Towers of diaper boxes were stacked so high and so densely that it looked like someone was trying to build a scale model of Manhattan. Pillows were piled up against a wall, a supermarket aisle’s worth of toiletries were on offer and a medical team waited for the wounded and the sick at a triage desk. Outside, the needy lined up by the dozen to enter.
Advertisement
But what took so long? For his church’s slow reaction to tropical storm Harvey, Joel Osteen, the celebrity pastor of America’s biggest megachurch, has found himself the target of a barrage of online criticism.
Osteen is one of America’s richest pastors. When congregations for multiple services are combined, 35,000 to 50,000 people attend services at Lakewood Church weekly, and Osteen’s sermons are seen by more than 7 million people on TV and online. His 2004 book Your Best Life Now was on the New York Times bestseller list for over 200 weeks.
Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen was calculated to be worth US$55 million in 2012, and his chuch now draws revenues of US$70million a year. Photo: AP
A long line of volunteers forms to check into the Lakewood Church to help evacuees on Tuesday. Photo: AP
His wife, Victoria, is co-pastor. The Osteens are thought to be worth millions of dollars and live in a part of Houston that makes Beverly Hills look understated. Their net worth was calculated at over US$55million in 2012, and although the church draws revenues of over US$70million a year, Osteen says his only salary comes from book sales. His Night of Hope worship tour has appeared at venues such as New York’s Yankee Stadium.
