Joel Osteen

Joel Scott Hayley Osteen (born March 5, 1963 in Houston, Texas) is the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, North America’s largest and 2006's fastest growing church, averaging more than 47,000 attendees at weekly services. He is married to Victoria Osteen, who serves as co-pastor. The Lakewood was formerly the arena of the Houston Rockets and the nearby Interstate has ramps designed especially to bring people to this facility. Osteen credits that design to the act-of-God.

Joel Osteen was featured as one of Barbara Walters' "10 Most Fascinating People of 2006" and was named "Most Influential Christian in America" in 2006 by churchreport.com. He is also the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Your Best Life Now. It reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list, and has sold more than four million copies since its release in October 2004. The book is available in 19 languages. His television ministry is the most watched inspirational program in the United States.His second book, Become a Better You, was released in October 2007 with a first printing of three million copies.

Osteen married Victoria L. Iloff on 4 April 1987. They have two children, Jonathan and Alexandra. Joel, son of John and Dodie Osteen, is one of six children. His elder siblings, Paul, Lisa, Tamara and his younger sister April, are also involved in full-time ministry. Joel's half-brother, Justin, does missionary work out of New York, is his father's son from his first marriage which ended in a divorce.[citation needed] Joel's father, John Osteen, a former Southern Baptist pastor who became Charismatic in the late 1950s, founded Lakewood Church on Mother's Day, 1959. Osteen's father developed Lakewood into a body of approximately 6,000 members with an active television ministry, crusades, conferences, missionary support and food distribution. He died of a heart attack in 1999.

Joel attended Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma but dropped out. After 17 years with his father producing the church's television program, Joel succeeded his father on October 3, 1999 as pastor of Lakewood Church. Joel had only preached once in his life, the week before his father's death. Today, Lakewood Church services, led by Pastor Osteen, are seen in over 100 nations around the world.

Joel Osteen's first book, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, was released in October 2004. Soon after publication, it was ranked at the top of the New York Times Bestseller's list and continues to be among the top 10 best selling books (as of May 28, 2006). As well as being the center of several print and television news stories, Osteen was featured as the cover story of Texas Monthly Magazine in August 2005. In December 2006, he was named one of the year's "Ten Most Fascinating People" by Barbara Walters.

Presently, Osteen and several Lakewood Church team members travel across the nation, presenting programs in large stadiums to a paying public. The event titled "An Evening with Joel Osteen: A Night of Inspiration, Encouragement and Hope," includes worship music led by Lakewood Church Music Director Cindy Cruse Ratcliff as well as a sermon from Pastor Osteen. In 2007, the tour expanded to include stops in several other countries, including Canada, England, Ireland and Israel. Osteen released his second book, entitled Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day in October 2007 under Simon & Schuster publishing. Osteen told Larry King the new book will focus more on relationships and not getting stuck where we are in life. "Just my basic message of becoming all God's created you to be," he added.