At Lakewood Church, West sings praises of the Lord — and himself
Rapper joins Osteen for morning service, puts on gospel show
Kanye West may have found God. But he’s still brandishing his trademark confidence.
“Jesus has won the victory because now the greatest artist that God has ever created is now working for Him,” West said onstage
Sunday morning at Lakewood Church.
The rapper spoke onstage with pastor Joel Osteen for about 20 minutes, his first of two appearances at the megachurch, each of which drew about 16,000 people. He returned in the evening to perform songs from “Jesus Is King,” his first gospel album, with his Sunday Service choir.
Admission was free for both events, but tickets were required for the evening’s “Jesus Is King” — A Sunday Service Experience at
Lakewood Church. They were made available at 10 a.m. Saturday morning and were gone in minutes. They immediately popped up on Craigslist for hundreds of dollars, but it was unclear if anyone actually paid for them.
Traffic was manageable for the morning event, which played out like a traditional service. It was much heavier in the evening, which had the energy and excitement of a sold-out concert. Ticketholders stood in multiple lines
that wrapped around the building before doors opened. Once inside, they ran through the aisles to grab good seats. Even rows above the back of the stage were occupied.
“God is all in and through that album,” said Billy Dorsey, a Grammy-winning gospel singer who served as a Lakewood outreach pastor. “The potential power (West) would have to win souls most churches could never reach is massive. I’m praying that he is sincere, that he is getting solid, biblically sound discipleship and that he is surrounded by strong believers.”
West’s Sunday Service began in early 2019 in Calabasas, Calif., and quickly spread across the country. They feature gospel versions of popular songs, and straightforward hymns under the musical direction of Houston native Philip Cornish. Another Houstonian, Donadl “DeP” Paige, is part of West’s Sunday Service choir. The events have attracted a number of celebrity guests, including Katy Perry, Lil Nas X and David Letterman.
Sunday night’s performance kicked off 40 minutes after the 7 p.m. scheduled start time to allow patrons time to get into the venue. Lakewood spokesperson Andrea Davis said it was “like a different Houston.”
Dozens of performers took the stage dressed in black, amping up the crowd with gospel renditions of Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed,” R&B trio SWV’s “Weak” and Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name.” They shouted and stomped and rarely stopped smiling.
Osteen spoke to the audience before West joined his choir, reminiscing about his father, John Osteen, and being “who God called you to be.”
West, 42, took the stage an hour into the service and purposely positioned himself as a supporting player. He stood at a microphone near the back of the stage with his band and sometimes read lyrics from his phone. Daughter North stood by West’s side and circled the stage a few times.
He joined the choir for a thundering “Selah” and a rousing take on “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1.” He refitted the 2016 song with a reference to Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed.
West fiddled with a synthesizer that led into a sweltering gospel house segment. At times, the music shook the seats.
During a brief, sometimes rambling, morning conversation, West talked about his battle with the devil, mental breakdown and subliminal messages in the media. He prayed with Osteen and praised the televangelist’s “anointed words.”
And West made it clear throughout that he sees himself as a changed man.
“All of that arrogance and confidence and cockiness that y’all seen me use before, God is now using for Him. Because every time I stand up, I feel that I’m standing up and drawing a line in the sand and saying, ‘I’m here in service to God, and no weapon formed against me shall prosper,’ ” he told the crowd.
Kim Kardashian West watched her husband from the front row as parishioners angled for photos. In the morning, she was seated next to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. She also attended the evening event.
West and his family popped up in Houston a few days earlier. He put on a pair of unannounced performances for inmates at the Harris County Jail. His wife visited death row prisoner Reed in Livingston and was there when he won a stay from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
The couple was also spotted Friday at the Galleria with their children. They tried out the ice skating rink, visited The Lego Store and signed a few autographs.
West’s Sunday morning appearance came after 30 minutes of music from the Lakewood choir. Several attendees were dressed in their Sunday sparkle best, and they shouted words of affirmation at West — until he asked them not to.
“I go into these streams of consciousness when I’m talking, and when you speaking in the middle of it, it distracts me,” he told one particularly vocal man. “I really appreciate the support, but I would like for everybody to be completely silent so I can let God flow through me as I speak to you guys today.”
Lakewood is the nation’s largest church and attracts as many as 50,000 people a week to the former Compaq Center. In front of a rotating gold globe and under lush blue lighting, West told the crowd that he grew up regularly attending church with his parents and that God has been calling him for a long time.
“When I was in my lowest points, God was there with me and sending me visions and inspiring me,” West said. “I remember sitting in the hospital in UCLA after having a mental breakdown, and there’s documentation of me drawing a church and writing (that I wanted) to start a church in the middle of Calabasas.”
Though it’s taken some by surprise, West has mused on God and religion throughout his career: 2004’s “Jesus Walks,” 2006’s “Anything” with Patti LaBelle and Mary Mary, 2012’s “New God Flow.” And his statements have often been direct.
“Even though I’m a man of God/My whole life in the hand of God/So y’all better quit playin’ with God,” he raps on “I Am a God” from his 2013 album “Yeezus.” Some saw that title as sacrilegious narcissism. Looking back, it was more about West’s internal struggles with who he is and what he believes.
“Jesus Is King” became West’s ninth consecutive album to top the Billboard 200, selling 264,000 equivalent album units. It also reached No. 1 on the Christian, gospel, R&B/hip-hop and rap album charts. A half-hour “Jesus Is King” film played for one week in IMAX theaters and grossed $1 million worldwide.
There have been unconfirmed reports that West will now solely focus on gospel music. But he surprised fans last weekend at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival, where he performed “Follow God” and 2007 hit “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.”
Osteen’s favorite song on West’s new album is “God Is.” He played 30 seconds of it for the crowd and called it “very, very powerful.”
“You said more in 60 seconds than I say in my 30-minute message,” Osteen said.
Elaine Gracia, a Lakewood member who was at the morning service, called West a “brilliant” lyricist.
“The poetry of Kanye was impactful because his storytelling was powerful,” Gracia said. “He has always connected with his audience and those that played his music.”
West himself singled out “Closed on Sunday,” a song that references Chick-fil-A and its policy to let employees “rest and worship” on Sundays, according to its website. He called it “the hardest record ever made.”
“It’s as hard as an NWA record because it’s talking about protecting your kids from the indoctrination of the media, the thousands and thousands of images that are fed to children by the age of 6 or 7,” West said.
“I got lost. I got caught up in my own ego, my own strategy, my own ideas. I tried to hold everything in my own brain. And then I had to just let go and let God and put it back in his hands.”