The Heartbreaking Loss Joel Osteen Endured Days After His Fateful First Sermon
“I thought, ‘What are the coincidences of me speaking the last Sunday of his life?’”
As the leader of the country’s largest Protestant church, it might be hard to imagine Joel Osteen as anything other than a public figure followed by millions. But Osteen actually never wanted to be in front of the pulpit, he told Oprah on “SuperSoul Sunday.”
Osteen was raised in the church, a Baptist congregation founded by his father in 1959. While the elder Osteen stood confidently in front of the parishioners and preached week after week, Joel worked happily behind the scenes for 17 years. He always turned down his father’s requests to step onto the stage. Then, in January of 1999, things changed.
