Televangelist Joel Osteen cancelled Sunday services at his Houston megachurch but was reluctant to reopen its doors to Harvey victims — despite the fact that thousands of flooded-out residents are desperately seeking shelter.
The perpetually smiling pastor told followers on Twitter on Monday to lean on their faith.

“Jesus promises us peace that passes understanding,” he wrote. “That’s peace when it doesn’t make sense.”

He later tweeted a message seeking flood-relief donations to his church.
“You have taken so much money away from your people to live like a king,” entertainment publicist Danny Deraney blasted. “It’s the least you could do.”

Ministry spokesman Donald Iloff had claimed that the property is inaccessible because of surrounding waters.

Osteen was prompted to respond to the criticism. “We have never closed our doors,” he said in a statement quoted by ABC and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We will continue to be a distribution center to those in need. We are prepared to house people once shelters reach capacity.”

Washington, D.C.–based writer Charles Clymer tweeted pictures of Lakewood Church, which did not appear to be damaged by floods, and later updated his feed with this shot from inside the church, where air mattresses had been laid out apparently meant to receive flood victims.
It makes no sense to open church doors when the city and county are already treating thousands of flood victims at the nearby George R. Brown Convention Center, according to Iloff.

“It has everything inside there — medicine, doctors, places to sleep,” Iloff said of the convention center. “It’s amazing what they’re doing there to make people comfortable.”

Lakewood is a nondenominational church hosting some 52,000 attendees weekly and is one of the largest congregations in the U.S.