Since 2000, Pastor Joel Osteen seemingly has become an overnight success on the national evangelical scene. But his rise in popularity, along with that of Lakewood Church, has a deeper history dating back to the ministry of his father, John Osteen. Prof. Phillp L. Sinitiere — an associate professor of history at the College of Biblical Studies (Houston) and a visiting assistant professor at Sam Houston State University — talks about his new book Salvation with a Smile: Joel Osteen, Lakewood Church, & American Christianity.
As is par for the course, we explore how our guest came to be interested in the topic he studies. Prof. Sinitiere grew up in Houston, which he calls the “buckle of the Bible Belt,” and attended small churches in a mixed-ethnicity neighborhood. Having known about Lakewood Church growing up, he found it to be an interesting topic given his fascination with the history of American Christianity and considering how it dovetailed with his interests in African-American Christianity. His experience studying Lakewood dates back about a decade, and Phillip tells the story of his first visit to the mega-church and how he was immediately approached to sing in the choir. He talks of himself as a “shade tree sociologist” using both archival research and ethnographic fieldwork to paint a vivid picture of the Osteen family and the Lakewood community.
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