Joel Osteen preached about living without fear in the first Sunday service at his Lakewood Church since a shooting last week that left a child in critical condition and a man injured.
The alleged shooter, identified as 36-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno, walked into the church accompanied by her 7-year-old son on Feb. 11 and started shooting, according to officials. Her son was struck in the head during the incident and was in critical condition. A 57-year-old man was injured and has since been released from the hospital.
Osteen took to the stage during the church’s 8:30 a.m. service to greet an auditorium full of people, NBCNews.com reported. He started off with a prayer.
“Lord, we think of your faithfulness, especially this week, Lord, what you brought us through,” Osteen said. “We don’t take it for granted. Your angels were watching over each one of us.”
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Osteen prayed for a 7-year-old boy whom he identified as “Samuel” and asked God to “show him your mercy.”
Osteen also prayed for the alleged shooter and her family, as he broke out in tears.
“I just ask you, Lord, to heal the hurts in that family,” he said.
Osteen said he “never dreamed something like this would happen.” He was finishing up a meeting and was walking to his office when he saw people who mentioned there had been “some kind of incident” at the church, he said.
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After getting back into his office, he got a text from Houston Police Chief Troy Finner asking if he was OK.
“And I text back I said, ‘I’m OK, but I don’t know what’s going on,’” Osteen said, adding that the church is lucky to have law enforcement.
“It was traumatic, you know, for a lot of people that were here and even people that weren’t here, because this is our church and this is what God has given us,” Osteen said. “For somebody to come in and kind of, not kind of, but to violate and do something crazy — but you know what? Like we singing in all these songs, we trust in God.”
Osteen also honored the church’s security team during his remarks, calling them “heroes.”
He cried as he instructed everyone to hold hands in prayer.
“Lord, we thank you again for what you’ve done. We don’t take for granted, Lord, it could have been a different story this Sunday,” he said.
During the service, Osteen preached about defining moments that can make someone decide to live in fear.
“That’s where we are at Lakewood,” Osteen said. “This troubled woman came in and tried to do harm. This is a critical moment. As a church we can shrink back, ‘It’s dangerous, let’s hide our life. Let’s just go under the radar.’ But this is a time to shine brighter than ever, to share more hope, to dig down deep and say, ‘We will not fear, for our God is stronger, our God is greater.’”
A motive is still not clear, but police said they believe Moreno acted alone. A dispute between Moreno and her ex-husband’s family, some of whom are Jewish, may be related to the shooting, Houston Police Cmdr. Chris Hassig said in a news briefing earlier this week.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
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