Churches in the United States are not looked upon as businesses. You could make a case that Lakewood Church is. Even though megachurches should be treated as a business, they will always be listed as a charity. Therefore, they are exempt in paying taxes.
If you looked at the financials of this church, you would see they are making money. Considering his church can house over 50,000 people on any given Sunday.
Hypothetical situation with 2020 being a normal year with no pandemic.. If Osteen was pulling in 52,000 people each Sunday and at least half of the people put in one dollar for the "collection," obviously the church is taking in $26,000 per Sunday. With 2020 having 52 Sundays, the church would take in $1.3 million in a year. That would never be taxed.
So why is Lakewood Church getting $4.4 million in relief when it's pulling in over a million easy? There are small businesses struggling that need it more than said church.
I went to Bible college in 2006-2007. It was a small privatized Christian college that is now closed. My year in Canada is when everything ceased operations. The final location was in Strathmore, Alberta.
Now, we had a thing called a "worship blitz." Basically, we went to various churches from Saturday-Monday in Calgary. I didn't like the idea. But a couple of churches we went to weren't so bad.
On the Sunday, we went to a service at a megachurch in Calgary at Centre Street church. I hated it. It was a megachurch (a joke was there was a Footlocker in it). The church felt so impersonal. I fell asleep during the service.
Centre Street has a bookstore and a coffee shop. It had theatre seating, big screens, and a big stage. The music and talent of the people playing in worship is one thing. But it seemed overdone.
My point is that it showed me that I don't like megachurches. With Osteen's church being one of the biggest churches in the world and obviously the biggest in the United States, it further cements my dislike.
I bet all the members of this church are just numbers to Osteen. You realistically can't know every single member of the this church.
You might be thinking 52,000 people as week? Yes; 52.000. The building that Lakewood Church is in was a sports and events venue. It used to be the home of the Houston Rockets and other sports teams. The last concert was ZZ Top in 2003 when everything moved to the Toyota Center which opened that year.
Osteen entered into a 30-year lease with the City of Houston. Seven-years later in 2010, Osteen bought the property for a mere $7.5 million. There have been varying reports around that time about how much it would cost and did cost to renovate the p[ace. I seen $29 million amd $75 million. The point is they church had the funds to renovate and purchase the building.
In this New York Post article, a quote from another publication quoted Osteen saying him and his wife don't take salaries. I find that hard to believe. He has published many books that has raked in millions most likely. He achieved his goal of his broadcasts being seen all over the world.
Even if they don't take salaries, they don't need to. The Osteens are multi-millionaires with a $10.5 million mansion. Joel himself is worth $100 million. They have all sorts of money coming in.
Even if they don't take salaries, they don't need to. The Osteens are multi-millionaires with a $10.5 million mansion. Joel himself is worth $100 million. They have all sorts of money coming in.
There are 368 full and part-time staff. The money went to salaries, medical insurance, etc. Burger chain Shake Shack is going to payback the loan they got. I have my doubts that Lakewood Church is going to do that.
I don't know if they did it for free, but Lakewood Church had an Easter service which had Mariah Carey perform and Tyler Perry speak. Kanye West pulled out because of COVID. If they can get big names in music and entertainment and they did pay them (hypothetically), they surely don't need this PPP loan.
I understand that donations maybe down and they want to sustain their staff, but one can presume they are still taking in enough to sustain themselves. There are small businesses and small churches that need the money more than they do.
I understand that donations maybe down and they want to sustain their staff, but one can presume they are still taking in enough to sustain themselves. There are small businesses and small churches that need the money more than they do.
