Talk:Lakewood Church

This article is not NPOV and should be edited by someone with more knowledge of Lakewood Church than I have.

I used to go to the church before and after its move to the Compaq center.I went to the grand opening thing I also used to watch the broadcasts all the time and no, they never do show Joel asking for donations. He always does right before he asks everyone "to give a big Lakewood applause for those at home who are just tuning in" and thats when the cammerea would start rollingel sand bag 19:32, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Agreed, seconded. Wouldn't another criticism be...I dunno.....that the church totally didn't accept Katrina refuges during the crisis in New Orleans and that those actions are completely and utterly contrary to what should be preached from the Bible/in the church?--Kugamazog 10:20, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

You saw what they did to the stadiums they were put in. (Or maybe you didn't, since the media conveniently avoided showing it. Defecating and urinating behind every pillar and even between the seats; rampant fighting; unnecessary damage and vandalism, etc.) You think they're gonna let people like that destroy their auditorium? I don't blame the church a bit. Tragic romance 00:44, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Nor is the style encyclopedic. Portions read like fan narratives. A-giau 08:55, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Added the npov disputed template for the reasons stated above and others; even the criticisms section is actually more about the church’s reply to criticism than the actual criticism itself. -- EdisonLBM 19:02, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

The Joel Osteen page has been suffering from similar fan/insider distortions. This page needs a major rewrite. --Crid 20:14, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

What a load of bull. This article doesn't need anything negative. What does 'it suffers from fan/insider distortions' mean? it isn't within wikipedia's policy to 'negatize' articles. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 130.220.39.36 (talk • contribs) 23:59, 13:09, 25 April 2006 (UTC).

True, it is not Wikipedia's polocy to 'negatize' (as you say) articles. However, Wikipedia does have a 'Neutral point of view' policy (see WP:NPOV). The concern with this article, in its current state, is that it is written very obviously from an insider's perspective - by a member of Lakewood or someone close to Osteen, for example - and this is likely what Crid meant by 'fan/insider distortions' above. If you have a good knowledge of Lakewood, we encourage you to assist in fixing this article. However, please remember that it is not universally accepted that Lakewood is an excellent church or 'a beacon of light to Houston' (something similar to that phrase was actually in the article until very recently). Try to remain neutral and provide an objective view of the church - if you have any questions or issues, remember that there are quite a few of us that are here to help you. - EdisonLBM 21:21, 25 April 2006 (UTC) I have tried to edit the article by either 1) deleting unconfirmed comments, 2) citing sources where available, or 3) changing the wording to indicate that the comments are unconfirmed. It is difficult when most of the comments come either directly from Lakewood or from those who have a bias in its favor (or a bias against it), as opposed to neutral parties. Hopefully this will help the issue. 128.190.62.54 18:08, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Doctrinal Controversy

Is there a reason why there is no mention of the controversy Joel Osteen made with his remarks on Larry King Live that he didn't know whether or not members of other religions went to Hell? --Thudgens 20:34, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

A similar incident is covered in Joel Osteen. If you would like to add the Larry King Live incident, I would say that it belongs there. --EdisonLBM 01:40, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

If your going to include the controversy his remarks made, then perhaps you should also include the letter of apology and retraction he made on those remarks, correcting himself

Confession

The Lakewood "confession" appears to be a prayer chanted during the service. Why would this be notable? Most church services include prayer. Should this be included in the article? Postoak 00:32, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

I would vote no - but it might be. I would say that it's less common to chant the same prayer each week than to just include prayer in general (and, if it is something that really is quite rare, it could warrant inclusion), but I'm by no means an expert. In general, though, this article reads too much like a brochure that might be handed to a potential member, and I think the prayer is certainly a part of that. - EdisonLBM 00:44, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

Honorary Notice

I think User:lakewoodfan deserves a round of applause. After accumulating 52,000 attendant the megachurch finally got one that it would appear knows how to properly cite and use wikipedia. Welcome User:lakewoodfan and thanks for the denotations. EvanCarroll (talk) 09:20, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

This whole article reads like an advertisement from the church. Edits have been performed to increase the educational value of the article while omitting extraneous segments especially regarding non-notable staff.