Reply #21: I went to school with one of his siblings

[Coyote_Bandit]

and all I'm saying is that all that glitters is not gold.

The historical foundations of the Osteen church include Holy Spirit baptism (speaking in tongues), divine healing, and the Word of faith and prosperity doctrines. There are long time connections between the Osteen ministry and that of Oral and Richard Roberts and Kenneth Hagin. You just don't get much more fundamentalist than these folks. A pig with lipstick is still a pig.

And in a church of 30,000 people, something does not have to be procaimed from the pulpit to be the rule de jour. People who attend these mega-churches often have very little if any personal contact with these preachers. Most people never even shake the guys hand. Instead they are encouraged to attend and become involved in various small groups whose leaders have been selected and trained by the pastor and other church leaders. These mega-church preachers really are slick snake oil salesmen because they often do no hands on personal ministry with the folks in their congregation. Don't give the guy a pass for being inclusive or uninvolved in political matters without looking to see what the folks who actually work hands on with the small groups in the congregation are doing.