'We were never closed': Joel Osteen's Houston megachurch disputes claims it shut its doors

Joel Osteen, Houston's celebrity televangelist, has been slammed online with accusations that he closed off his 606,000-square-foot megachurch amid a flooding crisis that has displaced thousands of residents.

But Lakewood Church spokesman Don Iloff said the building itself had been flooded, with water getting close to spilling over the facility's floodgate. Taking in a crowd of storm refugees over the weekend would've been unsafe, though Iloff maintained that the church's doors have always been open.

"We were never closed," Iloff told The Washington Post. "This is crazy. People are saying we've locked the church. The church has been open from the beginning, but it's not designated as a shelter."

Water had receded by Monday, and the building was designated as a shelter by Tuesday, Iloff said. He pushed back at critics who say the church should've let people in sooner.

"The problem with that building is it's prone to horrific flooding ... If that building starts to flood, it floods in an instant," he said. "If we had people on the first floor, you'd be writing a whole different story. I'm telling you, it'll be horrific."

Over the weekend, Iloff said a handful of maintenance staff manning the building were instructed to help people looking for shelter. He said only three people made it to the church over the course of the storm. Church officials announced on Monday that the facility will be a collection site for distributing supplies such as diapers, baby formula and baby food to Houston-area shelters.

City officials also have expressed interest in turning the church into a command center, though Iloff said he still does not know what that would entail.

Osteen echoed Iloff, saying in a statement that the church is "prepared to shelter people once the cities and county shelters reach capacity." The nearby 1.9 million-square-foot George R. Brown Convention Center, where displaced residents have flocked over the past few days, swelled beyond its capacity on Monday night, ABC affiliate KTRK reported.

Iloff said that displaced residents will be housed on the second floor, which is basically a wide corridor. Staff started setting up air mattresses on Tuesday morning. Placing people on the first floor, where many of the offices are located, would still be too risky, Iloff said.

"We would be hesitant to put anybody on the first floor as long as there's rain coming ... We got two more days of rain," he said.

Texas officials have confirmed that at least nine people have died in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which has been battering the state since Friday night. Forecasters say up to 20 more inches of rain could fall on Texas and Louisiana by Thursday. Thousands have been rescued from high waters, and officials warn that more would be forced out of their homes.

Osteen was criticized Monday on social media, where people accused him of keeping his church closed during a time of need.

"Joel Osteen, as a Pastor you have a huge obligation to show the love of Christ as this very moment. OPEN THE DOORS," a fellow pastor, Greg Locke, of the Global Vision Bible Church in Tennessee, tweeted on Monday.

Pictures showing the church's entrance and parking lot without any sign of flooding also surfaced Monday afternoon. Those were taken after water had receded, Iloff said, adding that photos from inside and outside the church taken the day before show significant flooding.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Osteen and his wife, Victoria, said: "We are working diligently with the city of Houston to mobilize our many volunteers at shelters around the city as well as various other points of need in and around the Houston area. In addition, we are working with Samaritan's Purse on major relief efforts."

The facility, formerly the Compaq Center that seated 16,000 people and home to the Houston Rockets, was sold to Lakewood Church for $7.5 million in 2010, according to the Houston Chronicle.

When tropical storm Allison hit in 2001, Lakewood Church, then still in its former building in northeast Houston, took in about 5,000 displaced residents, the Associated Press reported.

"We've always been willing to do this," Iloff said. "It's just we're in a different building now, and it has different challenges."

Local congregations have played a crucial role during times of disaster, said Jamie Aten, founder and executive director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College in Illinois. One example was Bethany Church, which used its facility as a distribution center during a flooding crisis last September in Baton Rouge.

"Many times, they're the very first on the ground providing care to those affected," Aten said, adding later: "The buildings that churches have are just one resource. The real resource are the people and their ability to serve. The hope they offer is the real resource, even more so than buildings."

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