My Experience at a Joel Osteen's "A Night of Hope" Crusade

When I realized that Joel Osteen was coming to Cleveland for his “A Night of Hope” crusade on July 13, I quickly cleared my calendar so that I could attend the service which was being held at the Quicken Loans Arena. I had always wanted to hear this evangelist live and in person. I invited a friend who had also expressed interest in attending the crusade. We decided to include our spouses who responded with the following: “No” and “Hell no!”

Okay – Joel Osteen is not for everybody. But my interest in exploring this component of American Christianity was not deterred.

Friday, July 13 arrived. The $15 ticket was purchased. It was time to finally discover what Joel Osteen was all about.

Some background: Joel Osteen is a native Texan and the Pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. According to Church Growth Today Lakewood Church is America's largest and fastest growing church. Seven years ago, after completing $95 million dollars in renovations, Joel moved Lakewood Church into its new 16,000-seat home (the former Compaq Center where the NBA’s Houston Rockets used to play). It is the largest regularly-used worship center in the United States. Each week Joel delivers the message of the Gospel to more than 38,000 attendees. It is hard to argue with those numbers. His ministry has to be doing something right.

We arrived at The Q with more than enough time to explore the “bookstore” and grab a bite to eat. When I asked a Q employee what time the crusade would be over, I was shocked to hear 10:00 pm. Osteen was going to lead a two and a half hour service. I wore the wrong shoes!!

A Night of Hope is a service (?), performance (?), an event that is filled with a bit of praise and worship music, words of encouragement offered by Victoria Osteen (Joel’s wife), an inspiring testimony from Dodie Osteen (Joel’s mom), a brief bit of prayer which is led by the local pastors and chief organizers of the event, and last, but not least, a thirty minute sermon by the tall Texan himself. As the program guide indicated: “There will be no intermission.”

The Q was just about sold out. Our seats where one row from the top and a very long way from the stage. The Friday night crowd was respectful and pleasant. But, throughout the evening, I sensed that those gathered never really became “spirit filled”, ignited with the “fire from on High” which would have taken the gathering to a whole new level.

The band warmed up the crowd with the usual up-tempo Christian rock music that many of the faith have come to appreciate. While I am not one of those people, I was glad that there was little or no emphasis on the “blood of Christ” or “washed in the blood of the lamb.” Instead, the music focused on the praise of God and the glory of the Most High. A trio of singers backed by an ensemble of about ten to twelve musicians played for the first ten to fifteen minutes.

Then Joel and Victoria took the stage. The program indicated that they are co-pastors of Lakewood Church. The crowd offered a long and sustained ovation as if two rock stars had appeared on stage.  Joel began to speak and shared his message of positive inspiration. He is a good looking guy, clean-cut, and engaging. There was a part of me (the Preacher’s Kid) that really wanted to dislike him – regard him with some distain – look on his phenomenal success with great skepticism. That was difficult to do, for his charming style and Southern ways are appealing and winning.

Okay, Joel completes his first twenty minute set and there is more music. This is followed by Victoria and her twenty minutes of monologue. The genuineness of Joel is not shared by his co-pastor. I sit “twitching” in my seat because there is something about her message that makes me feel uneasy. Victoria is trying too hard to sell her brand. She shares a story about her dad and an experience of forgiveness that did not add up in my mind. When she finished, there were all sorts of questions running through my head about the Gospel (What is forgiveness? And what it is not?) and about crusade evangelists (selling their latest product at $29.95 to all the suckers in the audience).

More music to clear the palate and the mind.

Then Dodie Osteen takes center stage. How do I describe her? She is the quintessential southern lady (from Texas, no less). Mrs. Osteen has a commanding presence, beautifully dressed, and in true Southern style, sparkles in her diamonds. I am immediately enthralled for I have met so many of these “belles” in my ministry over the years. But, Dodie has an amazing story of grace and healing. She recalls her battle in the early eighties with terminal liver cancer and how by the grace of God, she was completely healed of the disease. Here was a woman who had stared death in the face, walked through the valley, and was transfigured by the process. Her testimony was powerful and genuine. The eighty year old matriarch of the Osteen clan, a preacher’s wife who has probably seen more of her fair shares of the ups and downs of ministry, spoke with emotion, honesty and truth about the journey of life and God’s grace being sufficient in all circumstances.

More music….

After the offering – large white plastic containers passed throughout the arena – and a bit more music, we were ready for the evening’s message.

www.examiner.com

Joel Osteen has a great stage presence and a convincing style. He is constantly smiling and his message is a cross between an updated version of prosperity theology with ample doses of pop psychology. He never referred to sin and mentioned Jesus’ Name only two or three times as I can recall. Instead, Osteen offers his listeners platitudes about attitudes. “God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner,” he asserted. My personal favorite: “Your current trial will be your testimony tomorrow.” It is an upbeat message that clearly made an impact with those around me judging from the head nodding and gentle “Amen’s” being articulated.

Osteen reminded me of my childhood days and unique afternoons spent at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan listening to the Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. Like Dr. Peale, Osteen is a gifted story teller who weaves the Good News of the Gospel in and out of the narratives. Never once did I feel like I was being “suckered by a used car dealer.” No, Osteen’s genuineness shines through and I believe he cares when he shares at the end of his message that those listening to his voice find “a good Bible based church” and commit to a “personal relationship with Jesus.”

Since that evening, I have looked carefully at the Joel Osteen website and found this statement about the faith community’s beliefs. It states:

“We Believe…

• the entire Bible is inspired by God, without error and the authority on which we base our faith, conduct and doctrine.
• in one God who exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to this earth as Savior of the world.
• Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. We believe that salvation is found by placing our faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. We believe Jesus rose from the dead and is coming again.
• water baptism is a symbol of the cleansing power of the blood of Christ and a testimony to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• in the regular taking of Communion as an act of remembering what the Lord Jesus did for us on the cross.
• every believer should be in a growing relationship with Jesus by obeying God’s Word, yielding to the Holy Spirit and by being conformed to the image of Christ.
• as children of God, we are overcomers and more than conquerors and God intends for each of us to experience the abundant life He has in store for us.” (www.joelosten.com)

Well…. With the exception of the Bible being “without error” what is there to disagree with? The Trinity. The Cross. Baptism. Communion. Relationship with Jesus. Abundant Life. There is more that I agree with Osteen than I disagree.

I admit to my readers that I went into the evening as a cynic expecting the worst of institutional evangelical American religion. I left giving thanks for the experience of sharing in the Gospel. No, this kind of “church” with 15,000 of your closet friends is not my idea of community. But, who am I to judge that Osteen and his message did not touch the heart of one soul that night bringing that person into the abundant life of knowing Jesus. Did not our Master say; “Do not stop him. For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:39-40)

My exploration of American Christianity in the 21^st century continues.

Love One Another - Brian