By now many of you are familiar with my perhaps morbid curiosity about Lakewood Church and All Things Osteen. Yesterday I had a meeting at presbytery, so I drove by again. There was another huge new sign up that read:
Lakewood Church
Joel and Victoria Osteen, Pastors
Huh? Victoria Osteen, "Pastor"? She gets to be Pastor because she's married to the Pastor? Oh, wait--I forgot, Joel Osteen got to be Pastor because he was the son of the Founding Pastor, didn't he! Silly me! He didn't finish college or graduate from seminary, so why would she have to?
On behalf of all my RevGalPals, who studied diligently in college and seminary--I'm disgusted!
On behalf of all my RevGalPals, who studied diligently in college and seminary--I'm disgusted!
I am totally with on the morbid curiosity. Have you ever noticed that Victoria's hair never moves. It just a little scary.
ReplyDeleteUgh, thank you QG. When I was struggling through ordination exams the Friends episode came on where Joey got ordained over the internet. I was just so frustrated.
ReplyDeleteIt is one of the reasons why I am thinking about presenting myself as Reverend at my next call (I go by Pastor will smama now).
I know it shouldn't matter and bother me, but it does.
I'm happy to hear all you want to write about Joel, etc. Fascinating in a train wreck sort of way.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm a lawyer now since I'm married to one.
THe only people who call me either PAstor of Reverend are those who are not active in the church, those who have only met me a couple of times, and the Catholic priest.
ReplyDeleteTo everybody else in town I am simply Gord (and when somebody asks what to call me I am quick to use my name, not a title). But I also think that we need to wonder how titles are arrived at sometimes.
The presumptiousness of the Osteens makes me queasy. But I also know that Brian McLaren (former English teacher at U. of Maryland)has no seminary training. Yet he is one of the most thoughtful preachers/pastors I know. The kind of student of the Bible who is not afraid to be changed by what he discovers in scripture.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for keeping academic requirements for pastors but don't want to lump all "call-me-rev-now" characters in the same pile.
Wasn't Osteen on some TV show last night being profiled? Anybody watch it?
I know from my experiences here in South Texas that in some of the pentecostal circles it is customary for the wife of the (male) pastor to also be called "pastor" in church settings and in conversation. I think that's just local custom and respect for her role in pastoring her family and the church in the important role of pastor's wife in that tradition.
ReplyDeleteBUT, this public and visible listing of Mrs. Osteen on a sign goes way beyond this pentecostal repect-custom! They take a communal term of respect and (of course) use it for false advertising. No pentecostals that I know here would ever do that ona bilboard or sign like what you see in Houston!
Once more, the Osteen's only taste is that in their mouths.....
ReplyDeleteMiranda, Joel's hair never moves either. Pod people? It's not impossible.
ReplyDeleteI should follow St Cass's lead and claim my PH's PhD...
Damn! I earned my own Ph.D., and my own M.Div. You mean all I had to do was marry a Rev. Dr.?
ReplyDeleteWait....it was probably easier to earn them :)
rev dr mom--it only works if you marry someone with a title and no real credentials, apparently!
ReplyDeleteyou just made my day, QG! I'm laughing so hard...
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad, because I was looking forward to working in a nuclear power plant and telling people what to do.
ReplyDeleteTee hee! I'm now a parking lot striper by association (PLSBA) which I plan to list on my signature line, thusly:
ReplyDeleteMary Beth Butler
BA, MA, PLSBA
***
ALSO:
I grew up Episcopalian, and we just have Fathers (and now, thank goodness, Mothers) or priests, Deacons, Reverends...the title "Pastor" is not used in the PECUSA, in my experience.
But I saw the word somewhere as a little girl (4 or so) and later announced to my mom, "Look, Mom! It's the Paster's wife!" (Pronounced as if she were the wife of one who pasted for a living, like with school paste.)
This was amusing to all and is frequently recalled as a Cute MB story, and I never see the word without thinking of that.
To me, the Osteens really are PASTERS of the first order. Maybe that's how the hair stays in place so well.
oooh, bad mary beth.....
ReplyDeletePastoral teams can be traced back to Acts, as I've noted here. Yet I find something unsettling regarding some of the worship (and I use that term intentionally) of the Osteens.
ReplyDelete