Joel Osteen Prepares for UK Tour

|PIC1|The pastors of the largest church in the US, Joel and Victoria Osteen of Lakewood Church, will soon kick off their UK tour on 3 July at the Odyssey Arena Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Other stops will include London's Wembley Arena London on Friday 6 July and the NEC Arena in Birmingham on Saturday 7 July.

'A Night of Hope' will feature an 'exciting' time of praise, worship and prayer during which attendees will hear an inspirational message from the Osteens along with the electrifying music of Dove Award-winning Cindy Cruse Ratcliff and the Lakewood band and ensemble.

Lakewood Church of Houston, Texas, is the largest and fastest growing church in the US with nearly 40,000 attendees.

Lakewood Church's weekly services are also broadcast on television in the US and around the world in over 100 nations.

According to Nielsen Media Research, Joel Osteen is the most watched minister in the US and reaches 95 per cent of all US television households.

In 2005, Lakewood began holding worship services in its new 16,000-seat facility in Houston. The facility, formerly known as the Compaq Centre and home to the Houston Rockets, was acquired by Lakewood Church in January of 2004 and took 18 months to renovate at a cost of $95m.

Lakewood Church is now one of the largest regularly attended worship centres in the world.

Joel Osteen has been named the "Most Influential Christian in America of 2006" by the readers of The Church Report magazine.

In addition, Osteen's first book, Your Best Life Now, went to Number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold over 4 million copies since its release in October 2004. The book is now available in 19 languages.