What Is The Strange Thing A Plumber Found In The Bathroom At Joel Osteen's Mega-Church?

Joel Osteen is back in the news after a plumber found a surprise while working at his Lakewood Church in Houston. More than 50,000 parishioners visit Osteen's mega-church every week, and the popular pastor's Sunday sermons from Lakewood are streamed to 20 million people in more than 100 countries every month, per Celebrity Net Worth. The outlet reported Osteen is worth over $100 million, with some of the pastor's choices raising eyebrows. Osteen and his family live in a 17,000-square-foot home in the River Oaks area of Houston, sitting on nearly 2 acres, per Houston Culture Map,

River Oaks is one of the wealthiest areas in the country, counting former President George H.W. Bush and Sen. Ted Cruz as residents. Olsteen's mansion has six bedrooms, three elevators, and five fireplaces! The Houston pastor's estate has a guest house and pool house. Osteen doesn't take a salary from the church, instead generating income from book royalties and advances, merchandise, and speaking fees. The Lakewood pastor is the author of 14 books, with multiple books hitting the New York Times Best Seller list. Houston Culture Map noted that the pastor hit back at his critics, when Osteen said, "It's God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty." Despite Osteen's explanations, a plumber's discovery in a wall of Osteen's mega-church has everyone raising their eyebrows.

A plumber found hundreds of envelopes containing cash and checks in a wall at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, per NBC News. The plumber explained his discovery on Houston's 100.3 The Bull's morning show, saying, "We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like 'Oh wow!'" The total cash amount found within the mega-church's wall remains unknown, but the plumber said there were "hundreds" of envelopes in the wall and his discovery raises eyebrows for another reason. Over $600,000 in cash and checks disappeared from the Houston church's safe in 2014 and was never found. The Houston Chronicle reported that the police investigation remains open.

It's not the first time Osteen and his church have made headlines regarding financial matters. Osteen returned more than $4 million to the government after news broke that the Lakewood Church was granted a PPP loan of $4.4 million in 2020. Osteen and his mega-church were blasted for accepting the loan, which was designed to help small businesses at the height of the pandemic.