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Read the Full Article at Faith & Reason: Top Stories & Community Feed

Annise Parker, the newly-elected happens-to-be-lesbian mayor of Houston was sworn in Monday and the opening prayer was given by… Rev. Joel Osteen. Osteen heads the nation’s largest church, Lakewood Church in Houston. Osteen takes heat from other evangelicals who condemn him for not laying down a line of fire about sin of any kind. That’s not his style, says the preacher known for his broad smile and sermons that God wants you to be happy. Does this change your view of him?

(author unknown) Evangelical, Evangelicals, Gay, God, Joel Osteen, Lesbian, Prayer

Read the Full Article at The Washington Times stories: Faith

Joel Osteen is unquestionably the 21st century’s Norman Vincent Peale, churning out book after book of homespun advice on how to set goals, conquer adversity and believe God for better times. With millions of copies sold of “Your Best Life Now” and “Become a Better You,” his latest inspirational book is a mouthful. “It’s Your Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams and Increase in God’s Favor” is his response to the country’s worst economic recession in 80 years. “I felt compelled to write this now,” he told me Tuesday, the day the book launched. “With the economy being so …

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Read the Full Article at WN.com - Religion News

If Joel Osteen was tired from his 17-hour flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, and flight delays at Atlanta International Airport just a day earlier, he wasn’t showing it. He and his wife, Victoria, had gone to Africa to visit the medical mission work of his brother Paul and orphanages Lakewood Church supports there. After that visit they went to South Africa for A Night of Hope – the worship events they’ve taken to venues across the country and around the world, from the new Yankee Stadium last spring to South Africa last week. Thousands of miles from home, Osteen said, he was still recognized everywhere he went. Now back in Houston, he’s preparing for a book tour to promote It’s Your…

(author unknown) Africa, Cross, Joel Osteen, Worship

Read the Full Article at The Christian Post RSS Feed

During the first non-baseball event at the newly opened Yankee stadium, Joel Osteen delivered the same message that has made him one of the most watched pastors in America and also the author of two bestselling books.

Eric Young Books, Joel Osteen, Pastor

Read the Full Article at www.christiannewswire.com

INDIANAPOLIS, April 28 /Christian Newswire/ — Chris Rosebrough, captain of internet based Pirate Christian Radio and host of the Fighting for the Faith Radio program announced on Monday that Joel Osteen is the winner of the “Worst Easter Sermon Award” for 2009.

(author unknown) Easter, India, Internet, Joel Osteen

Read the Full Article at www.christianitytoday.com

The “strict-church thesis” says that strict religions thrive while lenient religions decline. This has been a favorite among evangelicals since first articulated in Dean Kelly’s 1972 Why Conservative Churches Are Growing.

But a new book — Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace, by Shayne Lee and Phillip Luke Sinitiere (NYU) — argues that the strict-church thesis does not hold water. The authors look at five mega-ministries in broader evangelicalism, movements led by Joel Osteen, T. D. Jakes, Brian McClaren, Paula White, and Rick Warren. They examine these ministries through a marketplace approach to American religion, which analyzes spiritual supply and demand, marketing techniques, religious needs, and so forth.

(author unknown) Evangelical, Evangelicals, Joel Osteen, Paula White, Rick Warren

Read the Full Article at RELIGION

Driscoll, of Mars Hill Church, says “a relationship with God is not all lollipops” in this video critique of Joel Osteen,

(author unknown) God, Joel Osteen

Read the Full Article at News2

Q & A with Joel Osteen, the Houston-based pastor and best-selling author who heads the biggest congregation in the United States. As head of Lakewood Church, Osteen is broadcast to millions around the world. –

The Detroit Free Press reports There are so many negative things pulling us down in life. … Our
message is always about uplifting people and giving them practical
principles to use in their everyday life. People respond to hope, they
respond when you tell them to be better.

aBetterWay Joel Osteen, Pastor, People, Santa

Read the Full Article at News2

Mega-church pastor says wrong decision by FCC could do “immeasurable damage” to his ministry. –

Broadcasting & Cable reports The FCC is currently testing prototype
unlicensed wireless devices–like laptops and smart radios–to
determine how/whether they can be allowed to share the DTV spectrum
with TV stations and wireless microphones.

 In
a letter Monday to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Osteen said allowing them
would “result in significant harm to the wireless microphone operations
we rely on as part of our worship services [for some 40,000 members].”

aBetterWay Church Issues, Joel Osteen, Pastor, Santa, Technology, Worship

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After decades of soaring growth, the phenomenon of Protestant megachurches — behemoths of belief where 2,000 to 20,000 or more people attend weekend worship — may be stalled. –

USA Today reports And Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., the
granddaddy of “seeker-sensitive” megachurches geared to attract the
spiritually curious, is on a mission to rev the engines.

On Outreach magazine’s 2008 list of the largest 100, even the
smallest says more than 7,000 people attend. But some of the biggest,
including Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, with 43,500, showed
slight declines.

The unchurched remain untouched. While the number of people who say
they attend at least once a week hovers around 30% year after year, the
number who say they “never” go to church climbs.

In response, founder and senior pastor Bill Hybels has changed his
sermons to more directly challenge worshipers at every level. Willow
has launched a slate of dozens of Wednesday mini-classes focusing on
spiritual growth, coached and mentored by the church.

USA Today further reports Like Hillside, the Whittier Area Community
Church, west of Alta Loma, with 2,400 at weekend worship, has
construction planned, vast family programs and service projects from
downtown Whittier to a new 40-bed children’s hospital in Malawi,
Africa.

But “the churn is huge,” says pastor William
Ankerberg. “In the 12 years I’ve been here, I’ve lost half the people I
started with.”

aBetterWay Africa, Bill Hybels, Church Growth, Church Issues, Family, Joel Osteen, MegaChurches, Pastor, People, Santa, Survey, Worship

Read the Full Article at News2

Joel Osteen believes Canadians are ready for a spiritual revival –

The Calgary Herald [CA] reports While Canadian church attendance lags behind the U.S., Osteen senses
there’s still a hunger for spiritual revival north of the 49th parallel. A
major challenge for many Canadian churches is the aging of their
congregations amid increasing troubles attracting young adults, teens
and children on Sunday mornings.

“When the church is relevant and
practical, the young people are keen to be a part of it,” says Osteen.
“When we’re not judging that their hair is longer or they like their
music loud, then we connect with kids.”

aBetterWay Canada, Gay, Joel Osteen, Lesbian, Marriage, Music, Muslim, Pastor, People, Santa, Transgender, University

Read the Full Article at News2

Jurors in a Houston court ruled on Thursday that the wife of US mega-church pastor Joel Osteen did not assault a flight attendant over a spill on her first-class seat. –

Christian Today reports They rejected claims from Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon
Brown that Victoria Osteen was so upset about the spill that she threw
her against a bathroom door and elbowed her in the chest before the
start of a 2005 flight to Vail, Colorado. Ms Brown also alleged that
the pastor’s wife tried to force her way into the cockpit to resolve
the argument.

The NY Times reports The verdict, which came after only two hours of deliberation, ended a
civil trial over a minor altercation that has fascinated Texas, pitting
the word of a flight attendant against that of two stars in populist
religion, Joel and Victoria Osteen, who run the giant Lakewood Church
in a former basketball arena here.

The Houston Chronicle reports Shedden’s testimony Wednesday was echoed by a parade of witnesses
put on by Hardin, including two other passengers, another flight
attendant and the captain of the plane. Continental Captain William Burnett said he would have called the
police, not airport security, if any of the flight attendants,
including Brown, had said Osteen shoved her. “She didn’t say a word about it,” Burnett said. “There was no altercation.”

AP reports “If I had to go through this, I could at least be an example of trying
to live out what’s right, trying to stand strong and trying to just
keep my faith intact,” she said. “I stood strong because I believe in
the truth.”

aBetterWay Court, Gay, God, Joel Osteen, Lesbian, Marriage, Muslim, Pastor, Santa, Transgender, University, Unusual

Read the Full Article at News2

The wife of megachurch evangelist Joel Osteen told jurors Friday she was “dumbfounded” and “shook up” after a flight attendant accused her of assaulting her over a spill on a first-class seat. Victoria Osteen, in court because the flight attendant is suing her, said she pushed no one and even ended up cleaning the spill that sparked the incident herself. –

AP reports Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown claims Victoria
Osteen grabbed, elbowed and pushed her before the start of a 2005
flight to Vail, Colo. Victoria Osteen and her husband, who also had
been on board and testified earlier Friday, denied that account. “I love people. I’m guilty of that,” Victoria Osteen said. 

The Houston Chronicle reports In testimony Thursday, flight attendant Maria Johnson implied Victoria
Osteen acted racist during an incident over a spill in the arm of a
chair, when the co-pastor sought her out instead of two black
attendants that day. One of the other attendants was Brown.

The Houston Chronicle further reports “Someone is lying,” said Osteen’s attorney, Rusty Hardin. “And my clients are telling the truth.”It was a sentiment echoed by Brown’s attorney, Reginald McKamie.

aBetterWay Court, Gay, Joel Osteen, Lesbian, Marriage, Muslim, Pastor, People, Santa, Transgender, University, Unusual

Read the Full Article at News2

As one of the leaders of Houston’s popular Lakewood Church, Victoria Osteen, wife of nationally renown pastor Joel Osteen, is known for her charity and Christianity. –

AP reports But a Continental Airlines flight attendant is accusing the
co-pastor of one of the nation’s most prominent megachurches of
committing some very unchristian-like behavior. Opening
arguments were set for Thursday in a civil lawsuit that accuses
Victoria Osteen of assaulting flight attendant Sharon Brown before the
start of a 2005 flight from Houston to Vail, Colo.

AP further reports Some potential jurors in a lawsuit alleging the wife of nationally
known pastor Joel Osteen assaulted a flight attendant admitted
Wednesday to being star-struck by the couple and that their respect for
them might affect their judgment in the case.

Osteen paid a $3,000 fine

from the Federal Aviation Administration for
interfering with a flight crew member, a fact seized on by Brown’s
attorney.

According to court documents,
Brown claims that she suffers from anxiety and hemorrhoids because of
the incident involving Victoria Osteen and said her faith was affected.
She is also suing Victoria Osteen for medical expenses for counseling.

Brown wants an apology and punitive damages amounting to 10 percent of Victoria Osteen’s net worth as part of her suit. She says Osteen threw her against an airplane bathroom door and elbowed her in the left breast.

aBetterWay Court, Errant Christians, Gay, Joel Osteen, Lesbian, Marriage, MegaChurches, Muslim, Pastor, Santa, Transgender, University