Joel Osteen defends megachurch’s Harvey relief work

The Houston megachurch led by pastor and televangelist Joel Osteen began taking in storm evacuees Tuesday in addition to collecting and distributing supplies for flood victims. Lakewood Church, known as having the largest congregation in the United States, occupies a 16,800-seat former sports arena. The church posted on its Facebook page Sunday that it was inaccessible due to flooding, prompting a debate among social media users over whether Lakewood was abandoning the needy during the crisis. On Monday, the church announced it would be a distribution site for donations, and Tuesday it said it had reached maximum capacity for volunteers. In an interview with NBC’s Today show on Wednesday, Osteen said Lakewood coordinated its efforts with Houston city officials, who did not ask the church to serve as a shelter at first. “Once they filled up [other shelters]—they never dreamed that we’d have this many displaced people—they asked us to become a shelter,” Osteen said.

See “Harvey Relief” for information on organizations assisting victims affected by the storm.