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Osteen’s televised sermons are seen by over 7 million viewers weekly and over 20 million monthly in over 100 countries. His sermons also broadcast 24 hours a day on Sirius XM Satellite Radio, Channel 128.
Osteen has also written seven New York Times Best Sellers.
Joel Osteen’s Net Worth as of 2017: $60 million
Joel Osteen, the senior pastor of Lakewood Church, the largest Protestant church in America, is worth approximately $60 million.
1999 – Present
In 1982, he returned to Houston and founded Lakewood’s television program, where he produced his father’s televised sermons for 17 years until January 1999, when his father died unexpectedly from a heart attack.
In 2004, his first book, Your Best Life Now, was released by Time Warner and debuted at the top of The New York Times Best Seller list. The book remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for more than 200 weeks.
Osteen’s father encouraged him to preach for many years, but he declined, preferring to work behind the scenes until January 13, 1999, when he accepted his father’s suggestion and he preached his first sermon. John Osteen died six days later of a heart attack. Two weeks after his father’s death, Osteen began preaching regularly and later that year was installed as the new senior pastor of Lakewood Church on October 3, 1999.
Since then, Lakewood’s attendance has grown from 5,000 to 52,600.
In 2003, Lakewood Church acquired the Compaq Center, former home of the NBA Houston Rockets. Renovations cost $105 million.
As of 2012, Osteen’s net worth was reported $56,000,000. He currently lives with his family in a $10,000,000 home.
Osteen says he draws no salary from the church, which has an annual budget of $70 million. Instead, he relies on income from book sales. Much of the content for his best sellers come from sermons he has preached at Lakewood.
In August 2017, Osteen faced widespread criticism for not opening Lakewood Church to house evacuees during the floods that followed Hurricane Harvey. In response, a spokesperson for Lakewood Church said the property was inaccessible because of surrounding flood waters and the building itself had been flooded, and announced that they would open the doors once city-run shelters were at capacity.
Following the criticism, Lakewood Church opened to evacuees on August 29, 2017.
