"the new face of church"
Is 16,000 people in the Houston Rockets' former stadium.
It's Lakewood Church, the biggest in the country. The pastor, Joel Osteen, has a book with 2.8 million copies in print, a TV audience almost twice that large, and, you can be assured, tons of money.
I've actually seen his sermons [broadcast locally] and it's no wonder he's popular, he never talks about suffering or the trials of faith. He's more Tony Robbins than Jimmy Swaggert, more life coach than after-death coach.
So can you even call it church? Maybe.
Still, I'd rather have umpteen million people listening to spiritually innocuous psychobabble than tuning in to Jerry Falwell.
Maybe, in the end, the more venomous strains of evangelical may be done in by the free market, but don't hold your breath.
posted by Luke @ 9:46 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
In an interview, Ms. Osteen described how they sought to run the church "like a corporation" and the congregation "like customers." Basically, her point was that the church should give people what they want so that they will return. It is very reasonable, but spiritually deadening.
I live in Houston and went to this church-- once. By the closing prayer, I was very bored and I actually desired the local fire & brimstone Baptist church over Mr. Osteen's. At least the former evokes some emotion (notably irritation).
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