Greedy Televangelists! Where's all that money going?

Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church

“30,000 people endure punishing traffic on the narrow roads leading to Lakewood Church every weekend to hear Pastor Joel Osteen deliver upbeat messages of hope. A youthful-looking 42-year-old with a ready smile, he reassures the thousands who show up at each of his five weekend services that "God has a great future in store for you." ... Osteen's best-seller, Your Best Life Now, has sold 2.5 million copies since its publication last fall.... In his book, Osteen talks about how his wife, Victoria, a striking blonde who dresses fashionably, wanted to buy a fancy house some years ago, before the money rolled in. He thought it wasn't possible. "But Victoria had more faith," he wrote. "She convinced me we could live in an elegant home...and several years later, it did come to pass." ... Osteen's flourishing Lakewood enterprise brought in $55 million in contributions last year, four times the 1999 amount, church officials say”. (Earthly Empires, Businessweek.com)

Early in 2001, when the city of Houston decided to build a new sports/entertainment complex the powers that be placed the Compaq Center (home to the Houston Rockets) on the market. It is extremely unlikely that they dreamed it would be leased by Lakewood church, much less that the church would make a one-time, lump-sum payment of $12 million to the city for the first 30-year lease period (with an option to renew). Which, as it turns out, is only the beginning. After all one has to make the transition from basketball to god, from run of the mill entertainment complex to a place “unlike any other place in the nation”.. a $70 million project.

So what kind of place is this one of a kind worship center going to be. According to INJOY Stewardship Services, whom Joel Osteen hired as consultants.. “The new complex, which is to be called Lakewood Church Central, will transform the Compaq Center from a sports venue to a 21st century worship center. The main floor, which is now flat (to accommodate basketball and hockey), will be sloped to allow for direct viewing of the platform. Below the main floor, the current locker rooms and administrative offices will become the new Children's Ministry Center-an 85,000-square foot area now being designed by former Disney artists. The exterior of the building will be enhanced with architectural elements that carry the interior design features to the outside. As part of that renovation, new columns will be added to the south and west ends of the building.

The Lakewood Church Central arena will seat over 16,000 people yet achieve a sense of intimacy through state-of-the-art sound, lighting and video. The stage area will allow for the Pastor's mobility while providing complete 360-degree visibility to ensure that every seat has a direct view of the pulpit. The stage will be surrounded by three high-definition screens which provide live image support for every service. The new choir loft embraces the worship platform in two curving arcs, with seating for over 250 members.

The Lobby and Food Court, with its dynamic lighting and decorative features, will create a warm atmosphere in which the congregation can gather before and after each service. This new facility will include a bookstore, numerous resource centers, meeting rooms, and information centers conveniently located throughout the lobby area.

Describing his vision for the church's new home, Osteen explains: "We intend to share this great resource and make Lakewood Church Central a gathering point for the entire city of Houston. The ice rink and basketball facilities will remain open for families and city leagues. There will be concerts, sporting events, family conferences, conventions, business workshops, personal growth seminars and much more -and all of these opportunities will bring in people from all walks of life. We're going to touch untold thousands of lives in this place." After it opens in July, he predicts weekend attendance will rocket to 100,000. Says Osteen: "Other churches have not kept up, and they lose people by not changing with the times." (Emphasis Ours)

The East Building, a yet-to-be-built four-story complex, will house the International Broadcast and Production Center, the Youth Complex, the main Lakewood Bookstore and the new Grand Entrance. The new broadcast facility will produce Lakewood's weekly television program, the nation's top-rated devotional program as determined by Nielsen Media Research. The Grand Entrance and Lobby will be a spectacular multi-story foyer accessed through towering glass doors. Cascading water features will surround the main stairway and three new escalators leading up to the Worship Center Lobby. An array of new elevators, conveniently located throughout the facility, will aid access to both the Worship Center and the East Building”.

Incidentally Injoy’s founder John Maxwell was once pastor of a small church in Hillham, Indiana. Studying the “correlation between leadership effectiveness and effective ministry” John founded one business which ultimately led to ‘INJOY Stewardship Services’. He resigned his pastorate in 1995 to devote full attention to ISS, seeing “greater potential in the thousands of lives that could be reached through INJOY…”, He speaks frequently for several high-profile organizations such as Promise Keepers, Focus on the Family, Sam's Club, Chick-fil-A, Mary Kay, and various Fortune 500 companies.

“On June 20, 2005, Osteen sat for an interview with Larry King on CNN’s The Larry King Show. King introduced Osteen as “evangelism’s hottest rising star, pastor for the biggest congregation in the United States.” And what does he preach? Osteen said he doesn’t get into controversial subjects like sin and judgment. False religions such as Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism don’t concern him. He doesn’t really know who’s going to hell and who isn’t” (See Details)

Lakewood celebrates "the king", Elvis Presley

From Ingrid Schlueter of sliceoflaodicea.com who

“...personally talked with one Elvis impersonator in Houston who has performed numerous times at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church. ... It is somehow a fitting metaphor for these churches that the false god of their choice is a bloated, drug-infested rock star who died a lonely, needless and tragic death on the floor of his own bathroom.”

Also

“It seems Elvis impersonators are in big demand there as he is performing on the 22nd of October, this Saturday, for a nurses get together at the church. He said that it doesn't matter what kind of church he does Elvis at, it all "glorifies the Lord". He has 20 different outfits, one of which has 1,000 pieces of cut Austrian crystal and made by the same guy who made Elvis's suit of the same type. He said he wears a special suit for "Heartbreak Hotel" in honor of Elvis' first gold record. I haven't quite recovered from the conversation. Ralph stressed that he doesn't impersonate Elvis, because nobody can. "I pay tribute to him," he said. "The kids really eat it up," he added.” (Source)