Megachurch Lakewood Church, headed by pastor Joel Osteen, has just relocated into the Compaq Center, formerly a basketball/concert arena, just up the street from our house. Today’s Houston Chronicle has a story on the business aspects of the church, which reportedly already had an average Sunday attendance (ASA) of some 30,000, the nation’s largest. (Link: Big budget supports Lakewood’s higher calling.)
Excerpt:
John Green, a political science professor at the University of Akron in Ohio, who studies megachurches and their impact on society, refers to Osteen and other megachurch leaders as “religious entrepreneurs” who excel at niche marketing.
“If you go to a megachurch, you’ll find that they emphasize different things, and if you’re looking at this from a business point of view, that’s good marketing. You find your niche,” he said.
Interpretations of the Bible, for example, vary widely from church to church and are sometimes tailored to their demographics, Green said.
Lakewood features “prosperity gospel,” which promises the faithful that if they ask, God will reward them financially. Its niche is what Osteen calls “the unsaved” or “unchurched.”
“We like to target people who do not go to church today,” Osteen said.
A companion story relates how Osteen personally did some win-win negotiating to overcome some crucial opposition to the church’s acquiring the arena.
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