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  • Frank Lockwood is the religion editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Frank is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Idaho College of Law. In 2004, he received a Knight Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan. A native of Oregon, Frank has been a reporter in Idaho, Kentucky and Washington, D.C.

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ArkansasOnline | Bible Belt Blog Home

Joel Osteen -- save one of those 30,000 seats for me!

Posted July 18, 2006

Bible Belt Blogger: Joel Osteen -- save one of those 30,000 seats for me!

Frank Lockwood

Lakewood Church, the biggest house of worship ever constructed in the United States, the largest congregation this side of Seoul, South Korea, draws 30,000 people each week. This weekend, there'll be 30,001. I'm filling up the gas tank and I'm driving to Houston to see this Texas-sized congregation with my own eyes. Joel Osteen -- who has conquered the New York Times best-seller list as well as the world of televangelism -- is scheduled to preach this week. I look forward to hearing him -- and to learning about the logistics -- how do you move that many people through a church parking lot in one weekend? By Monday, I'll know.

Before I get to Houston, I'll probably pass through Austin. If there's time, I'd like to stop by LBJ's ranch and see his rural Texas church.

If you've been to Lakewood, I'd love to hear from you. If you've got questions about the place and want answers, now is the time to speak up. If you know somebody from Kentucky who worships there or works there, tell me how to get a hold of them.

In the meantime, here's a link to Lakewood's website.

http://www.lakewood.cc/

COMMENTS:

AUTHOR: Greg Wythe

EMAIL: gregwythe@yahoo.com

URL: http://www.faithbasedblog.com

DATE: 07/22/2006 09:47:52 AM



Frank,

I'm looking forward to your thoughts after the visit. As a member of Lakewood, I'd encourage you to visit a wider variety of what Lakewood has to offer beyond the the main service. It's a big church and I think one of the points of pride has to be the diversity offered to help make it a small church to develop a greater sense of community.