Joel Osteen is an American pastor, televangelist, businessman, and author based in Houston, Texas.
He is known for his weekly televised services and several best-selling books.
Osteen’s parents founded the nondenominational charismatic Lakewood Church in Houston in 1959, and his father, John Osteen, was pastor.
After his father’s death in 1999, Osteen took over as head pastor and under his leadership, Lakewood soon became the largest and fastest-growing congregation in the U.S.
Osteen’s teachings focus on hope, healing and forgiveness.
He delivers simple upbeat messages that emphasize his oft-repeated belief that ‘God wants us to have a better life’.
While his approach strikes an obvious chord with the public, it also draws sharp criticism from those who view Osteen as little more than a motivational speaker who borrows religious terminology.
Joel Osteen early life
Osteen was born on March 5, 1963, in Houston, Texas.
He was the fourth child among five children born to John Osteen, a minister, and Dodie Osteen, a church official.
Osteen’s father founded the nondenominational charismatic Lakewood Church in Houston in 1959, and his mother was instrumental in the church’s music ministry.
Osteen attended Humble High School, a public high school in Humble, Texas, and graduated in 1981.
He then attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he studied radio and television communications.
However, after one year of study, he moved back to Houston to help his father develop Lakewood’s growing national television ministry.
Osteen worked behind the cameras as a producer of the church’s broadcasts.
How much is Joel Osteen’s net worth?
As of October 2023, Osteen had an estimated net worth of $100 million.
How does Joel Osteen make money?
Osteen makes his money from various sources, including book royalties, speaking engagements and merchandise sales.
He has written 15 books, with his 2004 book, Your Best Life Now, selling more than 100 million copies.
Although he does not take a salary from Lakewood Church, which he heads, he reportedly earns nearly $55 million each year from his book career and speaking engagements.
In addition, Lakewood Church has a gift store and apparel line that is popular, and Osteen earns proceeds from merchandise sales.
Osteen and his wife Victoria live in a 17,000 square foot $10.5 million home with their children.
He has faced controversy in the past, including criticism for not opening Lakewood Church’s doors to Hurricane Harvey victims.
Joel Osteen career
After his father’s death in 1999, Osteen took over as head pastor of Lakewood Church.
Under his leadership, Lakewood soon became the largest and fastest-growing congregation in the U.S.
He rapidly expanded the church’s media presence by purchasing advertisements on billboards and in other venues, doubling the church’s budget for television airtime, negotiating with different networks for optimal time slots and targeting the largest media markets.
Osteen is known for his simple and positive sermons that emphasize his oft-repeated belief that ‘God wants us to have a better life’.
He typically avoids dense or orthodox theology in his sermons and instead delivers simple upbeat messages.
On the flip side, Osteen has been criticized by some who view him as little more than a motivational speaker offering a watered-down interpretation of Christianity.
Others have accused him of promoting a ‘prosperity gospel’ designed to justify the accumulation of wealth.
Osteen has responded that he wants to remain focused on the ‘goodness of God’ and that he does not define prosperity in purely materialistic terms.
He is known for his weekly televised services and several best-selling books.
Osteen earns his money from lucrative speaking engagements across the U.S. and sales from his 14 books, many of which have sold millions of copies and landed on the New York Times’ Best Seller List.
Who was Joel Osteen’s father?
Joel’s father was John Osteen, who founded Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas in 1959.
John was a Southern Baptist minister before his faith took on a more charismatic turn in the late 1950s.
He founded his own nondenominational church in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Houston, and over the next four decades shepherded it into a dynamic, thriving congregation.
After John’s death in 1999, Osteen took over as head pastor of Lakewood Church.
Lakewood church
Lakewood Church is among the largest congregations in the United States, averaging about 45,000 attendees per week.
The 16,800-seat Lakewood Church building, home to four English-language services and two Spanish-language services per week, is located at the former Compaq Center.
Lakewood Church believes that the entire Bible is inspired by God, and the church bases its teachings on this belief.
The church also believes in the Trinity, and recognizes the death of Christ on the cross and resurrection.
Lakewood Church practices the following, believing them to be commanded in the Bible;
1. The pursuit of Salvation
Each service offers an Altar call at the end in order for people to accept Christ as Lord and Savior.
2. The seeking of a growing relationship with Jesus Christ
Lakewood believes that every believer should be in a growing relationship with Jesus by obeying God’s Word, yielding to the Holy Spirit and by being conformed to the image of Christ.
Additionally, Lakewood Church is multi-generational and multi-ethnic with members from dozens of nations across the globe.
Each week, Lakewood reaches thousands of people in Houston and surrounding areas through worship services, classes and local missions.
Lakewood’s heart for serving makes a tangible impact on the surrounding community through its outreach programs for hospital patients, prisons, nursing home residents, homeless shelters and other outreaches.
On the other hand, the church’s television program is viewed by 20 million people each month in almost 100 countries around the world.
As mentioned earlier, Osteen got involved in media production, overseeing the church’s broadcasts starting in 1982, but, when John died in 1999, Joel accepted the position of senior pastor of Lakewood.
