At this point, pretty much everyone knows who Joel Osteen is and what he represents. He’s an American pastor based in Houston, Texas, with a televised church program that reaches approximately 10 million viewers across the United States. Joel’s gained success by preaching weekly sermons and publishing a long list of best-selling books over the years. As an author, Joel Osteen published his first book, Your Best Life Now, in October 2004, which reached the first position on The New York Times Best Seller list. His second book is Become a Better You, published in October 2007.
The famous evangelist Joel Osteen is the son of John Osteen and Dolores ‘Dodie’ Pilgrim Osteen, who were also pastors. Joel Osteen’s father, John, handed over his post as a pastor to Joel before his 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ by a heart attack in January 1999.
Joel Osteen’s Parents Are The Founders Of Lakewood Church
John and Dodie Osteen, Joel Osteen’s parents, founded The Lakewood Church in 1959, where Joel Osteen serves as a senior pastor in the present. The Osteen couple started their Church in an abandoned, dusty feed store in Northeast Houston for charismatic Baptists. The congregation soon omitted Baptist from its name and became open for everyone.
Joel Osteen’s father, John Osteen’s work for God, began in 1939. In 1939, he started preaching about God in Paris and Texas. Eventually, a church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention ordained him to the gospel ministry, shortly before becoming 18 years old. Later, John served as an assistant pastor at First Baptist Church in San Diego, Texas. By the late 1940s, he got the post of a minister at First Baptist Church, Hamlin, Texas.
John Osteen served as the pastor of the Central Baptist Church in Baytown, Texas, before creating the Lakewood Church. He resigned as pastor of the Central Baptist Church in 1955 and went to work as a pastor at Hibbard Memorial Baptist Church, which he departed in 1958. Lisa Osteen, John and Dodie’s firstborn, arrived in their lives with serious health difficulties the same year.
Dodie Osteen Is A 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟 Survivor
Dodie Osteen, the matriarch of America’s beloved Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, used a terminal cancer diagnosis and turned it into a testimony of God’s faithfulness that she’s been sharing with the world for more than 38 years. With no hope from the medical practitioners, her spouse, John Osteen said to the doctors that they have faith in miracles and the miracle worker, i.e., Jesus. The Osteen couple went home to pray and seek God’s help.
In fact, Dodie Osteen was the first to say not to do necessarily what she did. She said one must seek God and do what brings peace in one’s mind as peace is the barometer for what one needs to do in any circumstance. After returning home, Dodie’s close friends and relatives prayed for her.
According to Dodie, one night, she heard God telling her heart that others’ faith will not heal her. Instead, it’s Dodie’s faith that she must go on that time. So, she started living her life as if she was not sick and prayed fervently. So, as per Dodie, she got healthier since then, and a few years later, finally, doctors also confirmed that she was healthy like a young woman. According to Osteen’s family and her doctors, she healed supernaturally, which is the only clarification.
Joel Osteen’s Mother Is His Father’s Second Wife
You might be surprised to know that Dodie Osteen, aka Dolores Pilgrim, is not the first wife of John Osteen. In fact, before taking the wedding vows with Joel Osteen’s mother, Dodie Osteen, John was in a marital relationship with Emma Jean Shaffer.
According to John Osteen’s biography, after accepting the position of pastor at the Central Baptist Church in Baytown, John and Emma began to have marital problems. They started having marital problems, which eventually led to their divorce. Joel Osteen’s father, John Osteen, married his mother, Dodie, a few months later, on September 17, 1954. John and Dodie Osteen spent a beautiful life together as husband and wife until John’s death in 1999.
Parents To Five Children Including Joel Osteen
Joel Osteen’s parents, John Osteen and Dodie Osteen are parents to five children, including Paul Osteen, Lisa Osteen, and April Osteen. All of their children actively participate in God’s service and the Church’s events.
Besides, Dodie and John Osteen also have nineteen grandchildren, including Alexandra Osteen and Jonathan Osteen, and five great-grandchildren. On her social media accounts, Dodie Osteen frequently posts images of her children, grandkids, and their children. She appears to be making the most of her senile years by spending time with her children and attending Church Ministries activities.
