Han was just as committed. Her reporting on Crossroads, a Protestant megachurch, produced 1,471 hours of audio and video recordings. Her book spotlights another major trend: While small churches struggle, most of the country’s 1,000-plus Protestant megachurches (defined as having 2,000 members) are growing, according to recent surveys.

Han crafts detailed depictions of Crossroads members, among them a Black pastor whose sermon about race angered some white members, and a white woman, raised in an unabashedly racist home, who gradually becomes an integral member of Undivided, Crossroads’ initiative devoted to hard discussions about race. “Philando Castile was my George Floyd,” she says, recounting how she became an outspoken anti-racist after Castile was shot to death by police in Falcon Heights in 2016.

Evangelical Protestantism, Han notes, has historically “conceptualized racism as a problem of individual sin and prejudice and ignored the way it was tied to questions of power.” The fraught conversations captured in this book depict the “blowback,” as one member put it, that can follow when churchgoers confront institutional racism.

Both authors understand that, as Griswold writes, “churches are messy places where people seek many things, among them a common understanding of something larger than they are.” These excellent books demonstrate how hard that can be to achieve.

Kevin Canfield is a regular contributor to the Minnesota Star Tribune’s books coverage.

Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport won top honors for passenger satisfaction among the nation’s largest airports, according to a survey released Wednesday by the global consulting firm J.D. Power.

MSP regained supremacy in the “mega” category with more than 33 million annual passengers, handily beating Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, which came in second, according to the J.D. Power 2024 North American Airport Satisfaction Survey. The Motor City won last year, after MSP took the title in 2023 for the first time.

Last year, MSP served nearly 35 million passengers.

“Huge air travel demand has not slowed down in North America despite the steadily rising costs of flights, ground travel, hotel rooms and pretty much anything you can buy in an airport,” said Michael Taylor, J.D. Power’s managing director of travel, hospitality and retail, in a news release.

J.D. Power surveyed close to 27,000 passengers nationwide between August 2023 and July. Passengers were asked about their airport experience, including the ease of travel, the quality of terminal facilities and food, beverage and retail offerings, and airport staff.

Based on a 1,000-point scale, MSP racked up 671 points, with Detroit scoring 643 points — the segment’s average was 595 points. Newark Liberty International Airport came in last.

John Wayne Airport won top honors in the large category and Indianapolis International Airport ranked the highest in the medium category. The losers in those categories were Philadelphia International Airport and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, respectively.

More broadly, 60% of the survey’s respondents said they enjoy spending time at their airport, despite record passenger volumes and widespread flight cancellations and delays. However, satisfaction levels at airports plummet if terminals are crowded.

Mahtomedi’s volleyball team started the 2023 season 3-7. But still, the Zephyrs peaked at the right time and made it to state for a second year in a row.

This go-around, undefeated Mahtomedi (10-0) hasn’t taken long at all to start clicking.

On Tuesday night, 14 kills each from senior outside hitter Kaili Malvey and senior middle blocker Silvie Graetzer helped the Zephyrs sweep visiting South St. Paul 25-17, 25-18, 25-10.

After the program’s first trip to state in 2022, then returning in 2023, the team is thriving. With seven seniors and five juniors on the roster and all its starters returning, Mahtomedi “started at such a higher point this season,” Graetzer said. “And now our end goal is so much higher. We’re not there to get to state. We’re there to do damage at state.”

Against South St. Paul (14-4), the Zephyrs dealt with injuries to two sidelined starters heading into the match and faced the Packers’ high-swinging outside hitter, senior Alaina Panagiotopoulos.

“[Our injured players, Sahar Ramaley and Katie Hergenrader] pushed us to play for each other, and I think we really executed,” Malvey said.

Nine digs and 14 service receptions by junior libero Claire Crothers, plus six blocks by Graetzer, helped numb the swinging sting of Panagiotopoulos’ eight kills. They prepped for her in practice, focusing on eye work in blocking drills and taking up space on the court.

Another offseason key for the Zephyrs took place 10 minutes down the road in Lake Elmo. While not all of last year’s starters played club, all of them participated in club training this year, with a big Zephyrs contingent at Kokoro Volleyball. Even if the Zephyrs weren’t on the same team at Kokoro, they saw each other in the weight room, learned similar schemes.