Pastor Joel Osteen doesn't approve of gay marriage, but he doesn't want that single viewpoint to define his ministry.
During a conversation with Osteen and his wife Victoria Osteen about their traveling A Night Of Hope worship events, which celebrates its tenth anniversary at Yankee Stadium on June 7, HuffPost Live's Marc Lamont Hill asked whether gay marriage is against the fundamental "rules" of Christianity.
"It would be, but I don't really focus on a lot of those things," Osteen said. "I try to stay in my lane of what I feel called to do. [Gay marriage] does come up in interviews and things, but that's not my core message."
What his message does include, Osteen said, is advising his congregation on how to let go of the past, raise good children and achieve their dreams. He added that the sexuality of gays and lesbians is one of the "issues" faced by many different types of people in his church.
"Everybody's welcome, but my take on it is it's easy to make one issue -- to become known for that or to let it sidetrack your message," he said. "If you look at our congregation ... including myself, we all have issues. Everybody's on a journey."
See the full HuffPost Live conversation with Joel and Victoria Osteen below.