![]() ![]() Osteen has been likened to Billy Graham in terms of appeal, if not message. Joel makes faith practical and relevant." "What people want is an unchurch," Paul Osteen says. "There is a disconnect between religion and what people need," he says, calling some sermons in traditional churches impenetrable, "almost goofy." Osteen's older brother Paul, a surgeon who left his practice to help the church, differs. It's all there for them."ĭetractors criticize the style as "Christian-lite" - all show and platitudes and no theological depth. They don't know the hymns they don't have to learn the creed. "He is purposely seeking to lower the barriers that keep people from going to church. "Joel is doing it better than most," said William Martin, a sociology professor and religion expert at Rice University. They come to listen to messages of self-empowerment - not just salvation. For at least a decade, shrewd preachers have been attracting tens of thousands of people to nondenominational "mega-churches," where the faithful are unknown to their pastor, as are the people in the next pew. Osteen's approach to religion and his goals are not totally new. ![]() "He kicks us in the rear to take steps that will take us to a higher level." "He pushes us to a level God wants us to be at," said Juli Hain, who attends regularly. The crowds he attracts in Houston come away inspired. "I don't want to give anyone a reason to flip it off," he said. If he thinks he looks too emotional as he edits a tape of his service for television broadcast, he cuts the segment out. He aims to present himself as neutral as possible, he says, in order not to offend or generate controversy. He was impeccably dressed in a navy pinstripe suit, crisp white shirt and gleaming black dress shoes. "I want to challenge you today to get out of your comfort zone." "You'll never be what you ought to be if you play it safe," he told his audience last weekend. ![]() He preaches an energetic, New Age gospel of hope and self-help - simple Scripture-based motivational messages, notably devoid of politics and hot-button policy issues. Osteen, 41, does not sweat or yell, or cry for sinners to repent. (He was ordained through his father's church in 1983.) The $92 million renovation is, Osteen says, "a leap of faith" that if he builds it, they will come.Īll this from a man who dropped out of Oral Roberts University after one year and never received formal theological training - although he does note that religion is the family business and he benefited greatly from on-the-job training. This summer, he will move his church into Houston's 16,000-seat Compaq Center, former home of pro basketball's Houston Rockets. market, reaching 95 percent of the nation's households, and in 150 countries. Osteen's television broadcast is shown in every U.S. The charismatic, nondenominational church he inherited from his late father six years ago has quadrupled in size, and today is the largest and fastest-growing in the country, ushering through upward of 30,000 visitors a week, according to Church Growth Today, a research center that follows church trends. His is the new face of Christianity, upbeat and contemporary, media-smart with a heightened sense of entertainment and general appeal. Osteen is called "the Smiling Preacher," and he is perhaps the hottest commodity in the world of multimedia religion these days. Pastor Joel Osteen and his wife, Victoria, were greeted like movie stars. The captivated flock of 8,000 stood singing for 30 minutes.Īnd then, not unlike a Las Vegas production, the stars of this show bounded up to the pulpit of Lakewood Church. The lyrics scrolled high above, across three gigantic screens, as a dynamic 10-piece orchestra and 100-person choir shook the church. Last weekend, his glamorous musical director led four services in a hot pink coat and black spiky boots, stomping around the stage and singing the praises of Jesus in rousing, original rock sounds. The pastor once startled his own mother by exhorting the women in his congregation to shop at Victoria's Secret to save their marriages. ![]()
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