Joel Osteen's son becomes third-generation to preach during Lakewood’s 60th anniversary
Sunday marked the 60th anniversary for Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. During the celebration, Senior Pastor Joel Osteen thanked God for using his son Jonathan as a minister, and now three generations of Osteen men have preached at the church.
The celebration kicked off with worship. Some of the songs included were “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” and “He Reigns.”
Lakewood Church was founded on Mother’s Day 1959 by John and Dodie Osteen. On Sunday, The next generation of Osteen, Joel’s son Jonathan, took the stage to praise what started through his grandparents six decades ago.
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“Over the last 60 years, God has not failed. He’s faithful on the mountain and He’s faithful in the valley. He’s faithful in a feed store and He’s faithful in the Compact center. The location may change but His promise stays the same. What God's done in the past is a foundation for what He's going to do next. That's why we could sing, ‘for everything we've seen there is more to come.’ What we’ve seen is extraordinary, what we've seen is miraculous. God shows us these things so that we’ll have the faith for Him to do even greater. So that instead of looking at our situation will remember what we've already seen,” Jonathan testified.
Later in the service, Joel took to the platform and gushed about his son being a minister of the gospel as well.
“When I see our son, Jonathan, up here ministering now, I didn't think I would be a minister, now my son is a minister!” Joel testified. “It's 3 generations, look what the Lord has done, that's the goodness of God.”
Lakewood Church started in a converted feed store on the outskirts of northeast Houston. The first service was attended by 90 people and has now grown to become the largest church in the U.S., with over 43,000 attending services each week. Before his death, John became known as a worldwide “pastors, pastor” who encouraged his son Joel to preach.
Initially, Joel declined, preferring to work behind the scenes until 1999 when he felt compelled to accept his father’s invitation. After preaching his first sermon his father went home to be with the Lord. Later that year, Joel was installed as the new senior pastor of Lakewood Church and now it appears the best selling author has someone to pass the baton to as well.
During the 60th year anniversary celebration, Dodie was honored and also addressed the congregation.
“You have been wonderful for 60 years and I thank you,” Dodie said to Lakewood. “Everybody that's given a penny, everybody that's come one day. Everybody that's done anything, if you've cleaned toilets like we used to do in the old building, if you've done anything for us, we appreciate it and I’m sure Jesus does too.”
“I'm sure John is jumping up-and-down in Heaven saying thank you, people,” Dodie concluded.
Watch the full celebration below.
