Pastors

Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, threw the ceremonial first pitch at Nationals Park to kick off a baseball game between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals during the D.C. team's first annual "Faith Night" event.

Osteen, who grew up watching the Astros at the Astrodome in Houston, is promoting his upcoming "Night of Hope" sermon event in Washington on Saturday, April 28, which is part of a tour he has taken across the country.

"I grew up watching the Astros going to the Dome all the time, and so I've seen them a whole bunch of times and still see them quite a few times during the year," Osteen said, according to Ultimate Astros. "They're a young team with all these changes and the new ownership -- I've met some of those guys. It seems like it's a few years of rebuilding, but we still are rooting for our hometown." more >>

Mars Hill Church founding pastor Mark Driscoll responded to controversy over being chosen as a guest speaker at Liberty University in Virginia by poking fun at the apparent inaccuracy of a blogger who claimed the megachurch pastor was not welcome at the campus.

Driscoll is scheduled to speak at the campus on the topic of "The Rebellious and the Religious" during the daytime on Friday. On Friday evening and on Saturday, he and his wife will teach from their book, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together, as part of their ongoing tour to help promote the book.

"The trouble started with a Southern Baptist blogger . . . yes, you should have seen that one coming," Driscoll wrote in his blog post on Monday titled, "An Official Response to The Kerfuffle At Liberty University." more >>

When John Piper preached at the Together for the Gospel conference last week in Louisville, Ky., he reflected on some of the most difficult times in his life and ministry and said, "I'm amazed that I'm a Christian today."

The 66-year-old pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota explained that he has been a Christian for 60 years, a pastor at Bethlehem for 32 years, married to his wife for nearly 44 years and a father for nearly 40 years. Recently, he has been experiencing "momentous days" in his life, he said, because his church is currently working toward putting a successor in his place.

But when considering where he is and how far he has come in his life as a Christian, a pastor, a husband and a father, Piper attributes his success to the grace of God alone. more >>

More than 400 churches and venues have signed up to host a live simulcast of Harvest America, an event that is still more than four months away and is the first effort of its kind by Greg Laurie and his ministry.

Laurie is looking to take the Harvest Crusades, which are large-scale evangelistic outreaches primarily held at stadiums and arenas, to the next level.

He plans to draw on the success of last year's Harvest webcasts from Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles and Angels Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., during which individuals watched from every state and 32 countries around the world. more >>

Fellowship Church pastor Ed Young, facing accusations of mistreating animals, including a lion during live sermons at his Grapevine, Texas church, has blasted a local news channel for allegedly reporting falsehoods in a video titled "Uncaging the truth."

Pastor Young's "Wild" sermon series, which features exotic animals like giraffes and elephants, is part of Fellowship Church's initiative to teach children about animals and their role in God's creation. As the pastor demonstrated in his special Easter service sermon, which featured a caged lion and a young lamb, Jesus Christ is described in the Bible as the "lamb of God" as well as the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah."

The "Wild" sermons, however, have attracted criticism from observers wondering about the well-being of the animals, particularly the caged lion, and the Dallas-based WFAA television news station claimed that Fellowship Church had no permit for exhibiting the animals – which Pastor Young completely denies in the church-produced video. more >>

Virginia-based Liberty University's decision to invite Mark Driscoll, founding pastor of Seattle megachurch Mars Hill and a somewhat controversial figure among Evangelical Christians, as a guest speaker has stirred controversy, especially after a blogger with ties to the conservative Christian school claimed trustees told him Driscoll was not welcome on campus.

Liberty University announced that Driscoll would speak on campus on April 20, 2012. The charismatic pastor, known for a direct, unique preaching style, is on a tour promoting a book he co-wrote with his wife called Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together. The bestseller is considered risqué by some conservative Christians, who claim the couple is revealing way too many details about their sexual life. One critic has gone so far as to claim Driscoll is "obsessed" with sex.

But as a blogger, familiar with the university's movers and shakers, writes, the school board's trustees and other decision-makers are apparently not too enthusiastic about having the controversial pastor on campus. more >>