Forget damnation. Joel Osteen wants you to be happy, healthy and wealthy.
By John Frankel
Joel Osteen says his ministry has never been about the money. But the Houston preacher's "prosperity gospel" has struck a chord among the 61% of American Christians who tell pollsters they believe God wants them to be financially prosperous.
"The debate about God and wealth is big and it's getting bigger," says David Van Biema, co-author of this week's cover story in Time magazine titled "Does God Want You to Be Rich?"
Van Biema says the debate is being propelled, at least in part, by Osteen's book, 'Your Best Life Now.' "That book really took the whole question of what's known as prosperity gospel out of a little subculture of evangelicalism and put it out there for everybody," he says.
As pastor of Lakewood Church, Osteen has attracted one of the nation's biggest congregations. And with his best-selling book and regular appearances on religious broadcasts, Osteen is considered the "most watched preacher" in America.
Religious traditionalist shudder at what they see as the materialism behind the message, but that hasn't deterred Osteen's faithful, 40,000 of whom flock each weekend to nondenominational services in a converted NBA arena.
"Yes, I believe God wants us to succeed and excel," says the boyish and soft-spoken son of a Pentecostal preacher. "That doesn't mean we're all going to be millionaires or that you're going to be the president of your company. But I believe God wants you to rise higher than your parents."
Success has come quickly for the 43-year-old Osteen and his wife, Victoria. Osteen was operating cameras in the Houston church where his father preached at the time of his father's death from a heart attack, in 1999. Osteen, who didn't finish college and never attended seminary, says there was no doubt that he'd succeed his father as senior pastor.
The younger Osteen's message of positive thinking and living was apparently just what the congregation wanted.
The church had 6,000 congregants and an annual budget of $10 million when Osteen took over. In the seven years since, the budget has ballooned to $75 million. Weekly collections bring in $1 million, and another $20 million arrives each year in the mail.
The income allowed the church last summer to take on a 30-year lease and allocate more than $90 million to renovate the former Compaq Center where the Houston Rockets used to play.
"I'm just overwhelmed by it," Osteen says of his meteoric success. "I tell Victoria all the time -– you know, we don't feel any different -- but, you know what, this is something unusual happening. I just believe that faith in America is at an all-time high and that God's just doing big things."
His weekly TV broadcast is the "No. 1 inspirational program nationally," according to his Web site. But the big bucks come from books. "Your Best Life Now," published by Warner Faith, has been a best-seller since 2004. Osteen has signed a book deal with Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, that could bring him more than $10 million for a follow-up.
Investing in the message
The proceeds from his writings allowed Osteen to stop taking his $200,000-a-year salary from the church.
"I'm glad that people are willing to invest in this message," Victoria Osteen says of the 4 million or so buyers of "Your Best Life Now." "And I believe this (as-yet-untitled) book is going to be even greater than his first book."
The new book will no doubt help the Lakewood Church bookstore expand on its $3.5 million in annual sales. But the Osteens say that's not why the follow-up book is being written.
"We know, like anybody else, to use the media, to use every avenue that we can to reach the public," Joel Osteen says.
Osteen is certainly savvy about marketing. It was he who first put his father's sermons on TV. Lakewood Church today features a state-of-the-art production wing that allows Osteen's can-do message to be seen in every U.S. market and in 150 other countries.
Osteen has done more than anyone to spread the prosperity gospel into the Christian mainstream, says journalist Van Biema. His article in Time cites a recent survey that found 61% of American Christians believe God wants them to be financially prosperous. "The more shocking finding from the study is that 31% of Christians think that if you give God money now He will return it to you later, in spades, so to speak," Van Biema says.
"That really is not part of standard, orthodox Christianity," adds Van Biema. "There had been some brakes on (Christianity) moving toward materialism, but those brakes are gradually being released and you're seeing more and more people saying 'Well, why wouldn't God want us to be rich in this lifetime.'"
"When Christianity becomes as materialistic as the culture at large then you lose that counterweight, and there's really not as much holding it back, so that seems a little bit dismaying," Van Biema says.
