Pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church Holds First Service Since Super Bowl Sunday Shooting Incident

Bruce Haring
·2 min read
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Amid heightened security measures, Pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church welcomed back its congregation today in the first services since a woman opened fire inside the Houston megachurch on Super Bowl Sunday.

In a video posted to X ahead of the services, Osteen said today’s two services marked a time of healing and restoration for his church’s community. “This Sunday, we’re gonna have special services- time of healing and restoration, time of praise and thanksgiving, just thanking God for his angels for watching after us,” Osteen said.

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“Hello Lakewood family, we want to tell you how much we love you and how much we been praying for you,” Osteen said. “Yes, it’s been a difficult week, something we never dreamed we would have to deal with, but we look back now and we see the faithfulness of God- how he protected and watched over us.”

“So we hope you and your family will come out, and you know, forces that would like for us to shrink back and live in fear- afraid of what might happen at the school, the grocery store, at work, or even at church. But we are not people of fear, we are people of faith,” the pastor added.

Police officers were stationed today inside the building and were checking bags as people entered.

Meanwhile, a boy wounded in the shooting remains in critical condition in a hospital. He was shot in the brain, officials said, but it remains unclear as to who shot him.

In the shooting, Associated Press reported a woman in a trench coat opened fire with a long gun inside the megachurch before being gunned down by two off-duty officers who confronted her.

The incident sent worshippers rushing from the building between busy Sunday services, authorities said.

Police said the woman entered the church with a 5-year-old boy shortly before 2 p.m. The woman began shooting, as officers at the scene “engaged” her and the woman was killed. The 5-year-old was hit in the exchange of gunfire and critically injured.

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said a 57-year-old man also was shot in the hip and wounded. His condition is unknown.

The shooting happened between services at the megachurch that is regularly attended by 45,000 people every week, making it the third-largest megachurch in the U.S., according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Osteen’s televised sermons reach about 100 countries.

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