"Dodie" Osteen, a Baytown native, was the widow of Lakewood co-founder John Osteen. She handled prayer duties and funeral at ...

Carlos Gonzalez, a worship singer, hugs a fellow churchgoer after a shooting incident at television evangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, Feb.11, 2024.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire, right, is embraced by Houston Police Chief Troy Finner during a service at Lakewood Church Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024, in Houston.

Lakewood averages more than 40,000 worshipers at multiple services each weekend. The venue was once known as The Summit, where the Houston Rockets played from 1975-2003.

When the Solstice Steps opened up in Lakewood Park in October 2015, those five levels of concrete quickly became, by the following summer, one of the best places to catch dreamy views of Lake Erie ...