Kanye West's Sunday Service at Joel Osteen's Church Underway Live – TMZ, Tmz.com

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6: (PM PT) – Kanye’s Sunday Service has started, and it kicked off with a bang. A spoken word poet delivered a powerful message to open the show, and the rest of the choir took it the rest of the way … first going in on an operatic chant, then moving on to cover ‘Every Hour’ from the ‘JIK ‘album, as well’ Ultralight Beam ‘and eventually performing a part of’ Power. ‘

There’s no sign of Kanye quite yet, but ya gotta imagine he’s in the building … ’cause Kim and the kids are down below in the front row. The crowd seems to be loving so far, BTW … and as expected, it’s a completely packed house.

Kanye Westis about to perform his Sunday Service atJoel Osteen‘s megachurch in Houston … and TMZ is streaming it live.

As we previously mentioned … Yebrought his choirout for the weekend trip, where they’re set to take the stage at 7 PM CT (5 PM PT) at the Lakewood Church – a place thousands of worshipers come out each week to hear Joel and co. preach from the pulpit.

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It’s bound to be a packed house again for Sunday’sticketed event, especially after Ye made an appearance in the morning … standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Joel and talking God.

You’ll recall … it was aneventful chatKanye and Joel had onstage, with Ye touching on everything from his own upbringing in the church, to how he’s an employee of God’s now, and even going to bat and defending Joel and his reputation in the Christian community.

Ever since Kanye dropped his new album, ‘Jesus is King,’ he’s been performing pretty consistently with his choir … playing a bunch of his new songs too, of course. The format thus far has been pretty similar in style to what we’ve seenin Calabasasandelsewhere.

But with such a big audience tuning in this time around – and ajust-announced operaon the horizon – it’ll be interesting to see what surprises Kanye and his team have in store for the Lakewood congregation.

Originally Published – 4: (PM PT)