"There's no shortage of churches in Houston, deep in the heart of the Bible Belt. So it's surprising that the largest one in the city -- and in the entire country -- is tucked away in a depressed corner most Houstonians would never dream of visiting. Yet 30,000 people endure punishing traffic on the narrow roads leading to Lakewood Church every weekend to hear Pastor Joel Osteen deliver upbeat messages of hope. A youthful-looking 42-year-old with a ready smile, he reassures the thousands who show up at each of his five weekend services that "God has a great future in store for you."
Flush with success, Osteen is laying out $90 million to transform the massive Compaq Center in downtown Houston -- former home of the NBA's Houston Rockets -- into a church that will seat 16,000, complete with a high-tech stage for his TV shows and Sunday School for 5,000 children. After it opens in July, he predicts weekend attendance will rocket to 100,000.
To reach these untapped masses, savvy leaders are creating Sunday Schools that look like Disney World (NYSE: DIS - News ) and church cafés with the appeal of Starbucks (NasdaqNM: SBUX - News). Although most hold strict religious views, they scrap staid hymns in favor of multimedia worship and tailor a panoply of services to meet all kinds of consumer needs, from divorce counseling to help for parents of autistic kids."
Via Yahoo. Read the rest here .
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Posted by: Xatwaqupu | October 25, 2010 at 02:22 AM
Yes, I think a lot of preachers are in it for the money, but I am sure they wouldn't admit it. But what is worst--them in it for the money or me standing on the sidelines judging them for it? To God they stand or fall. If I keep my heart right and obey God when He tells me to do something, then I don't have to worry about "them". God speaks to His people today and if anyone wants to know if a message is from Him, just ask or "mind the checks". He has never led us wrong so far.
If I hear a message, and it "doesn't sit right" in my spirit, then I know it is not from Him.
Posted by: Hazie | May 28, 2005 at 07:55 AM
There is an assumption that is made in Christianity - if you're successful, you're somehow "selling out" the Christian message for some watered-down "Christianity Lite" thing.
I don't know much about Osteen - but having seen the incredible ministries at the UM Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, KS (Adam Hamilton), Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, IA (Mike Housholder), Hosanna! in Lakeville, MN (Bill Bohline), and others of their ilk, I've found them to be
- anchored in the Bible a lot more than their mainline-denomination compatriots (Mike Housholder preached through the books of the bible - sixty books in sixty-weeks!), and
- emphasizing reaching the unchurched, and being of service in their community and world, far more than their compatriots. (For instance, Hamilton's UM-COR is now the single largest blood-donating community in the Kansas City area - larger even than the Sprint corporate blood drive.)
I don't care how many people you have; I don't care how many fancy-named social groups you have. (If I wanted to make sure I got "the numbers," I could just promise folks a $10 bill at the end of the service, and I could have 80,000 people a week!) But when I see lives, hearts, and communities being changed for good, that's when I believe that good seed is falling on good soil.
Just because it's big, doesn't mean it's a bad wolf - at least in my experience.
Posted by: Steve F. | May 25, 2005 at 09:26 PM
Hi my name j
And well I have seen so much or maybe not! To do with what i used to call a religon that its left me
with no questions and alot of questions non of which
i really want answering so "whats more to say!"
apart from . .
jason eden (Ethen Ashley Eden)
2006
Posted by: jason eden (Ethen Ashley Eden) | May 23, 2005 at 04:01 AM
I'm not saying that his church is about self-improvement. I haven't even heard much of his messages. But there is a tendency in Christian history to use the name of Christ to accomplish political, ethnocentric or self-centered goals. (Crusades, slavery, European Missionary Travels, Health-Wealth Gospels, etc.) This is still common today and I think that many churches use the label of "Christ" or "Christian" in order to market individualistic self-improvement therapy about "victory" or "blessings" or "success" or "overcoming". I don't know if Joel Osteen is doing this, but I am suspicious of churches who focus heavily upon individual (or even collective) prosperity. What do you think?
Posted by: Jay | May 19, 2005 at 06:35 PM
No, his church is not about self-improvement!!! It is about JESUS!!!! He encourages the body of Christ!!!
Posted by: Hazie | May 19, 2005 at 11:35 AM
I find it interesting that mega-churches spend so much on creating a huge multimedia presentation, I don't know how I feel about it yet. But, I wonder about how faithful and God-glorifying his messages are. I mean, messages about potential, individual success is good every once in a while, but if that is the underlying theme it could become a church about Self-improvement (very self-centered) rather than Christ-cnetered.
Posted by: Jay | May 18, 2005 at 08:10 PM