On Sunday, the pastor of one of America’s largest and wealthiest congregations broke down when he announced the megachurch paid off its massive debt.Joel Osteen, the pastor of Lakewood Church, stands with his wife, Victoria Osteen, as he conducts a service at his church as the city starts the process of rebuilding after severe flooding during Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey on September 3, 2017 in Houston, Texas.
Pastor Joel Osteen broke down on stage at Houston’s Lakewood Church this past weekend, crying as he told the packed house that their donations paid off its $100 million debt. “It’s because of your faithfulness,” Osteen told his congregation. “You paid it off by the goodness of God.”
For more than two decades, Osteen has led the non-denominational Lakewood Church, one of America’s largest and wealthiest congregations. Osteen took over the pulpit after his father and church founder, John Osteen, died in 1999, and has since grown the church’s weekly attendance from an average of about 5,000 to more than 50,000, while amassing 200 million weekly viewers through his TV broadcasts and digital platforms worldwide.
Back in 2001, Osteen signed a 60-year lease with the city to move from its 7,800-seat sanctuary in northeast Houston into the Compaq Center, the Houston Rockets’ arena boasting 16,000 seats, Osteen recalled. The pastor paid $11.5 million in rent, using money left to the church by his late father.
When Lakewood officially relocated in 2005, the pastor sought out more money to renovate the former NBA arena, aiming to redesign the outdoor façade and to construct the indoor stage, to replace the locker rooms and food stands with meeting rooms and childcare spaces, and to erect an adjacent five-story building to include Lakewood’s television production offices, among other necessary projects.
Osteen struck out with the first financial institution, he admitted, before Bank of America offered him a $25 million check for his construction loan. After some relatively quick negotiations, the bank agreed to increase its lending to $100 million.
“As of December 31 of last year, we have officially paid off the $100 million loan,” Osteen said to a standing ovation Sunday. The pastor put his hands to his face, stopping himself and using tissues to wipe his tears. He praised God and reminded the crowd that the church continued to spend “millions of dollars” on its ministry and on its media production that reaches so many across the globeOsteen and his wife, Victoria, are beloved by their overwhelming mass of followers yet criticized for preaching so-called prosperity gospel, the belief that people can escape poverty and even find wealth through devotion to God. The tax-exempt church reportedly paid back the $4.4 million it received in COVID-19 disaster funds through the Paycheck Protection Program in 2021 after receiving backlash on social media. The pastors, who’ve said they do not receive a salary from the church, instead amassing their wealth from book sales and the like, claimed none of the federal funding went to them.
Lakewood Church is now mostly debt-free, Osteen said Sunday, with only a smaller loan remaining for “capital equipment.” Lakewood Church did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“What God has done for Lakewood, He is going to do in your life,” Osteen continued, turning his news into his message. “I believe in 2024, you will see God release you from some things that have held you back, release you from debt, release you from addiction, release you from wrong mindsets.”
Osteen, who said he held season tickets to the Houston Rockets when he was in his 20s and had his first date with Victoria in the arena, also described how the city sold the Compaq Center to Lakewood Church in 2010 for $7.5 million. “I never dreamed that we would be here. This building, every time I come in, it’s a testament that God’s dream for your life is much bigger than your own. You keep honoring God, you keep doing the right thing, God’s going to take you where you never imagined,” Osteen said, later adding, “We paid cash. We paid it off. So now we officially own the building.
Victoria Osteen chimed in, paraphrasing the book of Matthew. “When your faithful with little, God will make you ruler over much,” she said. “This building and this journey has not only been a journey of faithfulness of our God but faithfulness of this ministry.”
The pastors introduced members of the church’s business staff to the audience and then ripped apart an apparent loan document.
“All done!” Joel Osteen said to applause
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