Joel Osteen Biography, Net Worth, Family And Ministry

Joel Osteen Biography, Net Worth, Family And Ministry.

American Christian preacher, televangelist, businessman, and author Joel Scott Osteen was born on March 5, 1963, and he currently resides in Houston, Texas. One of the most well-known names connected with prosperity theology is Osteen, who is well-known for his weekly televised services and multiple best-selling books.

Childhood and family

Joel Osteen, one of the six children of John and Dolores (“Dodie”) Pilgrim, was born in Houston, Texas. In the rear of a disused feed shop, his father, a former Southern Baptist minister, created Lakewood Church, of which Osteen is the current senior pastor. He obtained his high school diploma from Humble High School, a public high school in Humble, Texas.

He enrolled at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1981 to study radio and television communications, but he did not complete his studies and did not get a divinity school degree. He moved back to Houston in 1982, started the Lakewood television show, and for 17 years—until his father tragically passed away from a heart attack in January 1999—produced his father’s televised sermons.

Private life

Victoria Osteen (née Iloff), who eventually became the co-pastor of Lakewood Church, and Osteen were married on April 4, 1987. They have a daughter and a boy. His half brother Justin was serving on a mission in 2002, along with his older siblings Paul, Lisa, and Tamara, as well as his younger sister April.

Osteen maintains a 17,000-square-foot, $10.5 million estate in River Oaks, where he resides with his family. Osteen claims that despite the church having an annual budget of $70 million, he does not get a salary as senior pastor and instead depends on proceeds from book sales.