Lakewood Church in Houston has been named the largest and fastest-growing church in America, according to the 2004 Church Growth Today Study/Outreach magazine report published exclusively in the May/June issue of Outreach.

Lakewood Church, founded by the late John Osteen in a feed store in 1959, is pastored by his son Joel Osteen. The congregation recently purchased and is renovating the Compaq Center, former home of the NBA's Houston Rockets, to house its services.

However, Lakewood is only one of 100 churches, which made each of the two lists: The 100 Largest Churches in America and The 100 Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches of the 21st Century.

The research for both lists was compiled by John N. Vaughan of Church Growth Today, widely recognized as the leading expert on church growth statistics specifically related to the phenomenon of "megachurches" (churches running 2,000-plus in weekly attendance).

The report titled "The Exponential Church" states: "Once each year Outreach unapologetically reports on the largest and fastest-growing churches in America. We don't look to these churches as 'the best,' 'the most spiritual' or any other qualifier; they are simply the largest and-because of their size-command our interest and attention."

Emerging from the 2004 list is a new category of church the magazine has labeled the "gigachurch," a church with a weekly attendance in excess of 10,000. A total of 31 churches appear on the 100 Largest Churches list.

The report, which collectively represents a total of 166 churches, features profiles of six of the churches on the Fastest-Growing list, offering transferable principles and insights into their growth.

Published by San Diego-based Outreach Inc., Outreach is a bi-monthly magazine for church leadership, which offers the ideas, insights and stories of today's outreach-oriented churches. For more information, go to http://www.Outreachmagazine.com.

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