The media has a rule when it comes to media coverage of mass shootings in the United States. If the mass shooting can somehow be linked to a Right-wing cause, then Americans must question the entire conservative infrastructure in the United States. If somebody can tangentially be linked to a conservative show or politician, we have to question the very premises of conservatism itself — because obviously every terrible iteration of Right-wing ideology is telescoped into some evil white supremacist shooter.
But — if a mass shooter is a Left-winger, then it&#8217;s probably a gun or oppression of some sort. Or, perhaps it&#8217;s mental illness.
Here is the way the math works when we have the latest iteration of this particularly stupid narrative device.
In an attempted shooting at Joel Osteen&#8217;s packed Houston area megachurch on Sunday, reports said the shooter had previously written anti-Semitic rants, had a history of mental health issues, and used an AR-15 with a “Palestine” sticker.
Not only that, but this woman also called herself Jeffrey, and according to authorities, was placed under an order for emotional detention. She was transported to a medical facility in 2016 because she was thought to be dangerous to herself and other people.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1904-pro-hamas-trans-shooter-attacks-church-media-strangely-silent-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
But then this person was let out. This woman carried along her seven-year-old son to the shooting, and then opened fire as hundreds of people were taking their pews. After opening fire, she was shot by two off-duty officers working security at the church. The young boy, caught in the crossfire, was shot in the head.
The Houston police department first had to determine what pronoun to call the shooter — because this is how stupid our society is now. We have a mass shooter who tries to kill hundreds of people at a church and the first question is, “How can we treat this mass shooter’s gender delusions with respect?”
The Houston police ran an entire investigation to figure out exactly which pronouns to use. Apparently, we must take all proper care to ensure people who attempt to murder other people are called by the gender pronouns the person has selected.
We have had a spate of shootings by people who are trans-identified in the United States. The spate of shootings, if it were any other demographic group in the United States — particularly if it were white young men — would prompt all sorts of questions about the evils of young white men from the media. 
But if they are trans, then the shootings just disappear off the front pages immediately. The Colorado Springs shooter identified as non-binary. The Denver shooter identified as trans, the Aberdeen shooter identified as trans, and famously, the Nashville shooter at a church school identified as trans.
It is also worthwhile here to point out that this particular shooter was a radical Left-winger who had a “Palestine” sticker on her gun. This particular church happened to be attended by a largely pro-Israel audience.
Further, it is worth pointing out again how the narrative process works. For example, when three Muslim-American university students were shot in Vermont a few months ago, the entire media went berserk, suggesting that this must have been some form of Right-wing attack on Muslim students, that this was a spate of “Islamophobia.”
At the time, the media were trying to establish a parallel between “Islamophobia” and anti-Semitism in the United States, the latter of which has radically spiked. It&#8217;s the reason why Joe Biden put out a statement on this particular shooting. There are lots of shootings in the United States every single day, particularly in places like Chicago. But this one drove attention from the White House because it backed a particular narrative.
However, as it turns out, that narrative actually didn&#8217;t work because the shooter in this particular case had expressed support for Hamas in the past.
The story magically disappeared from the headlines.
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Every time you see a shooting and the media declare whether the shooting is a national story or a local news story, look for the narrative; it tells you exactly where the media are on every single issue.
The media are pro-trans and the media are anti-Israel. And because they are pro-trans and anti-Israel, this current story will disappear as if it never happened. We&#8217;ll pretend that the ideological motivations of this person absolutely do not matter, and the media will then revert to centering on mental illness.
But the media couldn&#8217;t have realized this person had a mental illness problem until this person actually participated in a shooting. So again, the media&#8217;s structure is undefeated: narrative above fact, every single time.

Lakewood Day 2

How The Media’s Narrative Rule About Shooters Helps Their Leftist Tilt

Ben Shapiro

Church

Houston

Joel Osteen

Legacy Media

Media

Readers Pass

Shooting

A shooter who opened fire in a Texas megachurch over the weekend previously used a male name, law enforcement records <a href="https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/lakewood-church-houston-shooter/285-dc80c9f7-4728-4016-bb34-574582f50f4b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show</a>.
On Sunday afternoon, 36-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno* walked into Lakewood Church in Houston with a long gun and her young child and opened fire before being shot dead by law enforcement at the scene.
Moreno, a woman, previously identified as Jeffery Escalante, according to Texas Department of Public Safety records.
The shooter had a criminal history extending back nearly two decades to 2005 that included arrests for failure to stop and give information, assault of a detention officer, assault causing bodily injury, forgery with a counterfeit $100 bill, possession of marijuana, theft for stealing socks and cosmetics from a store, evading arrest, and unlawful carrying of a weapon.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
More criminal history, per <a href="https://twitter.com/houston_cf?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@houston_cf</a> <a href="https://t.co/gwNU5QmVZJ">pic.twitter.com/gwNU5QmVZJ</a>
&mdash; Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SaraGonzalesTX/status/1757079541820911984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
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A man, 57, was shot in the leg and later released from the hospital. Moreno&#8217;s 7-year-old son was also shot in the head and transported to the hospital in critical condition. It is not clear who fired the shot that injured the boy.
Police have not yet announced a motive for the shooting.
The shooter <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/us/joel-osteen-lakewood-church-shooting-monday/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> used an AR-15 with “Palestine” written on it.
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Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said Moreno arrived at the church in a white vehicle and entered just before 2 p.m. wearing a trench coat and backpack.
After the shooter began to fire, two off-duty law enforcement officers confronted her, ultimately fatally shooting her.
Lakewood Church is led by high-profile evangelical pastor Joel Osteen and is located about six miles from downtown Houston.
Osteen said at a press conference that the shooting occurred while his church was “in between services.”
The police chief also said Moreno claimed to have a bomb. A bomb squad found no evidence of explosives during a search of the church and Moreno&#8217;s car and backpack. Moreno also sprayed a substance on the ground, the chief said.
Court records show that Moreno had a connection to Lakewood Church — her mother attended the megachurch, and according to her social media posts, the shooter may have attended as well.
In 2022, Moreno <a href="https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/lakewood-church-shooter-background/285-2dfdc6ba-2a02-42f1-b578-e413d3b763e3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">went</a> through a divorce and child custody battle. During that battle, her former mother-in-law, Walli Carranza accused Moreno and her mother of keeping Moreno&#8217;s son away from his father. Carranza said in court records that she sought help from Lakewood Church staff, asking them about why Moreno and her mother were behaving this way.
Carranza claimed Moreno was diagnosed with schizophrenia and Munchausen by proxy. She also claimed her former daughter-in-law had been investigated by child protective services four times and was twice found to have harmed her son. Carranza also said Moreno pointed a gun at her ex-husband and kept an unlocked handgun in a diaper bag.
The former mother-in-law tried unsuccessfully to become the managing conservator of the child.
Moreno&#8217;s ex-husband is currently in prison in Florida for failing to register as a sex offender.
Some of the shooter&#8217;s ex-husband&#8217;s family are Jewish, and police said they found anti-Semitic writings connected with the shooter.
“This might possibly be where all this stems from,” Houston Homicide Commander Christopher Hassig said during press conference on Monday.
On Instagram, the shooter once posted about a donation she made to Lakewood Church, writing, “I will honor and bless my church.”
In other social media posts, she said she was the founder of a real-estate and financial services firm.
The shooting at Lakewood Church comes amid growing concern about recent mass shootings carried out by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nashville-christian-school-shooter-identified-as-transgender-authorities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trans-identifying</a> and &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/colorado-shooter-identifies-as-non-binary-uses-they-them-pronouns-court-documents" target="_blank" rel="noopener">non-binary</a>&#8221; shooters. One of the most <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-court-rules-that-parents-can-intervene-in-fight-over-release-of-nashville-shooters-manifesto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prominent cases</a> occurred last year when a woman who identified as a man entered a Christian school in Nashville and murdered three children and three adults before she was killed by responding police officers.
*Reports on mass shootings typically do not name the shooter under Daily Wire policy, but in this case, the shooter&#8217;s name is a vital part of law enforcement records and thus necessary to the clear reporting of this story.

Lakewood Church Shooting

Houston Church Shooter Previously Went By Male Name

Crime

Gender

Texas

Transgender

U.S.

A woman carrying an AR-15 that had “Palestine” written on it started shooting at the megachurch of celebrity pastor Joel Osteen in Houston on Sunday, injuring one man before she was <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/11/church-shooting-joel-osteen-houston-00140887" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot and killed</a> by two off-duty officers working as security, police said.
A young child with the woman was critically hurt in the shooting and another man nearby was also wounded. Donna Hansen, chief of the felony division at the district attorney&#8217;s office, <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/article/lakewood-church-shooting-conroe-home-search-18662665.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Monday the child was not expected to survive.
The shooter, who was reported to be between 30 and 35 years old, entered the Lakewood Church — which is attended by 45,000 people weekly — at roughly 2 p.m. in a trench coat when she opened fire, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/us/joel-osteen-lakewood-church-shooting-monday/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
The off-duty officers were a 28-year-old Houston Police Department officer and a 38-year-old agent with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission
<p style="font-weight: 400;" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clsicv9fc002f3b6hzr1avqs4@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true" data-analytics-observe="on">“I want to commend those officers. She had a long gun and it could have been a lot worse,” Finner declared. “But they stepped up and they did their job, and I want to thank them for that.”
<p style="font-weight: 400;" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clsic74oq001n3b6h29k7iy0v@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true" data-analytics-observe="on">A federal law enforcement source said that the shooter used an AR-15 that had “Palestine” written on it, CNN reports.
The shooter, who had a backpack, threatened that she had a bomb, though law enforcement found no explosives either in her backpack or her vehicle. She also sprayed “some type of substance on the ground.” Finner said.
Questions have emerged regarding the gender-identity of the shooter, who according to <a href="https://twitter.com/SaraGonzalesTX/status/1757068047553007739">arrest records</a> had also identified as a man named &#8220;Jeffrey&#8221; in recent years.
Osteen said his community was &#8220;devastated.&#8221;
<p style="font-weight: 400;" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clsidb8dv002u3b6hqwn2st5q@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true" data-analytics-observe="on">“We’re devastated,” Osteen said. “We’ve been here 65 years and to have somebody shooting at your church &#8230; I can only imagine if it would have happened during the 11 o’clock service,” Osteen said, noting that the church was “in between services” and readying to go into a Spanish service when the shooting occurred.
Osteen issued a statement on X:
<blockquote>
Our community is devastated by today’s events and grateful for the swift actions of law enforcement. May the healing hands of God touch the lives of everyone involved and provide comfort during this difficult time.    In the face of such darkness, we must hold onto our faith and remember evil will not prevail. God will guide us through the darkest of times. Together, we will rise above this tragedy and stand firm in our commitment to love and support one another.    In times like these, our faith is tested, but it is also strengthened. We don’t always understand why things like this happen, but we know that God is in control.    Please join me in continued prayer for healing and peace.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Our community is devastated by today’s events and grateful for the swift actions of law enforcement. May the healing hands of God touch the lives of everyone involved and provide comfort during this difficult time.    In the face of such darkness, we must hold onto our faith and… <a href="https://t.co/hAzOSSX69i">pic.twitter.com/hAzOSSX69i</a>
&mdash; Joel Osteen (@JoelOsteen) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoelOsteen/status/1756848213842145681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Editor&#8217;s note: This piece has been updated to reflect that the AR-15 mentioned in the story reportedly had &#8220;Palestine&#8221; written on it.

Shooter Carrying AR-15 Emblazoned With ‘Palestine’ Shoots Up Joel Osteen’s Megachurch

Megachurch

According to officials at Joel Osteen’s Houston megachurch, a plumber recently found envelopes full of cash and checks behind a toilet while he was doing repairs.
The man identified only as “Justin” called into country music station 100.3 The Bull Thursday to tell the strange story of making the discovery of the stash on November 10. “There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile,” he said, according to NBC affiliate <a href="https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/12/02/money-checks-found-in-wall-of-joel-osteens-lakewood-church-years-after-600k-burglary/">KPRC </a>. “We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like ‘Oh wow!’” He concluded, “I went ahead and contacted the maintenance supervisor that was there, and I turned it all in.”
DJ for the show “Morning Bullpen” George Lindsey expressed amazement at the revelation. “It was just unbelievable!” he told the Houston-area news outlet. “The things he was telling us that they found in the walls. We were like, ‘What are you talking about?’ So, then he relayed to us that in 2014 there was a big story about money being stolen from Lakewood Church that they never recovered.”
The burglary in question occurred in 2014 when thieves made off with about of $600,000 from a church safe.
Lindsey said that just makes the case more intriguing.
“Don’t you want to know what happened, I mean they stole the money, but they didn’t get it out of the wall,” the morning host exclaimed. “Did they have an accident, you know what I mean? It’s like, why did they never go back? If it’s that money, why did they never go back?”
Lakewood Church released a statement that confirmed the plumber’s account of finding an undisclosed amount of cash and checks while doing repairs. The church said they notified the Houston Police Department, and are currently assisting with the investigation:
<blockquote>Recently, while repair work was being done at Lakewood Church, an undisclosed amount of cash and checks were found Lakewood immediately notified the Houston Police Department and is assisting them with their investigation. Lakewood has no further comment at this time.</blockquote>
The non-denominational Lakewood claims to have the biggest Christian congregation in the world, with an average weekly attendance of 43,000. Osteen is often criticized by other Christian leaders for teaching a “prosperity gospel” — that is, if you donate money to his church in a show of faith, God will, in turn, bless you financially. He rose to fame with best-selling books that teach, contrary to the Bible, that God desires to give people their “best life now,&#8221; writing in 2005, “God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us.”
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/joel-osteen-and-dangers-religious-leadership-ben-shapiro">reported</a>, in 2017, Lakewood initially declined to open its doors as a haven to Hurricane Harvey victims, though it relented after an outpouring of public criticism.
&nbsp;

Plumber Finds Secret Cash Stash In Joel Osteen’s Church   

Kanye West took his famous Sunday Service to a whole new level over the weekend when he and his choir walked on water.
According to <a href="https://www.etonline.com/kanye-west-walks-on-water-during-sunday-service-with-joel-olsteen-watch-152613">Entertainment Tonight</a>, the Sunday Service was held in Fayetteville, Georgia, where he walked on a pond with his 7-year-old daughter, North, and his 4-year-old son, Saint, at his side.
&#8220;The choir at the service also participated in the &#8216;walking on water&#8217; visual, and congregated in the middle of the pond to perform gospel songs, including Kanye&#8217;s &#8216;Ultralight Beam,'&#8221; reported the outlet. &#8220;Lakewood Church senior pastor and televangelist Joel Osteen also gave a sermon during the service.&#8221;
Despite their open and public marital troubles this summer, Kanye West&#8217;s wife Kim Kardashian was also in attendance at the service and even posted video of the walking on water moment to social media.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Go to my IG stories to watch all Sunday Service videos from tonight 🕊🙏🏼 <a href="https://t.co/a6eC5uV8gy">pic.twitter.com/a6eC5uV8gy</a>
&mdash; Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) <a href="https://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/1302754120282054658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Another video posted to social media featured Lakewood Pastor Joel Osteen delivering a sermon as he stood on the pond.
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Kanye West, Joel Osteen and the Sunday service crew walking on water. <a href="https://t.co/YoOYmnhZ3d">pic.twitter.com/YoOYmnhZ3d</a>
&mdash; Ezekwonna Samuel Nnamdi (@lam_nanob) <a href="https://twitter.com/lam_nanob/status/1302874724138065921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Kanye West issued a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kanye-west-issues-public-apology-to-wife-kim-kardashian-i-know-i-hurt-you">public apology</a> to his wife Kim Kardashian in August after he accused her of trying to lock him up during what appeared to have been a bipolar episode.
“I would like to apologize to my wife Kim for going public with something that was a private matter,” the rapper tweeted. “I did not cover her like she has covered me. To Kim I want to say I know I hurt you. Please forgive me. Thank you for always being there for me,” West said.
Though West did not specify the private matter he regrets sharing publicly, it was most likely his admission of considering aborting his own daughter, North, during a South Carolina presidential campaign rally last weekend.
“My mum saved my life. My Dad wanted to abort me… My mum saved my life, there would have been no Kanye West because my dad was too busy,” Kanye told the audience. “Even if my wife wants to divorce me after this speech, she brought North into the world even when I didn’t want to. She stood up and she protected that child. You know who else protected a child? Forty-three years ago, who do you think protected a child?”
On top of being vocal about his Christianity, the musician and fashion mogul has been an outspoken pro-life advocate ever since announcing his presidential candidacy over the summer. Speaking with Nick Cannon on his show &#8220;Cannon&#8217;s Class&#8221; last week, the &#8220;Jesus Walks&#8221; singer alleged that abortion conglomerate Planned Parenthood kills black people &#8220;strategically and on purpose.&#8221;
“In 50 years, there’s been 22 million — over 22,500,000 — black people aborted strategically and on purpose. Planned Parenthood was set up and placed in minority communities to kill black people,” he said.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, abortion kills more black people than HIV, homicide, diabetes, accidents, cancer, and heart disease — watch this one — combined,” he continued. “Three thousand shootings in Chicago a year, 700 murders, you’ve got to put that with heart disease, you’ve got to put that with HIV, you’ve got to put that with diabetes, you’ve got to put that with just accidents, and put that with cancer, and it doesn’t add up to specifically abortions. If you think about that number, 1,000 black babies are aborted each day.”
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-kanye-west-says-planned-parenthood-kills-blacks-strategically-and-on-purpose">WATCH: Kanye West Says Planned Parenthood Kills Blacks ‘Strategically And On Purpose’</a>

US-ENTERTAINMENT-MEDIA-WSJ-INNOVATOR AWARDS

WATCH: Kanye West Walks On Water During Sunday Service; Joel Osteen Delivers Sermon

Abortion

Christianity

Kanye West

Music icon Kanye West and megachurch pastor Joel Osteen will continue their ongoing Christian bromance in 2020 at a packed Yankee Stadium event. According to <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2019/12/05/kanye-west-joel-osteen-yankee-stadium-choir-americas-night-of-hope-2020/">TMZ</a>, sources close to the famed rapper confirmed that the two cultural figures are seeking to host a mega event in May of 2020 as part of Joel Osteen&#8217;s &#8220;America&#8217;s Night of Hope.&#8221;
&#8220;Sources close to Kanye tell us Ye and Joel will take center stage at baseball&#8217;s cathedral on May 2, 2020 for a mega event that certainly plays like a tour stop,&#8221; reported the outlet. &#8220;The NYC event is part of Joel&#8217;s &#8216;America&#8217;s Night of Hope,&#8217; which he takes to several cities across the country.&#8221;
The event will most likely unfold similar to Kanye&#8217;s visit to Osteen&#8217;s Lakewood Church, in Houston, in which Osteen delivered a sermon and invited Kanye out for a discussion. Apparently, Kanye&#8217;s visit with Osteen was such a success that the pastor hoped for an encore.
&#8220;We&#8217;re told Joel will do his sermon at Yankee Stadium, and then let Kanye and his choir do their thing with the music,&#8221; reported TMZ. &#8220;Call it a double play, considering the setting, similar to what they did a few weeks ago in Houston. If Joel&#8217;s past appearances at Yankee Stadium are any indication, this one&#8217;s sure to sell out quickly &#8230; especially now that Kanye&#8217;s involved. The stadium has a max capacity of 54,251 &#8230; almost 10,000 more than Lakewood. &#8220;Tickets for Osteen&#8217;s event typically go for $15, though nothing has been made official.
<section></section>
During his appearance at Lakewood Church, Kanye West made some bold proclamations about the culture wars as more and more entertainment figures return to Jesus:
<section></section>
<blockquote>
<section class="canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink ">Well, I know that God’s been calling me for a long time and the devil’s been distracting me for a long time,” West <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/11/kanye-west-joel-osteen-megachurch-for-sunday-service-performance-1202788102/">said</a>. “And when I was, you know, in my lowest points, you know, God was there with me and sending me visions and inspiring me, and I remember sitting in the the Hospital at UCLA after having a mental breakdown, and there’s documentation of me drawing a church and writing a ‘start a church in the middle of Calabasas,’ and even after that I went and made the the Life of Pablo album. I said this is a gospel album and I didn’t know how to totally make a gospel album, and the Christians that were around were too, I would say, beaten into submission by society to not speak up and profess the Gospel to me because I was a superstar. But the the only superstar is Jesus.</section>
</blockquote>
<section></section>
“So even for someone who’s professing God and saying this is gonna be … a gospel album, the devil is gonna come and do everything he can to distract people from knowing how to fully be in service to the Lord, and all of that arrogance and confidence and cockiness that y’all see me use before God is now using for him,” West continued. “Because every time I stand up I feel that I’m standing up and drawing a line in the sand and saying, ‘I’m here in service to God and no weapon formed against me shall prosper.’”

REPORT: Kanye West, Joel Osteen Are Joining Forces For A Massive 2020 Yankee Stadium Event

New York Yankees

Kanye West and his &#8220;Sunday Service&#8221; will make an appearance at a Sunday service of the nation&#8217;s biggest megachurch this weekend. According to TMZ, West will share the stage with Joel Osteen at his 50,000-person Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas on Sunday to discuss how the artist was able to &#8220;overcome significant adversity in his life.&#8221;
Citing &#8220;sources with direct knowledge&#8221; of the arrangement, <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2019/11/12/kanye-west-joel-osteen-sunday-service-megachurch/">TMZ</a> reported Tuesday that &#8220;the plan is for Kanye to show up at Joel&#8217;s 11 AM service in Houston this coming Sunday at the Lakewood Church.&#8221;
&#8220;Kanye will walk up to the pulpit and have a conversation with Joel that will last between 20 and 30 minutes,&#8221; TMZ reports. &#8220;Our sources say Joel wants his congregation — which stands 45,000 strong — and his TV audience — which stands at 10 million in the U.S. alone — to hear how Kanye has overcome significant adversity in his life.&#8221;
&#8220;Kanye used to be about nothing greater than himself,&#8221; one source told the outlet. &#8220;Now it&#8217;s all about a higher power.&#8221;
TMZ says their sources noted that Osteen plans to also highlight the contrast between Kanye before and after his spiritual awakening on Sunday. The two men, the sources say, have become friends, &#8220;especially since Kanye has doubled down in his devotion to God.&#8221;In an update to the initial report, TMZ announced that West is going to bring his own backup group:
<blockquote>It just got way better. Our Kanye sources tell us Ye will bring his traveling choir to Houston and he and the choir will perform during Sunday&#8217;s nighttime service. So, Kanye will take the pulpit and talk to Joel in the morning, and perform in the evening.</blockquote>
West has increasingly focused his public statements and his performances on faith.
His new, faith-focused album, &#8220;Jesus Is King,&#8221; reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts and has broken West&#8217;s previous online streaming records, according to <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/kanye-west-says-no-1-jesus-is-king-album-is-god-showing-out-abs-giving-free-bibles-to-his-fans.html">The Christian Post</a>. &#8220;The 27 minute music release garnered the second-largest sales week of the year for an R&amp;B/Hip-Hop album, with over 100,000 copies sold,&#8221; the outlet reported last week.
&#8220;Number one in the country right now, number one in the world right now, Jesus is King,&#8221; West said last week in celebration of the album&#8217;s success. &#8220;Number one song, number one album, and they told me I would (inaudible) if I gave my life to Christ, but God is showing out.&#8221;
West&#8217;s faith-focused performances, which include his Sunday Service choir, have been big successes too. A recent West event at Bethany Church in Baton Rouge reportedly resulted in hundreds of people accepting Christ. According to an Instagram post by Curvine Brewington, a pastor at Crossroads Church in Lafayette, the event drew over 6,000 people and resulted in over 1,000 people responding to an altar call:
<blockquote>Tonight, @candacebrewington &amp; I got to experience Kanye West’s Sunday Service at @bethany_church in Baton Rouge. If you’ve ever doubted the legitimacy or spiritual impact of this #sundayservice project, simply look at this incredible shot taken by @the.smitan during the altar call. YES, I said ALTAR CALL. Tonight, worship was lifted, the name of Christ was exalted, the Word of God was preached, a multitude prayed together, the Gospel was clearly proclaimed, and an opportunity to respond was given. In a crowd of 6,000 people from all walks of life, all ages, and all races, i witnessed over 1,000 people respond to The Gospel by raising their hands to accept Jesus as their Lord &amp; Savior! Say what you want, &amp; think what you want…. But trust me when I tell you – The Spirit of the Living God was indeed present. I danced, wept, stood in awe of God’s redemptive work, &amp; can honestly say that tonight I witnessed a new wave of REVIVAL first hand. #Jesuesisking
•Isaiah 43:19 “Behold I do a NEW thing. •
1 Corinthians 1:27 “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.</blockquote>
As for Osteen&#8217;s megachurch, as of 2016 his Lakewood Church was still &#8220;the largest church in America, with a weekend attendance totaling 52,000 people,&#8221; <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/joel-osteens-lakewood-church-ranked-americas-largest-megachurch-with-52k-in-attendance-169279">The Christian Post</a> reported (formatting adjusted):
<blockquote><a href="http://www.churchgrowthtoday.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Church Growth Today</a>, a research center led by John N. Vaughan since 1980, said in a <a href="http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/9714778392.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">statement</a> that Osteen&#8217;s congregation remains the largest in America when it comes to weekend attendance, noting that the church has seen a growth of 7,200 people since 2010. What is more, the church has five times as many followers as it did when it was led by founding Pastor John Osteen, who died in 1999.
The research also shows that 27 new megachurches have increased church attendance since 2010, though 39 others have dropped below 2,000 in weekly attendance, which is the baseline of what constitutes a megachurch, as established by Vaughan. &#8220;This newest research indicates that among the 100 largest churches 60 percent are growing, 20 percent have plateaued, and only 11 percent have decreased in attendance during the past five years,&#8221; Vaughan added.</blockquote>

Kanye West Kim Kardashian

Kanye To Appear At Nation’s Biggest Megachurch Sunday, Bring His Choir, Report Says

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