Is Joel Osteen's Houston megachurch offering Harvey relief? He says yes.

Pastor Joel Osteen.
(Image credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

Houston megachurch pastor Joel Osteen has come under fire after claims that his Lakewood Church, which meets in a stadium that seats 16,000, is not offering refuge for victims of Tropical Storm Harvey flooding despite having the space to do so. In a Monday statement to ABC News, however, Osteen denied the accusations, saying Lakewood is "prepared to house people once shelters reach capacity." "We have never closed our doors," the statement said. "We will continue to be a distribution center for those in need."

The controversy started when Osteen's initial public response to the storm Saturday offered promises of prayer but did not mention any tangible relief efforts:

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.