Nov 27, 2010 Televangelist's motivational message comes to AmericanAirlines Arena BY JAWEED KALEEM [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) When televangelist Joel Osteen -- pastor of the country's biggest church, prolific author and one of the most recognizable faces of U.S. Christianity -- comes to Miami's AmericanAirlines Arena this week, he's expected to attract more than 10,000 fans. Osteen's feel-good sermons broadcast worldwide on Sundays from his 43,000-member Lakewood Church in Houston. He is popular for his simple message, easily embraced by Christians and non-Christians alike: God is here to reward humanity, not to punish us. But wherever this mega-preacher goes -- Friday's ``A Night of Hope'' is among dozens of his oft-packed arena gatherings that mix gospel-rock, worship, testimony and motivational speeches -- so do questions about his increasingly popular brand of Christianity. Osteen's powerful sermons seldom mention the Bible in detail and are devoid of talk of sin and redemption. Is he a skilled evangelical pastor or a profitable self-help guru? ``If we are not careful, religion can just come off as rules, what you can and can't do, what God is going to get mad at you for,'' says Osteen, 47. ``I believe God wants us to live a life of victory. That's where people respond.'' Osteen preaches what is called the prosperity gospel, though he prefers not to use the term. In short, it says that God rewards believers with happiness, wealth and health. It's an attractive method of ministry. Osteen, who inherited his nondemoninational church in 1999 after the death of its founding pastor, his father John Osteen, has seen Lakewood grow threefold.
Read more: _http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/27/v-fullstory/1946299/televangelists-motivational-message.html#ixzz16nmZKz9h_ (http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/27/v-fullstory/1946299/televangelists-motivational-message.html#i xzz16nmZKz9h) Thousands flock each week to watch the suit-donning pastor with a radiant smile and soft Texan drawl parse over the subjects of a motivational speaker: empowerment, achieving goals, forgiveness and positive thinking. Seven million more watch him on TV in 100 countries. Osteen has become a multimillionaire from the franchise and has penned 19 books on self-improvement, selling millions of copies worldwide. The church collects upward of $70 million through donations given during services and through the mail. Osteen makes a point not ask for money on TV, he says, in order to get audiences to focus on his message instead of questioning financial motivations. ``The times we are living in with this economy and all this going on, it's difficult times. We think people need faith more than ever. That's why we've taken `A Night of Hope' on the road,'' he says. The event follows a long legacy of the church. Lakewood, which began with a few dozen members in 1959 in a small, abandoned feed store in Houston, grew to about 5,000 members by the 1970s under the late Osteen, a former Southern Baptist. While father learned his trade in the seminary and headlined pastors' conferences, Osteen's education was behind the camera, where he worked for 17 years producing church broadcasts. A dropout from Oral Roberts University, he never aspired to preach and had rebuffed his father's invitations to take to the microphone. But after giving his first sermon during the last week of his ill father's life, Osteen says he realized his calling. ``There is a power when you get together thousands of people who love the Lord and celebrate his goodness,'' says Osteen, who is flying in the church band among a group of 50 to Miami. They include his wife and co-pastor, Victoria Osteen, two kids and mother Dodie, a terminal cancer survivor who usually gives a testimony on stage about her miraculous healing in the 1980s. Miami's gathering will have a similar feel to that at Lakewood, which after a $100 million renovation five years ago moved into an arena that formerly housed Houston's biggest sports teams. Lakewood services exude the energy of rock concerts and acoustics rival professional concert venues. Instead of crosses or religious symbols, Lakewood has decorative water fountains and a ceiling with electronic panels that morph between colors and patterns to sounds of services. Osteen does not speak from a pulpit, but opts for the more secular ``podium'' to describe his spot on stage. ``He understands how to be a preacher in the sight and sound generation we live in . . . He understands branding and image,'' says Shayne Lee, a sociology professor at Tulane University who coauthored Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace, for which he attended several of Osteen's services over a year. MAKING A CONNECTION ``He is like a politician who knows how to make a connection. He's this generation's Robert Schuller,'' says Lee, referring to the aging televangelist, known for his upbeat brand of Christianity, who founded Crystal Cathedral megachurch in Garden Grove, Calif. and in 1970 began the Hour of Power program. While Osteen has millions of supporters, there is also an array of pastors who disagree with his approach. ``I don't think he sees himself as an evangelist to get people into the kingdom, but sees himself as a motivational speaker to get people interested in spirituality,'' says Bob Coy, the founding pastor of 15,000-member Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. ``An evangelist is supposed to preach repentance and get people to the place where they want to find forgiveness for their sins through repentence,'' says Coy, who considers Osteen a friend. ``He's a great first step for somebody to get interested in God and in heaven.'' Osteen, a frequent guest on secular talk shows, has also faced criticism among some Christians for taking a too-soft approach to political and social issues. Liberals were disappointed when he said on CNN's Larry King Live and ABC's The View that ``homosexuality is not God's best,'' while conservatives have called him out for not calling homosexuality a sin. Some evangelicals have critiqued him for his insistance it is not up to him to say if non-Christians will go to heaven. ``I think it's wrong when you go around saying `you're not going, you're not going, you're not going' because it's not exactly my way,'' he once told King. The reactions speak to the broad following Osteen has built, which goes beyond traditional boundaries of faith or those between the left and right. ``I'm Jewish, but everything he says still relates to me. Everything he says, it feels like he is talking to you,'' says Melissa Shapiro, a 31-year-old real estate worker who plans to see Osteen in Miami with her mother. ``I'm addicted to his show and won't miss any Sunday,'' says Shapiro, although the show has not sparked any interest in her to attend church. A few South Florida pastors also plan to share the stage with Osteen during his Miami appearance. They include Troy Gramling of Potential Church, a Cooper City megachurch that recently changed its name from Flamingo Road Church, and Rich Wilkerson of Trinity Church in Miami Gardens. Hundreds of their church members combined have already bought tickets. ``He's very humble, when he is by himself he always goes `I'm not sure what I'm going to say,' '' says Wilkerson, a longtime friend who is a part of Champions Network, a loose group of hundreds of churches in the U.S. and abroad that Osteen encourages fans to attend. ``He is the most surprised guy in the world that this has happened to him.'' -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
