A ministry that has touched millions of lives in more than 100 countries: Lakewood Church initially called Lakewood Baptist Church was founded by John and Dodie Osteen on Mother’s Day, 10 May, 1959, inside an abandoned feed store in Northeast Houston.
John Osteen’s honesty and leadership skills earned him the respect and admiration of people around the world. He was best described as a fiery preacher, impassioned evangelist, charitable giver and prolific writer. He was always sharing the Word of God to people either by television broadcast or having face to face conversations with them. He was nicknamed the ‘Pastor’s Pastor’.
John and Dodie hosted weekly television programs and the Church was referred to as ‘An Oasis of Love in a Troubled World’. Some incidents shot the Ministry into limelight and among them was Dodie’s miraculous healing from cancer narrated in her book ‘Healed of Cancer’. The growth of the Church in the 1980s necessitated the building of an 8,000 capacity seater in 1987.
The last son of John, Joel Osteen left Oral Roberts University in 1981 to work behind the camera as a producer for the Church broadcast. His wish was to help his father develop Lakewood’s growing national television ministry; little did he know that God had greater plans for him. ‘I always loved working in production, with the cameras and editing and all that, even when I was a teenager’.
John Osteen passed on to glory in January 1999 and Joel who was ordained a Pastor in 1992 and had only been interested in production, turning down several requests by his father to preach had to assume the leadership role of Senior Pastor of the Church with the full support of his family.
Joel continued the Ministry on his father’s legacy; he continued with John’s ministerial vision. For example, Joel placed a rotating globe behind the pulpit at the Church, signifying the church’s commitment to evangelism and missionary outreach.
Lakewood Church soon became the fastest growing church in the U.S. The creation of programs like ‘Evening of Hope’ in 2004 and many more led to the Church’s increase. The Church obtained a lease of the Compaq Center, the former sport center for $12 million over thirty years. Lakewood moved to the 16,000-seat Compaq Center on 16 July, 2005. In 2010, Lakewood completed the purchase of its property for $7.5 million. Attendance at Lakewood rose from 6,000 in 1999 to more than 50,000 by 2016. In 2018 the televised services attracted an estimated 10 million viewers weekly.
The Church is known for delivering simple and straightforward messages, it has been criticized as a prosperity gospel church, Osteen responded that he wants to remain focused on the “goodness of God” and that he did not define prosperity in purely materialistic terms.
Lakewood believes that the entire Bible is inspired by God and without error. The Bible is the authority on which their faith is based. Aggressive evangelism is the pillar of the Church.
The Church is a vivid example of God’s work. The Church has grown and thrived from one generation to the next unfolding the wonders of God’s faithfulness to man.
Sources:
Lakewoodchurch
Britannica
Houstonhistorymagazine
Join any of our Telegram Channels.
t.me/ChurchGist
t.me/CGWitness
Leave a comment Here OR any of these platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealchurchgist/
Twitter https://twitter.com/therealchurchg1
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEcolEnQjmehziQQPOcHSeA/
YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD_X0B5RIRkgN5m05DS-8eg/
