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It took Joel Osteen just 19 years to pay off Lakewood’s $100 million loan
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.
By Eric Killelea,
Religion Reporter
Jan 17, 2024
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.
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.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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.”
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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.
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