As part of my farewell to Texas tour, I made a pilgrimage to the Pentecostal mecca–the largest church in the U.S., Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church.  I have visited  hundreds of Pentecostal churches–as a researcher and as a worshipper, but for some reason, I was really looking forward to visiting Lakewood:  For one, Joel Osteen is one of the most fascinating figures in contemporary Pentecostalism, and the multicultural make-up of Lakewood, over 20,000 strong this past Sunday, was quite striking.

Pentecostal/charismatic churches tend to be the most diverse in the U.S. and as such, I was not surprised to see a large contingent of African American and Latinos/as at Lakewood.  Though, as I suspected, they are not a significant presence on ...