America’s Largest Megachurch—Where Shrooms Are A Sacrament—Makes Millions

Forbes

When meeting the mushroom priest of San Francisco, one must first pass two armed guards wearing bulletproof vests and then clear a metal detector. “There was a stabbing right outside this door the other week,” says Pastor Dave Hodges, the 42-year-old founder and leader of the Church of Ambrosia, which he describes as a non-denominational religious organization founded on the belief that cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms are sacraments that can be used as spiritual tools.  Founded five years ago in Oakland, Hodges recently opened the church’s second location in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood. “You see people smoking crack and shooting up, people overdosing,” Hodges says, explaining how his city is rife with crime and other street plagues. “You can see why we’re not the problem.”  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2024/03/17/david-hodges-magic-mushroom-church-oakland-zide-door/?sh=45e7dd2e1cfc  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Wednesday, March 20.

00:05 Today on Forbes, the Prophet of Shroom.

00:10 When meeting the so-called Mushroom Priest of San Francisco, one must first pass two

00:15 armed guards wearing bulletproof vests and then clear a metal detector.

00:19 Why, you may ask?

00:21 Pastor Dave Hodges, the 42-year-old founder and leader of the Church of Ambrosia, says,

00:27 "There was a stabbing right outside this door the other week."

00:31 He describes his church as a non-denominational religious organization founded on the belief

00:35 that cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms are sacraments that can be used as spiritual tools.

00:42 Founded five years ago in Oakland, Hodges recently opened the church's second location

00:46 in San Francisco's Soma neighborhood.

00:49 Explaining how his city is rife with crime and other street plagues, Hodges says, "You

00:54 see people smoking crack and shooting up, people overdosing.

00:58 You can see why we're not the problem."

00:59 Hodges, who is wearing a plaid shirt, black chinos, and New Balance sneakers, looks more

01:06 like an IT specialist than a religious leader who claims to have met God during his own

01:10 magic mushroom-inspired burning bush moment in 2019.

01:15 Hodges describes his experience in that certain California way where it's hard to tell if

01:19 he is crazy, enlightened, or a little bit of both.

01:23 He says, "The ceremony ended with three bright, shining, golden beings, who identified themselves

01:29 as the oldest of the mushroom gods, sitting down with me and telling me why I went through

01:33 everything in my life and what they needed me for and what I'm supposed to do.

01:37 And they told me what I need to do was make sure that people have access to these sacraments

01:41 and spread the knowledge."

01:44 Like other religious leaders, Hodges has been persecuted by the government.

01:49 Police raided the church's Oakland location in 2020 and seized $200,000 worth of cannabis,

01:54 mushrooms, and cash, but did not arrest him.

01:58 Yet unlike most other church founders, his members can obtain cannabis, hallucinogenic

02:02 mushrooms, and another psychedelic called DMT, which is the active ingredient in ayahuasca,

02:08 in exchange for a monetary contribution.

02:12 In other words, his church possesses enough illegal drugs to put Hodges in prison for

02:16 many years.

02:18 His ministry is also sitting on a small fortune.

02:22 The Church of Ambrosia is the largest known megachurch in the United States.

02:26 With 105,000 members, it has more congregants than Oklahoma's Life Church, which has 85,000

02:32 members, and more than double Texas' Lakewood Church, run by televangelist Joel Osteen.

02:39 New members pay $10 to join the Church of Ambrosia, while existing members give $5 to

02:44 its coffers to enter if their month-long membership has expired.

02:48 Between membership fees and regular contributions for drugs, Hodges' church rakes in more than

02:53 $5 million a year, Forbes estimates.

02:57 Hodges refused to discuss finances, other than saying the money goes back to the church

03:01 and that it pays $3 million a year in legal fees, rent, and security.

03:06 The church does not have IRS tax-exempt status, nor is it a registered non-profit.

03:11 While walking through the psychedelic mural-painted halls of his location in Oakland, which is

03:15 called Zide Door, Hodges said he never intended to run a church of this size.

03:21 With a pained look on his face, he says, "We got way too big, way too quick.

03:26 It's crazy."

03:28 If the Church of Ambrosia sounds like a joke, Hodges admits that it did start out that way.

03:33 In 2010, like every summer, he went to Burning Man, the week-long arts festival held in the

03:38 Nevada desert that's often fueled by psilocybin, LSD, MDMA or ecstasy, and electronic dance

03:45 music.

03:46 Hodges wore an old Halloween costume he dubbed the so-called "Church of More Pot" and walked

03:51 around in a white shirt holding a black book in his arms.

03:54 He says, "It was a joke, but people took it very seriously."

03:58 Then, in 2019, Hodges, who had run two medical marijuana collectives in the early 2000s in

04:04 San Jose before getting shut down by the city due to running afoul of zoning laws and unpaid

04:09 taxes, decided to make the church official and opened Zide Door in Oakland.

04:15 At first he held weekly Sunday sermons at 4.20pm, a magic hour for potheads.

04:20 He would pass out joints and members would listen to Pastor Dave pontificate about weed

04:24 and spirituality.

04:27 For full coverage, check out Will Yakowitz's piece on Forbes.com.

04:32 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes, thanks for tuning in.

04:36 -

04:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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