A Sunday in Houston

Our alarm went off at 6:00 AM this morning...

We went to the early service at Lakewood Church in Houston which began at 8:30 AM. Let me go on record... Lakewood is truly an incredible church. We parked in a parking garage across town, took a shuttle to the church, had our children on three different floors (three... there were five altogether) for children's church (yes... it was that many kids), and finally into the service. We sat eleven rows back from the stage, dead center of the pulpit. Israel Houghton lead worship this morning along with his team. Amazing! They took us into the throne room. The worship was sweet. Joel Osteen preached this morning and did a great job. He ministered to me. On a side note... it was amazing to watch a pastor in such a large church work so hard to be personal with his people. In the middle of worship, they had a time of prayer. Every section had prayer leaders who prayed with the people. Pastor Joel and his wife were working the center section on the main floor. He was there praying with his people and then after church, he was in the lobby shaking hands and visiting with the guests and the membership. My hat is off to him and what God has built in Houston. We serve an incredible God who goes far beyond our expectiation. If you are ever in Houston... visit Lakewood Church.

Lakewood ended at 10:00 AM... so we rushed back to Pearland to go to CTChurch (Assemblies of God) which started at 11:00 AM. They are a satelitte church that meets at Silvercrest Elementary School. The children's church is located in the hallways. This church really goes out of its way to minister to the children of the community. The halls were decked out for the kids. They had bean bags for chairs in the grade school area (pretty cool). Don Nordin (senior pastor) did a phenomenial job this morning. I'm glad I got to attend.

Two churches... two totally different feels. One with a huge building... one with no building. One with an incredible amount of people and resources... one with a few people and limited resources. Nevertheless... God is God at both and Jesus was the centerpiece in worship and in the Word. Aren't you thankful that church is not about us but Him? Let's keep our focus where it should be! Up!

I hope you had the opportunity to be at church today!