27. Joel Osteen Earnings Go Up To $40 Million
On October 3, 1999, two weeks after his father’s’ death, Joel Scott Osteen began preaching and later that year he became the new senior pastor of Lakewood Church, the largest Protestant church in the United States, located in Houston, Texas. Osteen’s church acquired the Compaq Center, former home of the NBA Houston Rockets, in 2003. The church renovations cost $105 million, adding five stories to the construction. Lakewood’s 2005 grand opening had an estimated attendance of 56,000 people, including Texas Governor Rick Perry. American preacher has written seven New York Times bestselling books and his televised sermons are seen by over 20 million people monthly in over 100 countries. Osteen, widely nicknamed The Smiling Preacher has been described by former presidential candidate John McCain as his favorite inspirational author and though televangelist has generally avoided discussing controversial social issues he’s said that he is opposed to same-sex marriage because homosexuality is a sin according to the Scripture. Osteen lives in a$10.5 million 17,000 square foot home with six bedrooms, six bathrooms, three elevators, five fireplaces, a guest house and pool house. New York attorney Richard Garbarini claimed “Osteen is leveraging the church as a money-making vehicle! The church pays (to air) his sermons, which are just de facto infomercials to promote his books. The Lakewood Church is a shell to funnel people to his website so he can sell his books.”
