Daystar founder Marcus Lamb remembered as a ‘great man of God’ during funeral

One by one they took the stage in front of a mahogany casket shrouded in greenery and purple and white flowers.

The speakers —members of Marcus Lamb’s family and his friends — talked of his legacy, who he was when he wasn’t on screen, how he could play a mean game of golf.

Monday afternoon at Gateway Church in Southlake, though a time of grief, was also a time to celebrate “a great man of God,” as church’s lead pastor Robert Morris called Lamb.

Lamb, a televangelist from Bedford who founded Daystar Television Network, died Nov. 30 at 64 after being hospitalized with COVID-19.

The network, often fervent in its messaging against COVID-19 vaccines, is one of the largest Christian television networks in the world with a worldwide viewership of 2 billion.

Though advertised on social media posts as being open to “all,” Lamb’s family requested that the event be closed to media, a spokesperson from Gateway told the Star-Telegram Monday morning.

The event was broadcast Monday evening on Daystar.

Well-known evangelsits were in the crowd: XO Marriage founder Jimmy Evans, Christian musician Phil Driscoll and fellow televangelist Joel Osteen. Pictures and videos of Lamb flashed on a screen, depicting time spent with family and friends, and from his early days with Daystar. Emblazoned across photos in one slideshow were words in bold: family man, bold, visionary, compassionate and trailblazer.

Morris said that day they would grieve with hope.

“Rejoice with us today,” Morris said. “Rejoice at the life which our brother modeled for us, a life of service to Jesus Christ.”

As Driscoll played trumpet and sang, he had almost the entire crowd on its feet with their arms outstretched. When thinking of words to describe Lamb, Evans chose integrity and tenacity.

Osteen couldn’t get as far as thanking Lamb’s family before turning away from the crowd and breaking down.

“There’s some things you don’t understand, and y’all know that’s part of faith is trusting when you don’t understand,” he said. “God, it doesn’t make sense to us, but we believe you’re in control. You’re on the throne, and you’re still good God.”

Lamb’s children and their spouses were among the last to speak. His son, Jonathan Lamb, told the crowd about nicknames his dad had for him, about how he was taught to depend on God, and how some of the aspects that touched him the most about his father were how he never spoke badly of others and never gave up.

Toward the end of his remarks, he looked up at the sky.

“Dad, you left a great legacy,” Jonathan Lamb said. “For my childhood, you would talk to me about the future and tell me about how one day I would step into your shoes. I thought that one day would come much farther down the road, but here we are today.”

Lamb’s daughter Rachel Lamb Brown remembered how her father always found humor in serious moments, even during his final weeks in the hospital.

“I was with my dad every single day while he was at the hospital,” she said. “And I made him a promise that he would fight. And he said, ‘I’m not going to give up on God.’ And I would remind him of who he was.”

Lamb’s daughter Rachel Weiss recalled the moments she left the hospital after her father’s death, and said there were some times in life she would get angry at God. This time, she wasn’t mad at God, she said. Instead, she thought of a sermon about when Jesus was pierced in the side, he lost all his blood.

“I told Jesus, I said, ‘Thank you for the price you paid that I can see my dad again, and that this is not the end, but it’s just the beginning,’” Weiss said.