Houston Televangelist Joel Osteen Finally Opens Mega-Church As Harvey Shelter (Update)

AUSTIN, TX — Following a massive outcry primarily driven on social media, Houston televangelist Joel Osteen said on Tuesday he will open the doors of his ginormous downtown church for Tropical Storm evacuees.

The pastor was widely criticized for not providing as shelter the 16,800-square-foot arena-turned-church from which he broadcasts televised sermons reaching giant audiences in the millions throughout more than 100 countries. By Tuesday, he buckled under pressure and said the massive Lakewood church in downtown Houston would be turned into a mega-shelter in a city where hundreds of people are scrambling to find shelter amid a historic deluge.

Osteen issued a statement about the reversal, while maintaining the church was never inaccessible to hurricane victims (even though it really had been).

“We have never closed our doors," he wrote in the prepared statement to ABC News. "We will continue to be a distribution center for those in need. We are prepared to house people once shelters reach capacity. Lakewood will be a value to the community in the aftermath of this storm in helping our fellow citizens rebuild their lives.”

Osteen added he would offer his mega-church as a shelter once city shelters reach capacity.

Earlier on Facebook, church officials explained the church had been closed because the structure, like so many others in Houston, had sustained flood damage. But critics countered that notion — including one enterprising journalist who went to the locked church and took video footage showing the house of worship emerged from the hurricane/tropical storm unscathed.

Osteen and his wife, Victoria, have been the objects of criticism before based on their accumulation of considerable wealth via a religious enterprise. Osteen and his wife live in a $10.5 million mansion in the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston.

Others have noted the total absence of traditional Christian symbols and imagery at the gigantic church, even while it offers a café of sorts and a gift shop to visitors that complements a robust online marketplace of Osteen-branded motivational products.

In addition to religious-themed books, CDs and DVDs hawked on the ministry's website are more near-secular items like a pair of bookends with the letter "I" and the word "Am" on either side that dovetail with the pastor's motivational spiel, priced at $15, and a $13 pen set. There are also a number of motivational books (most authored by Osteen) and numerous DVDs ranging in price from $6 to $34.

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From earlier:

AUSTIN, TX — There's a beautiful Christian hymn, "Whatsoever You Do," that speaks to the virtues of helping a needy stranger as if the person were a family member: "When I was homeless you opened the door/When I was naked you gave me your coat/Now enter into the home of your Father."

But in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, many believe Houston televangelist Joel Osteen didn't get God's memo. As thousands of residents displaced from their homes scramble to find shelter, Osteen didn't open the doors to his 16,800-square-foot Lakewood Church — a former arena turned into a massive "mega-church" — in downtown Houston as makeshift shelter for evacuees.

In a city where churches and mosques have opened their doors to provide evacuees shelter, Houston's biggest house of worship is inaccessible.

Also See: Some Of The Many Ways You Can Help Harvey Victims

In the process, the "prosperity gospel" minister has opened the floodgates to criticism and outright condemnation on social media, a torrent of criticism from residents of a city under deluge. Osteen's tweeted message telling followers of his prayers for the displaced didn't help matters, chiefly because of that aforementioned 16,800-square-foot building that could've provided more instant relief to the displaced than invocations.

Forget the prayers, many suggested in comments after Osteen's tweet. How about you gimme shelter instead, some suggested. Cash to benefit evacuees or relief organizations would be nice too, others noted. It's worth noting Osteen and his wife live in a $10.5 million mansion in the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston.

The senior pastor at Lakewood Church has amassed his wealth by virtue of his successful ministry that features televised sermons seen by more than 7 million viewer weekly and more than 20 million every month in more than 100 countries. Like other pastors living in mansions (including T.D. Jakes in Dallas), Osteen preaches something called "prosperity gospel," which posits that God Himself would want us to be financially successful — a contradiction to the Biblical admonishment that "the love of money is the root of all evil," as critics have noted.

Responding to the criticism, church officials announced on Facebook the church itself was affected by flooding. But photographs of the church have emerged contradicting that assessment. One journalist filmed a visit to the church showing it was not flooded by Harvey.

Those critics (and new ones emerging in a post-Harvey world) unleashed their fury on social media.

Responding to the torrent of criticism, Osteen released a statement: "We have never closed our doors," he said in the statement quoted by ABC and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We will continue to be a distribution center to those in need. We are prepared to house people once shelters reach capacity. Lakewood will be a value to the community in the aftermath of this storm."

Patch tried reaching Osteen for comment Monday by calling his ministry (the phone number is 888-567-JOEL). Four options are offered depending on the caller's need. Patch pressed the No. 2 option for those needing prayer (we figured a nice invocation might help a journalist struggling to make deadline) only to be told by an automated voice that nobody was available for that purpose due to flooding before being hung up on.

We then pressed the option to buy Osteen-related merchandise, just to check if a live person might come through for that purpose. A person did come on the line (and rather speedily), double checking if we'd like to purchase some sort of 30-day CD collection with daily devotionals. A reporter instead asked to be transferred to a media relations person, only to be told nobody would be available until Tuesday due to flooding.

But how could someone not be available on the phone from media relations, we thought to ask. Also, how is it that the lines to sell merchandise are manned but not the ones for those of us needing prayer? But we opted not to ask such questions, lacking the time to get into it with a sales clerk just doing her job.

We also passed on the CD collection.

Photo: Pat Sullivan/Associated Press