In my last post, I wrote that Rick Warren is probably the best-known living religious figure in America. Upon giving it further thought, I’m not sure that’s true. The Purpose Driven Life was published 20 years ago, and Warren has not followed up with another book. He never had a television ministry or embarked on arena or stadium tours like Billy Graham. Warren was involved in politics for time, hosting Barack Obama and John McCain at Saddleback during the 2008 campaign and delivering the invocation at Obama’s first inauguration. (The move infuriated liberals because Warren publicly supported Proposition 8 in California, a 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage.) But Warren seemed to recede from the public arena in the last decade or so, preferring to concentrate on his church and his work in Africa.
In contrast, Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston is omnipresent. He and his wife and co-pastor, Victoria, run one of America’s largest churches in the former home of the Houston Rockets. Osteen’s services are slickly produced into 30-minute weekly programs for television. Osteen’s trim suits, gelled hair and perpetual smile is a made-for-TV package. He pumps out books, devotionals, and other merchandise sold online and at his “Night of Hope” events that fill arenas nationwide. (Osteen isn’t involved in politics and rarely speaks out on any public issue.)
What is the message that people receive from the telegenic pastor? Osteen is a purveyor of the controversial prosperity gospel, which teaches that wealth can be achieved through prayer and financial contributions. “If you want to reap financial blessings, you must sow financial seeds in the lives of others,” Osteen says, echoing Oral Roberts’ “seed-faith” teaching. “In the time of need, sow a seed.” Osteen is relentlessly upbeat — there is no trace of sin or damnation in his theology — but there is a gnawing hollowness to his sermons. Is God really just a fulfillment center for individual human needs?
Unlike Warren, Osteen has practically no theological training. Osteen dropped out of Oral Roberts University after a year and did not attend seminary. Instead, he worked as a television producer for his father, John, a Pentecostal minister who founded Lakewood as an independent church in the 1950s. Joel took over as pastor after his father’s death in 1999 and expanded the TV ministry. That turbo-charged Lakewood’s attendance growth, which surpassed 50,000 on weekends.
The Houston Chronicle revealed that Lakewood Church took in $89 million during a recent fiscal year. Seventy percent of the budget went to TV broadcasts, weekly services, and the “Night of Hope” events. Only $1.2 million was spent on missions and community service. Meanwhile, the Osteens live in a mansion with an assessed value of $12 million and boast a personal fortune estimated at more than $50 million. The Osteens are certainly living their best lives, but are their followers?