Without question, True Bethel Baptist Church is the preeminent African-American religious congregation in Buffalo — and without question, its pastor, the Rev. Darius Pridgen, is the city's most powerful black preacher, serving also as a philanthropist (the church operates numerous charities including a food pantry, thrift shop, emergency housing service, and vocational rehabilitation for the homeless), preservationist (his financial backing was instrumental in the recently-completed restoration of the old Michigan Street Baptist Church), forceful mouthpiece for the African-American community in Buffalo, and, since 2011, in the city government as president of the Buffalo Common Council. True Bethel is actually three churches in one, with two locations in Buffalo and one in Niagara Falls, but it's the East Ferry Street location that's the biggest — a huge megachurch the size of a Walmart, with an attached Subway sandwich shop and room for almost five thousand worshippers, the massive scale of this place is a perfect reflection of the outsize stature of its head honcho. The three services held here every Sunday are energetic, empowering, and speak to the contemporary concerns of modern-day African-Americans and Christians in general. And don't worry if you can't make it down for one of them — you can also listen to services live on the radio on WUFO 1080 AM, or watch them on Spectrum Cable channel 20 or streaming on the Web.