Joel Osteen net worth: Money discovered in church walls after $600K burglary in 2014
Celebrity preacher Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Texas became part of a bizarre discovery after a plumber found envelopes full of cash and checks behind a loose toilet. According to church officials, the plumber spoke about the incident on a radio station on November 10. According to The Sun, the plumber while detailing the incident said, “There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile. We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like ‘Oh wow!’”
He added that a total of 3,000 envelopes stuffed with cash were recovered from the spot that is owned by Osteen. He said, “I went ahead and contacted the maintenance supervisor that was there, and I turned it all in. Speaking of pastors, a preacher named Stewart-Allen Clarke was labeled "sexist" after he delivered a sermon telling women to keep their body weight under control because sex is the "main reason" that men marry women. Another pastor identified as Jonathan Shelley made headlines after he reportedly celebrated the deadly accident at a Florida Pride parade.
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Early life
Joel Osteen was born in Houston, Texas to Osteen and Dolores Pilgrim. He graduated from Humble High School in 1981. He later pursued his studies in radio and television but left it mid-way to focus on producing televised sermons for his father until he died in 1999 from a heart attack.
What is Joel Osteen's net worth?
Joel Osteen is very well known as a preacher, televangelist, and author but is best known as the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. The 58-year-old has courted controversies due to his personal wealth and general advocacy of the "prosperity gospel." If we talk about his net worth, the website Celebrity Net Worth states that Osteen is valued at a whopping $100million. His church in Houston is a former sports stadium that is sprawled across 600,000 square-foot. Osteen had also made headlines when his Lakewood church acquired the Compaq Center in 2003. The renovation of the same apparently cost over $105 million.
He has upped his net worth after he made it on Barbara Walters's list of 10 Most Fascinating People. Osteen and his family were also invited to attend the Easter breakfast that was hosted by President Barack Obama in 2010. His main source of income is his church as it welcomes more than 50,000 parishioners every week. And, the Livestream TV sermons are watched by an average of 7 million people per week and 20 million per month. Osteen penned his first book called ‘Your Best Life Now’ in 2004 followed by a second called ‘Become A Better You’ in 2005. Osteen had earlier said that he did not approve of homophobia, as reported by Celebrity Net Worth.
Joel Osteen’s luxurious mansion
Joel Osteen and his wife Victoria Osteen shelled out a massive $10.5 million to buy themselves a swanky mansion in Houston in 2010. The luxurious property is spread across 17,000 square-foot that flaunts a huge front door accompanied by massive stone pillars. The mansion also comes with a large backyard along with a large grey concrete driveway. The couple also owns another house in Houston which is assumed to be around $3 million.
Coming back to the shocking discovery in the church walls, the Houston Police Department is still investigating a seven-year-old case involving the disappearance of $600,000 from the Lakewood Church in 2014. According to WSLS.com, radio host George Lindsey shared with his listeners that the plumber who discovered the cash wall had relayed to him that "in 2014 there was a big story about money being stolen from Lakewood Church that they never recovered.” Well, it's unclear how much money the plumber discovered now, but this could be a whole different story. A representative from Lakewood Church acknowledged cash and checks were found at the facility during repairs, years after a burglary of $600,000, in 2014.