We watch them for a long season to see if they have a God-given gift of leadership," Cordeiro said. "Do people gather to them? Do people want to hear from them? Do they take leadership without having a title? Without having a name on their lapel? Without being paid?"

'CHURCH AS A TEAM'

One of New Hope's emerging leaders, Sam Kapu, had been an entertainer and recording artist, working for several years in Waikīkī, before contemplating a future in church leadership. He turned to New Hope two years ago, after his small Kaimukī church closed.

"At first, you look at New Hope and it's so huge that you think you'd never get to be mentored," Kapu said. However, he soon found that was not the case.

"We're all about equipping new leaders and new pastors for the future," he said.

Kapu, 42, started as a music volunteer and eventually accepted part-time staff employment. He also assisted with the opening of a satellite campus at Mid-Pacific Institute, pursued Christian college studies, and in July was named pastor at the Mānoa site.

At New Hope, leaders sort responsibilities into four sets and assign a reporting leader to each. The assigned leaders may, in turn, divide their tasks into quadrants and assign another layer of leaders.

"It really helps with doing church as a team," Kapu said.

"We like to say it's not one person doing 100 things, it's 100 people doing one thing" in that they're serving the church.

The strategy is yielding a growing supply of leaders, Cordeiro said, and it creates a "sphere of manageability" intended to help avoid burnout.

RENEWED SPIRIT

Leader burnout is a pitfall that New Hope would like to sidestep in the future, and Cordeiro has firsthand knowledge of it.

Five years ago, after decades of nurturing future leaders and "bookending" weeks around a push to present inspiring services, New Hope's founder was taken by surprise, he said, when his own leadership light sputtered out.

"When you are working so passionately with other people and giving yourself as selflessly as you can, you forget about yourself," Cordeiro said. At that time, he said, there was a glitch in New Hope leadership, in that "no one was really looking out for me."

After experiencing health concerns and a sense of emotional depletion, Cordeiro took a hiatus from his roles as visionary leader and manager. He recounted his struggles and how he renewed his passion for the ministry in a book, "Leading on Empty," published this year.

"I needed to step back and say: 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' " Cordeiro said. "I wasn't doing that second half. I felt guilty doing that," because it seemed narcissistic. He added, "I learned that when I was 52, and now I'm balancing my life much more."

These days, Cordeiro is spending less time on management matters — handing off to campus pastors and others — and dedicating more time to shaping the church's future by working with younger leaders and New Hope's Bible-college students.

Justin Smith, 31, a rising leader at the Farrington campus, said the bout with burnout has not rattled congregant confidence.

"It tells people that, really, the church's success isn't about (Cordeiro); and he's not a perfect person," Smith said. For Smith, Cordeiro's personal story is about grace and the "great ways God has used him."

The son of a pastor whose church was folded into New Hope about five years ago, Smith's first leadership roles included serving as director of a dance ministry, "Hearts in Motion," which includes between 500 and 600 people, and a Sunday night college group that within two years grew from about a dozen students to 150.

Now, as "equipping director," Smith matches people with small Bible study groups, public service teams and ministries that handle logistical needs, from parking lot traffic and New Hope shuttles to beach outings for potlucks and surfing sessions.

GROWING INFLUENCE

These days, with New Hope's influence stretching beyond the boundaries of church services and ministries, its leaders may wield real power in their communities.

More than 100 New Hope churches, affiliates and sister churches dot the globe. Among the locations off-island: Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and various sites in Japan, Myanmar, the Philippines, Australia and Nepal. For members of New Hope's leadership team — including Cordeiro's son, Aaron, pastor at the Hawai'i Kai satellite — the future looms large.

Four months ago, Ryan Tsuji, 26, was given a newly formed leadership title of "extension director," a New Hope post focusing on community involvement and government relations. Among his tasks is development of Marketplace Leadership ministry.

The ministry, which met for the first time last month, includes about 350 congregants who hold leadership and managerial positions in their day jobs and careers. Plans are under way for a directory promoting their businesses, and a program through which they would offer internships and jobs to Bible college students and other young leaders.

New Hope operates Pacific Rim Bible College on O'ahu and plans to expand it in Tokyo and Myanmar; and Cordeiro is serving as chancellor of Eugene Bible College in Oregon.

In addition, for the first time in the church's history, New Hope is putting together plans to mix religion and politics during election years. Tsuji, the son of state Rep. Clifton Tsuji , D-3rd (S. Hilo, Puna), wants to invite political candidates to discuss ballot lineups with the Marketplace Leadership ministry.

"We're not trying to encourage anyone to vote a certain way," Tsuji said. "We want them (congregants) to be educated to make the decisions for themselves." Federal tax code pertaining to churches and other tax-exempt organizations bans endorsements.

This year, New Hope made a rare appearance at the Capitol when members joined a crowd of more than 2,000 people representing various churches, temples, synagogues and mosques protesting a bill that would establish civil unions between same-sex partners.

Tsuji said New Hope wants to step up its pursuits tied to public affairs, but does not want to become a fixture at the state Capitol or develop a reputation as an "issue-based" church.

'VALUES-DRIVEN'

Leadership succession has gone smoothly at some megachurches, and terribly at others. New Hope's emphasis on developing a multiplicity of leaders points to the former, Bird said.

"The ones that have gone best have followed that pattern — where you have multiple leaders, multiple dynamics and a lengthy transition time," he said.

Large churches focused upon just one charismatic leader can be vulnerable to transitional troubles, said Bird, who contributes to an ongoing database survey at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, a leading authority on megachurches.

And how does a churchgoer spot a potential case of too much spotlight on a single leader?

Check the church foyer for a gigantic photo of the pastor. Check to see whether the church's Web site is dominated by information tied to the pastor. Take a look in the parking lot. Is the best spot reserved for the pastor?

Bird, who visits some 40 megachurches a year, has seen all of the above.

"I understand when a church wants to honor their pastor, and that there's a real appreciation of treating your leader well," he said. "But sometimes that does get carried to the point where I cringe."

Cordeiro said due to his long tenure and high visibility, New Hope has some degree of pastor-focus. With a laugh, he added: "But I have to fight with everybody else for parking. ... You won't see my name emblazoned on stuff. You won't see a WayneCordeiro.com."

The primary focus at New Hope, he said, is to strive for a "values-driven church."

Kapu added, "It's really not about us or our personalities that makes the thing go. It's a team effort and it's relying on God. It's his church, not ours."

Still, up-and-coming leaders now spending more weekends at the pulpit and making more top-level decisions are continuing to look to Cordeiro for guidance.

Tsuji said: "We call that the 'heart of New Hope' — to really capture what Pastor Wayne's heart is so that we can perpetuate that and carry it on when he leaves."