Fact Check:
Mega Church Pastor Makes $54 Million A Year And Drives a $270K Ferrari 458 Italia
There always seem to be rumors swirling about prosperity pastor Joel Osteen and his mega Houston church, Lakewood Church. After all, the church is one of the largest in the country and rakes in more than $90 million a year from donations, as of December 2021, according to Click 2 Houston. Osteen’s “prosperity gospel” has rubbed some people the wrong way.
Lakewood is housed in a 600,000-square-foot former sports stadium that has a 17,000-person seating capacity.
“Pastor Joel Osteen pays himself an annual salary of $54,000,000 from his church profits. He had a custom garage built with 20 car stalls for each of his custom vehicles. His favorite is a Ferrari 458 Italia that cost $270,000. He lives in a 70,000 sq ft mansion,” Cleere’s tweet reads.
It continues, “In the New Testament, four different times, Jesus tells his followers always to pay their taxes. Why is it in the United States that churches don’t have to pay taxes? The IRS figures if all churches paid their fair share of 15% taxes that, it would total over $2 trillion a year. More than enough to solve the homelessness in this country since it looks like these Pastors would rather spend your donations on New Cars instead of feeding the hungry.”