Why is Joel Osteen’s Megachurch Still Growing?

The largest megachurch in North America sits right off of 59 in southwest downtown Houston. Pastor Joel Osteen leads the Lakewood Church – a church he inherited from his father John Osteen in a building that previously served as the Houston Rockets’ home with 52,000 regular attendees each week. That is 7,200 more than in 2010 and five time the size it was when Osteen’s father Pastor John Osteen, who founded it, died in 1999.

Andrew Gabriel of PAOC recently posted two consecutive mini-articles on Joel Osteen  to spark a vivid discussion with the Pentecostal Theology Group; which naturally led to the question: Why is Joel Osteen’s Church Still Growing?

Neither Pastor Joel Osteen, nor the Lakewood Church implement:

1. multi campus; it is just one big mega-church
2. CEO leadership strategies like John Maxwell
3. complicated theology (for which Osteen is often criticized)
4. overemphasize prophetic or otherwise charismatic gifts
5. imlpiment more media than a regular TV evangelist
6. belonging to a larger denomination at this time
7. projects a close type of conduct, but reache to all kind of unbelievers
8. have an open political preference (like Franklin, Jakes, etc.)
9. use negativism or criticism of other ministers and churches
10. purposely ask for money on TV

Yet, it remains the largest and fastest growing church in America today.

So how and why Lakewood Church – Houston keeps on growing under the leadership of Pastor Joel Osteen?