Lakewood Church, Houston, TX

Since I work with churches for a living, I am not going to make a habit of critiquing them-- I' going to make an exception for this one. I visited Lakewood when passing through Houston a few weeks ago and here's my take on it.

Lakewood is the largest church in the country according to just about everyone who tries to measure such things, in fact, by most counts they are about twice as large as the next largest church in the nation, that second one could be Northpoint, Lifechurch.tv, Willow Creek, Saddleback, or others depending on who you talk with. One thing that makes them different from all of the others I just mentioned is the fact that they are not led by their founding pastor. I actually think that is pretty encouraging for anyone involved in a church that IS led by the founding pastor, it shows that there is hope beyond the vision of that one man/woman.

But I digress, back to my impression of a Sunday morning (early service) at Lakewood. I arrived right on time and had no difficulty finding a very close parking spot (which turned out to be illegal and I was blocked in afterwards, but that's my fault and another story). As I walked into the former basketball arena concourse I was greeted by a multitude of VERY friendly and diverse volunteers. Each one smiled and offered a hand or hug as I passed, I accepted a few, but was anxious to get to a seat. Since I didn't know which way was which and I was by myself (easier to get one seat than more), I ended up sitting three rows from the front, almost right behind the Pastor and his wife, Joel and Victoria Osteen.

Having already been disarmed by the greeters in the hallway, I stepped in to a very impressive worship space and the music was already beginning to rise and I along with it. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I'm not the most overtly charismatic worshiper, but something about the atmosphere and music got me pretty excited, I was IN TO IT. Their Worship team looked a lot like the church, there were Hispanics, African Americans, and whites all jamming together and doing a great job. I was somewhat familiar with their style as their primary worship leader Israel Houghton has several CD's I've heard. I was not prepared for the variety of styles they pulled off very well, I must say that it was one of the best worship times I have been involved in at a church.

Before, during, and after worship, there were a few breaks for pep talks from Pastor Osteen and/or his wife. Joel Osteen is a unique character and is now probably best known outside of church circles for his two best selling books. Most of what he said on this particular morning could have come from those pages. He preached/pep talked a message on ancestral blessings from Deuteronomy 1:11 and 6:10-11 (how many of you have heard a message from Deuteronomy lately?). He has been widely criticized for his "Gospel Light" messages which emphasize a good attitude and the favor of the Lord, which he delivers with a constant smile. While I don't find his messages to have much depth, I always feel happy afterwards, and this was no exception. A memorable moment was when he used the illustration of giving his grandfather a tour of his first home and how amazed his grandfather was at the size of it, Joel said that he was living in the house because of the sacrifice and hard work of his father and grandfather, neat story, but the memorable part was that he got choked up and started crying for over a minute before he could continue (that part probably won't get broadcast on TBN).

The most lasting impression for me was actually neither Joel or Israel. It was when Victoria Osteen came up at the end of praise and worship to transition into the message, there was clearly still a lot of excitement in the air from the last song (Dance, Dance), and she got up and started to transition, when it became clear that she wasn't ready to do that. She started jumping and dancing a bit and then the praise went on for a few more minutes. As I said earlier, I've been in my share of pentecostal services and I'm not easily impressed by emotional displays, but I also am pretty good at spotting real worship when I see it. What I saw at Lakewood that day was real, and it was very cool.

As for the publicity and stardom that the church and the pastor have increasingly had thrown their way, I pray that God will use it positively and keep them safe. If there is one thing I've learned its that God can use anyone, even superstar preachers...