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If you ever want to see what Rick Warren's vision for Purpose-Driven Preaching looks like in practice, then all you would need to do is watch or listen to Saddleback's sermons on-line. Over the past couple of years the sermons preached at Saddleback have covered such topics as Knowing Your Purpose, Thirty Days to a No Regrets Life, Leaving a Legacy, Deepening Relationships that Matter, Setting Financial Goals, Managing Your Time, Learning the Ancient Secrets From God's Word for a Less Stressed, More Relaxed, and Lighter, Freer Lifestyle, The Secrets of Staying Power - How to Always Give Yourself Fully...

A new deposition could bolster the defense of Victoria Osteen. A flight attendant has sued the wife of the Lakewood Church pastor for assault. Sharon Brown says Osteen physically attacked her on a plane at Bush Intercontinental Airport. On Wednesday afternoon, a judge allowed Osteen's lawyer, Rusty Hardin, to introduce a deposition from one of Brown's former co-workers. Claudia Benz says she had a disagreement with Brown at an airport gate in 1995, and Brown filed a complaint accusing Benz of assault. Hardin says a lack of evidence forced Brown to drop that complaint. "(Brown) had testified that one of...

What a sad ordeal this Brown vs. Osteen trial is! Victoria Osteen appears to have behaved badly on the Continental plane in the December, 2005 incident. Sharon Brown, the flight attendant, claims that she endured physical, mental and even spiritual harm because of the incident. If indeed Sharon experienced all of the hurt she describes, she is to be pitied. Yet, did Sharon's treatment warrant a lawsuit against Victoria? I don't think so. This incident happened 2.5 years ago. In those thirty months, it seems that a mediator could have said something like this to both women: --"Victoria, a soft...

HOUSTON -- The wife of the pastor of globally-recognized Lakewood Chruch thanks thousands of church members for their support as she faces a civil lawsuit from a Continental Airlines flight attendant. Victoria Osteen told members of her congregation during a church service Sunday, "Your prayers and your support has so blessed me and I have felt it." "I've been going through this for 2 and a half almost 3 years," added Osteen. During the sermon, Osteen appeared to be referring to her pending civil trial. She told her congregants, "I believe that God is going to bring me this victory,...

Evangelical pastor Joel Osteen defended his wife and co-pastor of the renowned Lakewood Church in a Houston court room Friday, testifying that she did not assault a flight attendant in 2005. Victoria Osteen has been sued by Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown, who claims the pastor assaulted her shortly before the start of a 2005 flight to Vail, Colorado, over discontent with her seat. Victoria Osteen, 47, claims she did not assault Brown. Her husband Joel Osteen was called as a witness Friday and he testified before the jury that Victoria did not assault Sharon Brown because there was...

That's the explanation her attorney made in court today about how she got crosswise with a flight attendant in an onboard dustup about a stain on her first-class seat. It's bound to be far better theater than any Joel Osteen preachfest in his Lakewood Church. The aggrieved flight attendant wants a mere 10 percent of the high-octane church lady's net worth. If she wins, that'll have flight attendants all over the skies picking fights with cranky first-class celebs.

Can a crankiness land you in court? The case of Sandra Brown v. Victoria Osteen is the story of a chance encounter on an airplane that turned into a nasty legal battle. Osteen is the wife of popular self-help author and television minister Joel Osteen, who heads the Lakewood Church, Houston's largest congregation. Brown is a flight attendant for Continental Airlines. The lawsuit, filed in Harris County Civil Court in Houston, alleges that Victoria Osteen "shoved, grabbed and pulled the flight attendants." The suit goes on to claim that Osteen elbowed Brown, who was the flight manager, while allegedly trying...

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...

It was a pleasant afternoon a few years ago in my back yard, writing an article, when Modern Reformation executive editor Eric Landry informed me that he had scheduled me for an interview on Joel Osteen for "Dateline NBC." Knowing nothing about Mr. Osteen or his message at that time, I declined-with no effect whatsoever on Landry's force of will. "Here's the book: Your Best Life Now. So you'd better get reading!"Little did I know then that Osteen already was a phenomenon and would only become a greater one as months wore on. In retrospect, I am glad to have...

Republican district attorney candidate Kelly Siegler told a judge last year that members of Houston's Lakewood Church are "screwballs and nuts" and that she works to keep them off of juries. Siegler made the comment while defending herself from a defense attorney's suggestion that she struck a man from the jury pool in a capital murder case because he is black. It wasn't the man's race that prompted Siegler to eliminate the man from the jury pool, she said. It was the fact that he attends Joel Osteen's megachurch. According to the transcript, visiting state District Judge Doug Shaver asked...

When Faith and Family's Dr. Richard Land was my pastor over thirty years ago he once described his calling to preach the gospel. He said that the call to preach the gospel was a higher calling than becoming the President of the United States. After more than three decades of examination I have never found reason to doubt what he said. Like Dr. Richard Land I have also seen the importance of becoming involved with the democratic process on every level. It is not as important as the call to the gospel but it is folly to ignore political process....

As has become the custom when we visit the Shepherds’ Conference, we trekked down The 5 to Lake Forest to see what is going on at Saddleback Church. To say that this part of the trip is vexing is an understatement. Each year we have seen hundreds of folks come into the beautiful facilities of Saddleback only to have their ears tickled with theology that rivals Oprah more than the Apostle Paul. One of the guys in our party told another that he would give him a dollar for every Bible that he saw. This may be an expensive...

Dec. 29, 2006 — With the war in Iraq and the threat of terrorism, these are times that leave many Americans shaken. Rick Warren, pastor of California's Saddleback Church and author of the hugely popular book "The Purpose Driven Life," visited "Good Morning America" to offer encouragement as the new year approaches. A recent poll conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post showed that 55 percent of Americans were optimistic about 2007. Though that means nearly half of the country doesn't have high hopes for the new year, Warren believes faith is still possible. "I see a difference between...

Rick Warren called 'enabler and defender' of evil Megapastor's appearance in Syrian propaganda triggers criticism Megachurch pastor Rick Warren may have been unprepared for the Syrian media's propaganda using his name during his recent visit and he may have confused religious tolerance with religious freedom, but neither is an excuse for becoming "an enabler and defender of evil," according to experts on the Mideast and its persecution of non-Muslims. "Rick Warren can do us all a favor and keep his remarks and opinions to himself. When you don't stand up against and condemn evil, let alone say misrepresented facts about...