Power House

It is a veritable Christian candy store, complete with clothing, cards, CDs and a large children's section. Those eager to spend their money can buy ballpoint pens called Pens of Praise. Or a T-shirt for their father emblazoned with the slogan "Dad of Dads -- Because King of Kings was already taken!" There are wooden towel racks for the bathroom inscribed with the phrase "Create in me a clean heart, O God," and stuffed dogs named Happy Hank and Happy Hannah who, if their bellies are squeezed, say things like, "God loves me because I am me!" Joel Osteen's taped sermons also can be purchased ("Now available on compact disc!"). So can the sermons of his late father. There are dozens of books written by a who's who of the evangelical Christian set: Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, James Dobson. Most tapes and books are also available in Spanish.

Lakewood has exploded under Joel Osteen's leadership. While his folksy, genuine feel helps, his innate marketing skills haven't hurt. The church didn't always have such a huge bookstore, just as Lakewood was not always 30,000 members strong (the count is an estimate, because the church doesn't keep an official membership list). But the astonishing growth under Osteen's leadership forced the church to add a second Sunday service ("And right off the bat, we had 4,000 or 5,000 extra people come," he says). Osteen hired the dynamic Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff to direct music, and chose the well-respected Christian producer and director Phil Cooke to create the catchy "We Believe in New Beginnings" ad campaign.

The church's weekly newsletters look like a catalog for a small college campus, which in a sense Lakewood is. There are so many activities, seminars, parties and groups to join, it's no wonder the church needs a staff of around 150 to sort it all out. There is a Single Parents Ministry, a Men's Ministry, a Young Adult Ministry (which regularly draws 400 twentysomethings to the church on a Friday night -- and no, they don't serve alcohol). There are camping trips and support groups, Bible classes and coffeehouses. Although Lakewood doesn't boast a Starbucks or McDonald's, other megachurches across the country do (there are about 700 megachurches in the United States, each with at least 1,000 members, and most popping up in the past 20 years). In a transitional world, churches like Lakewood have taken on the new role of community center.

As Cheryl Ward, a single mother of four who drives to the church twice a week from Alief, put it, "They have everything for everybody. Anything you want, you can find it here."

And because of their broad appeal, churches like Lakewood are fast becoming the envy of the religious community in the United States.

"Pastors around the country, the clergy, they read books written by pastors of these megachurches, because they're trying to see what it is they do that causes them to grow so much," says Rice University sociology professor Michael Emerson, who has studied mega- and racially integrated churches. While Emerson says most megachurches are, like Lakewood, apolitical and theologically conservative -- that is to say they are Bible-based and still preach that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ -- they have marketed themselves quite progressively. And that's something mainline Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church still haven't really learned.

"There's been a progression in our culture," says Emerson. "Everything's become part of the marketplace. I'm a consumer, and I choose. And religion's become that way. These megachurches provide all kinds of services, programs for the kids. They have everything."

And while prayer partners and home-study groups provide a feeling of community, there is also something deliciously anonymous about attending a huge church like Lakewood. No one is going to ask the new people to stand up and introduce themselves, because the church is just too big for that. An usher will hand out a newsletter and say, "God bless you," but no one is going to approach you unless you act like you want to be approached, call you unless you ask to be called, or beg you to volunteer unless you really want to volunteer. In fact, it would be completely possible to attend Lakewood for years and not know a soul personally, if that's the way you wanted it. At the same time, if you let it, it could become your whole world.