A Study of the Demographics, Exposure Levels, and Perceptions of the Viewing Audience of Pastor Joel Osteen, America’s Most Popular Preacher

A camel through the eye of a needle: The influence of the prosperity gospel on financial risk-taking, optimistic bias, and positive emotion.

“…Though the study was advertised on MTurk to Christians only, a subset of participants identified as non-Christian (50 of the original sample; 3 Jewish, 1 Muslim, 16 Agnostic, 5 Buddhist, 4 nondenominational, and 21 other). As not all prosperity gospel practitioners are Christian, with many identifying as spiritual, agnostic, and/or nondenominational (Jeffress, 2017), we chose to include all participants who completed the behavioral measures in the analyses.…”

“…In a Time poll, 17% of polled American Christians considered themselves followers of the prosperity gospel; 61% said they believed God wants them to be prosperous and rich; and 31% supported the notion that giving your money to God would lead to God giving you more money in return (Van Biema & Chu, 2006). The movement appeals even to people of nondenominational or even non-Christian leanings (Jeffress, 2017), and represents one of the fastest growing belief systems in the United States (Bowler, 2013; Hunt, 2000).…”

Shepherd Leadership: A Review and Future Research Directions

“…Thus, the Shepherd leader's relationship with his/her flock is the main element that produces ministry effectiveness. Also, the findings show that a strong relationship between effective leaders and the capability to create and sustain relationships with their followers [32].…”

“…Tithing is essential for churches to survive and thrive. The study collected Shepherd leadership scores of multiple churches, which experienced growth in major areas as a proof of ministry effectiveness and success; the top five churches that had their attendance go up as well as their finances improve, had very high scores in relationship and duty grouping [32]. Thus, the Shepherd leader's relationship with his/her flock is the main element that produces ministry effectiveness.…”