Houston ? America’s largest church celebrated its move into the former arena for the Houston Rockets with a capacity crowd of 16,000, an upbeat sermon from its televangelist pastor and a spirited welcome from the governor of Texas.

“How do you like our new home?” Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen asked to thunderous applause. “It looks pretty good doesn’t it? This is a dream come true.”

The new home for the nondenominational Christian church is the former Compaq Center, once home to the Rockets.

There were no vacant spots in the arena as Lakewood, which recently became the first church in the United States to average more than 30,000 worshippers weekly, held its first service there Saturday night. The service also was televised live.

Gov. Rick Perry praised the church’s new look and told the crowd, “As lawmakers, we do a lot of things, but only the church can teach people to love.

Members of the Lakewood Church, along with first-time visitors, worship Saturday at the grand opening of the new facility in Houston. The Lakewood Church, led by televangelist and best-selling author, Joel Osteen, officially opened the doors of the new building, formerly the Compaq Center, home of the Houston Rockets. The Lakewood Church Central Campus took 15 months and approximately 5 million to complete and will seat 16,000 people.

“This is nothing short of amazing,” Perry said. “It is so great to look across this crowd and see the wonderful diversity of this great state we call Texas.”

It took more than 15 months and $75 million to complete the renovations – which included adding five stories to make more room.

“I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was,” Osteen said afterward when asked to describe how he felt when he entered what he called the “Texas-sized” sanctuary. “It almost felt surreal.”

Video clips playing on three gigantic screens showcased the building and recounted the history of the church. One video recalled the church’s humble beginnings in an abandoned feed store in 1959 and traced Osteen’s rise to the pulpit after his father and church founder, John Osteen, died 40 years later.

Osteen took over the church in 1999 and has increased the size of the congregation almost five-fold since then.