Just got the dead-tree version of this on my desk. The writeup is available here.

A report from Louisville. Sounds like all went well.

» Chron: Jay Bakker, son of Tammy Faye, meets with Osteen (Claudia Feldman)

Better ...

The visit to Lakewood was part of a nationwide effort called The American Family Outing, which aims to build bridges between traditional and nontraditional church families.

In the end, Bakker said, Osteen was most gracious, had chairs reserved for the LGBT community Sunday morning and made time to meet after the 11 a.m. service.

During their chat, the two men agreed to disagree.

"I don't think homosexuality is a sin, and they do," Bakker said, "but it was very nice of Joel to introduce me to his family. I met Joel's wife and mother, and they were just great. ... I'm really grateful."

Don Iloff, Lakewood's chief of communications, agreed the visits and meetings went well.

"Dodie Osteen, Joel's mother, wanted to meet Jay," Iloff said.

I think there's a lot to be gained from having discussions on how those of us who may not necessarily agree with Bakker/Soulforce's views about how we can still be a welcoming place to people who, unfortunately, have too many good reasons to believe they aren't welcomed in God's house. The more doors that are opened, the better. The more that are closed, not so much.

I just got a link of this video today - totally never knew about it before this morning. But check it out and see if you don't recognize at least two folks in here.

The story may be over a month old, but it's still news to me. That Michael and Carrie are great people, however, doesn't qualify as news. Everyone knows that, right?

Aurora looks like she's doing great, as well. I think I'm going to have to borrow some of her thankful attitude today if I start feeling like complaining about my workload ;-)

» Chron: Gay group reaches out to Lakewood (Claudia Feldman)

The son of evangelical Tammy Faye Bakker Messner will spend his first Mother's Day weekend since her death in Houston, waiting to hear from Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen.

Jay Bakker, a high-profile supporter of Soulforce -- a group that fights religious and political oppression of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders -- wants Osteen to join the nontraditional families at a picnic Saturday and welcome them to church on Sunday.

As the tattooed and pierced Bakker spoke at a Soulforce news conference Wednesday, it was clear his mother was in his thoughts. Though she died of cancer last July, she remains a near-legend in the LGBT community.

"I want to celebrate my mother's life," said Bakker, pastor of Revolution New York City, "and help spread the message she lived and preached. We need to stop thinking of ourselves as 'us' and 'them.' We hope the families of Lakewood Church will open their hearts and minds to us and sit down and have a conversation and share a meal. ... Let's put our differences aside and share the love and hope of Christ."

...

Bakker began trying to reach Osteen in December as part of a nationwide fellowship effort called The American Family Outing. Letters were sent to the pastors of six megachurches, including The Potter's House in Dallas and Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois.

Organizers asked the pastors to meet with members of the LGBT community over a meal and talk about shared family values.

While four megachurch pastors answered positively, Osteen and one other didn't respond, Soulforce spokeswoman Paige Schilt said.

After Wednesday's news conference, Bakker drove to Lakewood with a local lesbian mother who is an Osteen fan.

"Families come in all forms," said Kim Beggs, a real estate broker. "God loves us."

They were turned away after a brief wait with the assurance that the letters would reach their destination.

Donald Iloff, Lakewood's chief of communications, later told the Houston Chronicle that Osteen wasn't able to meet with Bakker or attend the picnic because he is busy writing his Sunday sermon. It's a four-day process, he said.

Iloff went on to say, "If we met to talk, would this group be satisfied if we agreed to disagree? ... Soulforce wants to use Lakewood to further their agenda."

The picnic will go on from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Levy Park. The group welcomes people who attend Lakewood Church, Schilt said.

With absolutely all due respect, I've got to say that's a highly disappointing response on behalf of Lakewood, particularly the second quote. Levy Park (map) is pretty close to Lakewood and I don't think it'd be overly burdensome for at least a few other Lakewood members to show some hospitality and live up to the words Dr. Paul Osteen offered over a year ago:

I hate to see stuff like this, but it's nothing short of miraculous that nobody got severely hurt.

I've been at shows where you can feel the floor moving just a bit more than would seem natural. Stories like this don't exactly make me feel a bit braver for toughing it out when that happens. Still ... a twelve-to-fifteen foot drop, scaffolding that held speakers and lights, and everyone came out alive. Forty two kids did get injured, three with serious injuries. Amazing.

» Chron: Osteens offer hope to singles
» Chron: Part II: Osteens offer more advice to singles

Seen this already? Well I've been a bit bogged down by work to get to it in a timely manner, so here's both parts at once ... Joel & Victoria offering their advice for singles in Whitney Casey's Chronicle column.

Well, more specifically for dating (or potentially dating) singles. Then again, ...

According to Joel, if you aren't ready to tell your date your belief system, then you certainly aren't ready to share other types of intimate moments with him. If you find yourself in this situation, Joel believes you should take yourself off the market for a little while and really work on bettering your relationship with yourself.

"If you (are) a better you, then you'll pick a better partner," he says. "You won't have to settle or compromise your beliefs. Instead you will feel empowered by them."

Interesting appearance in ye olde newspaper by Joel & Victoria

» Osteen brings positive ministry to FedExForum

It looks like Memphis went well ...

Osteen, 44, who considers Rev. Billy Graham a "hero and a mentor," has succeeded the ailing Graham as perhaps the most popular spiritual conscience in the country. A best-selling author, he routinely attracts a TV audience of 7 million people each week to his Joel Osteen Ministries.

And each Sunday, Eva Skelton is among the flock. When she developed arthritis in her knees, Skelton, a retired factory worker of Holly Springs, Miss., had to miss several of her regular Sunday church services. "So I started watching Joel on TV, and I just love him to death," she said.

For her birthday, Skelton's family bought tickets to Osteen's Memphis sermon. What they didn't tell her ahead of time was that the family also contacted Diane Hight and her Forever Young Senior Wish Organization to see if Hight could arrange for Osteen to meet Skelton during his Memphis visit.

Osteen agreed.

Two items of interest to share here ...

» Newsweek: The Smart Shepherd (Lisa Miller)

Interesting story here on New York's Rev. Tim Keller ... author of the soon-to-be-released "The Reason for God." Keller explains the book a bit himself over at his church's site. There's also the downloadable sermons that relate to the book.

» Time: Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop (David Van Biema)

And this one covers another author, NT Wright - also with a book to be on shelves soon. An interesting Q&A on how the Bible defines heaven. I never got around to reading Randy Alcorn's book on the subject, but I'm curious how much agreement/disagreement there is between the two.

I've had Wright's "Simply Christian" on my to-read list for a while now and I'm still vacillating on whether that's the book of his I want to read first. Knowing there's a new one to hit the shelves probable doesn't help me much. If I remember correctly, it seems that I recall hearing of Wright preaching at Rob Bell's Mars Hill church sometime in the near future. Something to look forward to.

If you thought this past weekend's Koinonia video was a bit risque, I'm thinking there's some folks in Allen who are feeling like they're seeing worse.

One more late-night/early-morning thought before I drop into a deep-sleep coma for the, um ... few hours that I'll call sleep.

Amped up over the Presidential election? ... and a full year's worth of politicking? Well, here's one place you won't see much of that: Lakewood.

» Newsweek: No Politics From This Pulpit
This is a web-only Q&A with Pastor Joel and just a great read. It's got the obligatory "What about you're critics, Joel?" question - but only one. It's the bulk of the rest of the questions that really stand out for being notably better than we see from a lot of other interviewers.:

NEWSWEEK: As you know, we're in the middle of one hot political season. I hear that any political office holder who attends your service will be recognized, but they are not allowed to address your congregation, and that any current candidates will likely not be recognized at all. Why the policy? Joel Osteen: Well, I think it started back with my father. Really, it was the size of the church. We had 6,000 members back then. It seemed like with city council races everybody would come through two or three months before the elections. It just got to the point where it didn't seem right. Now that we've grown it's the same thing. The way our services are structured here at the church, we have to keep it, if we can, 100 percent worship. We used to introduce every guest and do birthdays and make announcements. We cut all that out and put it in the bulletin. Having said that, I'm a strong believer in honoring the people who have served and are giving their lives to run. For instance, our police chief was here. He comes out several times a year. I just, before I minister, I honor him and thank him for serving. If one of the presidential candidates were to attend, they certainly deserve honor. I think we'd make an exception on that. I think we say we don't let them speak because, well, who wouldn't want to come to speak to 40,000 people here? We would introduce them and I would always put in a good word, whether they are Democrat or Republican.

Do you plan to lend your support to any of the presidential candidates?
I really don't. I like to keep that to myself. Part of it is how I was raised. My father ... kept it out of the pulpit. I think that part of our goal is to reach as many people as we can. Our reach is very broad. Even in the church we are very diverse. There are Republicans, Democrats, independents--everything ... I don't want somebody saying, "He's for this party or that party, and that turns me off."

Given the line you've drawn, what would you do if the next president came to you for, say, counsel on an issue like abortion or the war in Iraq?
I would be glad to give it to him. I would be honored. I would just do it personally. We have had--not presidential candidates--plenty of people call. I don't mind being associated with them. It's not the association. It's that I don't endorse one.

Is there ever a time when it's OK for politics and religion to mix?
I have friends that feel like their calling is to push the Christian agenda. I'm 100 percent behind them. They're great debaters. They're great at making their points. I think there are times when we need to get involved.

There's obviously an evangelical bloc that has a significant amount of power in political circles. Is that bloc called to do politically related work?
I think so. I think they stand for what Christians stand for--at least, in their view. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I do think, at times, the evangelical gets a label that becomes more political. That's what I don't like. When it's so politicized. There's a fine line there, but I think we can't just sit back and let everybody else express their views. I think it's important that we as believers in Christ express our views.

Those last two in particular are among the more interesting questions I've seen lobbed at Joel. And his answer definitely offers up a lot to chew on. Is there really a "Christian agenda" in politics? If so, what exactly is that? Is that a necessary precursor to needing to "get involved?" And does that help or hurt the fact that the term "evangelical" is used as a political term more often than it is a spiritual one? And lastly ... where is that "fine line," exactly?

Again, I'll try and dive a bit deeper into this one later. It certainly ties into the strand of thought I've been investigating more fully as of late. In the meantime, Pastor Greg Boyd offers a few more thoughts on faith & politics. My bias inclines heavily toward Boyd. I wouldn't go so far as to suggest it's a mutually exclusive view from Joel's, though.

In the medium-term, I've got books by Hunter and Dionne in the mail, with Amy Sullivan's book soon to follow. Sheesh, I may never get to fully absorb Taylor Branch quite the way I'd hoped. Oh, and there's this really huge day of voting on Feb. 5 that could well finalize the choices of who we get to see square off in November. And another month after then, we Texans get our say.

For those who loathe politics, I'll see if I can ever get cracking on a few CD reviews ;-)

Ed note ... the Chronicle doesn't seem to have the correct code for Elizondo's video, so go here and click on "The tribute artist"

A little extra video for the day. This one's courtesy of the Houston Chronicle profiling various people of faith. Here, it's Ralph Elizondo - part time Lakewood Spanish pastor ... part time Elvis impersonator. I gotta say, he does a pretty solid young Elvis ...

There's a few more here if you're interested.

So it seems Lakewood made the news again ... and in an interesting way:

» KHOU: DA candidate called Lakewood Church members 'screwballs and nuts'

» Chron: Lakewood quote has Siegler on defensive

Lakewood's own Don Iloff had this to offer:

"Lakewood's members are very forgiving. They probably won't vote for her, but they will forgive her."

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday ...

If you've suffering Joel Osteen withdrawal, the Lakewood Church pastor appears Sunday as part of Fox News Sunday's American Leaders series. The Osteen segment airs at 8 a.m. Sunday on KRIV (Channel 26) and at 5 p.m. Sunday on Fox News Channel.

If you're planning on hitting church Sunday, I guess that means set the VCR/DVR. But if you're like me and hit the Saturday night service, I guess we just need to make it a point to wake up in the morning.

Hey, um ... Monday night. That'd be tonight. There's an interesting documentary on HBO in the evening (7pm Texas Tme). Hard as Nails is about Justin Fatica, a rather unique Catholic missionary to the streets. Watch the video to get a better flavor of what that entails. It certainly strikes me as a little curious. I mean, I don't think I'm about to take up a prayer while someone slams a chair against my back. There's a little video snippet of the video here, here, and here (the last one, I'm not going to claim as entirely work-safe - you can use your judgment by the title of the video) if you want to sneak a peek.

It's definitely something different. At least for me. I've seen (and once or twice, been a part of) a number of different and strange ministry efforts trying to reach the target audience. It seems like this documentary will definitely play up the angle that old folks think Justin is weird and that young folks - to some degree or another - kinda get it. Watch with an open mind, I guess. I'm kinda iffy for making it home by the time this is on, so the repeat times are below:

Debut: Monday 7pm
Repeats: Wednesday 11pm (HBO-2); Thursday 1:15pm (HBO); Saturday 2pm (HBO); Sunday 8:30pm (HBO2), Tues. night 12:30am ~technically Wed.~ (HBO) ... among others. Check here for complete schedule.

» NYT: Gospel Truth (April D. Deconick)

So what does the Gospel of Judas really say? It says that Judas is a specific demon called the "Thirteenth." In certain Gnostic traditions, this is the given name of the king of demons -- an entity known as Ialdabaoth who lives in the 13th realm above the earth. Judas is his human alter ego, his undercover agent in the world. These Gnostics equated Ialdabaoth with the Hebrew Yahweh, whom they saw as a jealous and wrathful deity and an opponent of the supreme God whom Jesus came to earth to reveal.

Whoever wrote the Gospel of Judas was a harsh critic of mainstream Christianity and its rituals. Because Judas is a demon working for Ialdabaoth, the author believed, when Judas sacrifices Jesus he does so to the demons, not to the supreme God. This mocks mainstream Christians' belief in the atoning value of Jesus' death and in the effectiveness of the Eucharist.

How could these serious mistakes have been made? Were they genuine errors or was something more deliberate going on? This is the question of the hour, and I do not have a satisfactory answer.

Rice professor, April Deconick, writes about what she identifies as errors in the translation of the "Gospel of Judas." No big deal, really. It just, ya know, totally reverses the conclusions drawn by the folks at National Geographic. </sarcasm>

Kris Hey is wrapping up a blogathon on Joel's stop to Orlando. One more post with video of the book-signing on Friday.

Kris Hey, still blogging up a storm from Joel's book-signing:

» About Joel Osteen's new book, Become a Better You
» People arrive for Joel Osteen book signing
» Hundreds show up to get Joel Osteen books signed
» Fans stand in line for 3 hours or more for Joel Osteen book signing
» 4 questions with Joel Osteen (audio interview) and more photos (ed note: audio below)

And also ... pics from Thursday night.

What it looks like when Joel takes over another Texas town ...

Second in the series ...

Apparently, more to come.

Pardon the tardiness, but this is some news footage from Friday morning's local NBC outlet. At the end of it, they note that there'll be a followup on Monday morning. I think you can take it from there as to what to do. For the out-of-towners, I'll try to be a bit more prompt in updating this with Monday's footage. Nice clips of the band in this segment, as well as a little Q&A with Cindy.

Still bogged down at the day job, but a couple of things worth passing on ...

Business Week's Carmine Gallo takes a look at what business leaders can learn from Joel Osteen:

As a communications coach, I make observations on what makes a particular speaker inspiring to his or her listeners. The secret behind Osteen's charisma is this: He speaks the language of hope.

According to Osteen, "As parents, we can profoundly influence the direction of our children's lives by the words we say to them. I believe as husbands and wives we can set the direction for our entire family. As a business owner, you can help set the direction of your employees. With our words, we have the ability to help mold and shape the future of anyone over whom we have influence."

Secondly is that the local NBC affiliate will have a behind-the-scenes segment of Joel from his Madison Square Garden stop. If you're up early - and in Houston - catch it. I'm guessing there'll be video to show on a tape-delayed basis, though.