Joel Osteen's megachurch robbed of Ksh52M in one weekend's donations

                               Joel Osteen                                   Photo: salon.com

Joel Osteen is one of the renowned American preachers in the USA.

Osteen is also a televangelist, author and the senior pastor of Lakewood Church, which is one of the largest Protestant churches in Houston, Texas.

According to Christianpost.com the robbery that took place in the Lakewood Church about two weeks ago saw the church lose $600,000 (roughly Ksh52M). The donations were stolen in cash, cheques and envelopes with written credit card information for a one weekend service.

The money was in the church safe and was discovered missing after a Lakewood employee noticed that the safe had been broken into.

A message sent to its congregants informing them of the robbery read:

"We were heartbroken to learn today that funds were stolen from the church over the weekend. This includes cash, checks and envelopes containing written credit card information, and it is limited only to those funds contributed in the church services on Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9, 2014."

The Church, in a statement to its congregants said that it was only the physical donation that was affected. The statement continued:

"It is important to note this was not an electronic data breach, but was instead limited to donations made in the services on March 8 and 9, 2014. You were not affected if you put your offering in a drop box, you gave online or through other electronic means, or you made a bookstore purchase."

According to Christianpost.com, the police have not yet arrested anyone in connection to the theft but a reward of $25,000 (roughly Shs2.1M) is being offered by the Church on anyone with clues to the robbery.

The church’s funds are however insured, therefore the insurance company will restore the stolen funds.

This revelation sparked a lot of different reactions with many raising questions on how much Joel Osteen is really worth. Newsmax.com approximated the church's total year income from the donations to around $32 million (roughly Shs2.8 billion).

While some felt sympathetic to the theft, others wondered whether the Church was a Casino.

                                                                                        Courtesy: newsmax.com