America's biggest megachurch, housed in a converted basketball stadium in Houston. Some 45,000 people attend each week. Its senior pastor is Joel Osteen, the best-known prosperity-gospel preacher in the country. Services feature smoke machines, massive screens and live music that researchers say can leave congregants feeling as though they are high on drugs.
There is no cross on display inside the church. Instead, a giant American flag glows above the bleachers at the back of the stadium.
In 2021 a pastor at the church was convicted of defrauding investors out of nearly $3.6m. A more recent lawsuit accused church leaders of misusing tithes.
Often statistics are used as a drunken man uses lampposts -- for support rather than illumination.