Joel Osteen & Shirley Caesar (A Leopard & A Robin) Poem by Luke Easter

Joel Osteen, young, good looking, charismatic & prosperous,
A dynamic gospel preacher, best selling author, why the fuss?
Dodger Stadium west, New York Yankee east, attendance 50k,
With thousands of churches struggling to survive another day.

Stop being a hater simply because your house of worship is not,
A song by Jerry Reid said it best ”When you’re hot you’re hot, ”
Instead of trying to put out the fire of his success with jealous dew,
Sit down & survey blueprints as to why it’s not happening for you.

It’s all about the message of faith so, are you brining forth doubt?
Do you have soulful sermons brining them in or driving them out?
Ok, why is “Lakewood” the fastest growing church known today?
Three services of twenty thousand plus including Spanish they say.

How come when the television cameras scan up and down the aisle,
There’s not a single frown, their religious center’s filled with smiles,
Listen, stop criticizing that ministry and began to study his success,
Seek a study of true excellence God wants your church to be its best.

Now let’s move to the birth place of the blues and gospel, the South,
Where melodious sounds flow like the Mississippi from her mouth,
This songbird of many accolades pastoring in Raleigh-Durham, NC.,
Notes so high, birds rock like Chubby Checker in neighboring trees.

Shirley’s an iconic gospel artist & multiple Grammy Award nominee,
A true, “Caesar” known throughout in the gospel recording industry,
Starting out with, “The Caravans” there’s 30 albums in her solo career,
1st Lady of Gospel could be categorized as a model for faith & not fear.

She began recording at the young age of 13 in the year of our Lord 1951,
May of 2010 with over 40 albums & this voice of hope is nowhere done,
Essence Award, Dove Awards, Golden Lifetime Achievement, NAACP,
Oh, there’s not enough space to list nor acclaim all of her stellar victories.

With her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1984,
From Shaw University, she’s broken down barriers, opened many doors,
A mulitalent always multi-tasking never doing less but always doing more,
When you have been blessed with her creative gift isn’t that what it is for?

Different as night and day, two sowers, planting the Lord’s saving seed,
Gospel harvest for those who are seeking the kingdom in desperate need,
Or the one’s already in place continually buzzing around the hive like bees,
A Leopard & a Robin keeping watch over the flock angels in the trees.