The Most Influential Pastors in Texas
All 11 Texas pastors in the Pastor Influence 100, ranked by measured personal audience. Texas rank first, global rank alongside. Updated August 2026.
As of August 2026, Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, TX is the most influential pastor in Texas, ranking #3 worldwide with 41.38M in total personal reach across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Victoria Osteen (Texas #2, #17 worldwide) and David Walker (Texas #3, #19 worldwide) follow. Texas is home to 11 of the 45 American pastors in the Pastor Influence 100, more than any other state. Scoring covers personal accounts only, under a published methodology.
All 11 Texas Pastors, Ranked
Every Texas-based pastor in the Pastor Influence 100, August 2026. The rank column is position within Texas. The global rank is the last column.
| TX Rank | Pastor | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joel Osteen Lakewood Church | 79.4 |
| 2 | Victoria Osteen Lakewood Church | 73.2 |
| 3 | David Walker Alamo City Church | 72.8 |
| 4 | Max Lucado Oak Hills Church | 70.6 |
| 5 | Josh Howerton Lakepointe Church | 64.6 |
| 6 | John Hagee Cornerstone Church | 64.3 |
| 7 | Touré Roberts The Potter's House | 64.3 |
| 8 | Sarah Jakes Roberts The Potter's House | 64.1 |
| 9 | Jack Graham Prestonwood Baptist Church | 60.7 |
| 10 | Ed Newton Community Bible Church | 60.5 |
| 11 | Matt Chandler The Village Church | 60.4 |
See the full Pastor Influence 100
Personal accounts only. Total reach is combined followers across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, August 2026.
Why Texas Leads Every State
Seats, audience, and geography, measured across the 45 American pastors in the index.
11
Texas pastors in the index
24%
of the American field
64.15M
combined personal reach
6
Texas cities represented
No state is close. Texas holds 11 of the 45 American seats, 24 percent of the field. California has 6 and Florida has 5. The 45 American pastors in the index come from 15 states, and Texas supplies as many as the next two put together.
The audience is concentrated at the top. Texas pastors carry 64.15M between them, 44 percent of the American total and 17 percent of the whole index. Joel Osteen accounts for 65 percent of that alone. The median Texas pastor carries 890K, against 1.76M for the median American pastor.
Where they are. San Antonio has 4 of the 11. The Dallas-Fort Worth area accounts for 5 across Dallas, Plano, Rockwall, and Flower Mound. Houston carries the largest single audience in the state. The 11 are spread across 6 cities, so this is not one metro carrying a statistic.
Placement in the global 100. 1 Texas pastor sits in the worldwide top 10, 3 in the top 25, and 4 in the top 50. The rest are spread through the back half, which is what depth looks like. Attendance is a separate measurement, and the biggest rooms in the state are counted on the largest churches in Texas list.
The takeaway
Texas holds 11 of the 45 US seats in the index, 24 percent of the American field, ahead of California at 6 and Florida at 5. The audience is more concentrated than the seat count suggests: Joel Osteen alone accounts for 65 percent of the 64.15M Texas pastors carry between them. Take the top name out and Texas still fields 10 pastors in the index, more than any other state fields in total. The same names sort differently on the America list.
Questions, Answered
Who is the most influential pastor in Texas?
Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, TX. He ranks #1 in Texas and #3 worldwide in the 2026 Pastor Influence 100, with 41.38M in combined personal followers and an influence score of 79.4. Victoria Osteen (Texas #2) and David Walker (Texas #3) rank behind him.
How many Texas pastors are in the Pastor Influence 100?
11, out of 45 American pastors and 101 worldwide. That is more than any other state. California has 6 and Florida has 5. The 45 American pastors come from 15 states in all.
Which Texas city has the most pastors on the list?
San Antonio, with 4 of the 11. The Dallas-Fort Worth area accounts for 5 between Dallas, Plano, Rockwall, and Flower Mound. In total the 11 Texas pastors are based in 6 cities.
Which Texas pastor has the largest online audience?
Joel Osteen, at 41.38M across all four platforms. Most of it sits on one account: 30.29M on Facebook. Victoria Osteen is next at 11.14M. Together Texas pastors hold 64.15M, 44 percent of the American total and 17 percent of the whole index.
Which Texas pastor is growing the fastest?
David Walker of Alamo City Church, whose personal YouTube channel grew +395% in one year to 308K subscribers. Growth is measured as the 1-year change in personal YouTube subscribers, and 5 of the 11 Texas pastors carry a verified figure.
Why does each pastor have two rank numbers?
The primary number is the Texas rank, position among the 11 Texas pastors in the index. The second is the global rank in the full Pastor Influence 100. Both come from the same score, so nothing is recalculated between the two lists.
Your church is in Texas. Your audience is not.
Every church on this list posts consistently, in formats people actually watch. That's not luck. That's a system. We run that system for churches every week: sermon clips, graphics, carousels, captions, posted for you.