This Ralph Blumenthal/NY Times article profiles the ubiquitous Houston-based mega-pastor, Joel Osteen (prior posts here) in a quite positive light:
After a warm-up of rousing original rock and gospel hymns with lyrics and videos flashing on jumbo screens around the arena, Mr. Osteen began to speak. “We come with good news each week,” he told the packed crowd at his gigachurch in his native Texan twang.
The news for Mr. Osteen has lately been very good indeed: two weeks ago he signed a contract with Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, that could bring him as much as $13 million for a follow-up book to his debut spiritual guide, “Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential,” which, since it was published by Warner Faith in 2004, has sold more than three million copies. “I believe God wants us to prosper” is the gospel according to Mr. Osteen, 43, who offers no apologies for his wealth.
“You know what, I’ve never done it for the money,” he said in an interview after Sunday’s service, which he led with his glamorous wife and co-pastor, Victoria. “I’ve never asked for money on television.” But opening oneself to God’s favors was a blessing, he said. “I believe it’s God rewarding you.
Mr. Osteen’s motto is: “God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner.” […]
He is not shy about calling on the Lord. He writes of praying for a winning basket in a basketball game, and then sinking it; and even of circling a parking lot, praying for a space, and then finding it. “Better yet,” he writes, “it was the premier spot in that parking lot.”
But R. Albert Mohler, Jr., the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the largest seminaries in the world, is a tad skeptical of Reverend Osteen’s message:
The first question is this — Would anyone watching his television program, or sitting in his vast church facility, hear in Mr. Osteen’s message a clear and undiluted message of Gospel proclamation? Would this person have any reason, based on hearing Mr. Osteen’s message, to know himself as a sinner and to understand how the cross of Christ is the only ground of his salvation? Would he come to know that Jesus the Christ is fully human and fully divine, and that He came in order that we might have everlasting life — not just a good parking space?
Ben Witherington has more.
Amen, amen. His father was full of the Holy Spirit. I am reminded of the “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle…”
Having seen more than a fair share of local services televised on Sunday mornings, I’m curious how despondant Mohler would be that there’s such a shortage of sermons that would meet the threshold he offers.
Beyond that, I’m still not sure how an overly cynical writer who’s more obssessed with parking spaces, the fact that Lakewood takes an offering, and quotes two critics of Osteen in the article can somehow be passed off as writing an article that is “quite positive.”
Bear in mind, I don’t think the article really registers as “quite negative” either. But what in the article really qualifies as positive? … versus, say, just a very lightweight article that doesn’t really offer much of anything new or worthwhile?
Greg, given how much money the Osteen Family makes from operating Lakewood, I would have expected the NY Times article to emphasize that aspect of the church, which it did not. Thus, at least from a normal Times perspective, I thought the article was generally positive.
If you really want a dose of negativism regarding Lakewood and Osteen, check this out.
Gigachurch. That’s funny.
His worship service is like eating cotton candy each Sunday. It’s sweety, sugary, and tastes good, but it isn’t a real meal.