Even as he was making his father’s church more successful than ever throughout the mid-1990s, Osteen quietly grew frustrated with his father’s reluctance to expand as aggressively as Joel would have liked. “My dad didn’t have it in him. He just wouldn’t feel comfortable with that.” (In fact, Lakewood’s rapid expansion has put it $45 million in debt, thanks to a $75 million bank loan that is still far from being paid off.)

Nevertheless, though three of his siblings were actively involved in the ministry, Osteen never considered taking the pulpit. “He was so uncomfortable onstage,” recalls Phil Cooke, a producer and consultant at Lakewood. “He was very uncomfortable in public. He always loved being behind the scenes.”

One Sunday, Osteen agreed to deliver the sermon. He doesn’t know why and to this day asserts it was a kind of divine intervention, “a strong feeling of God” that compelled him to say yes to his father after saying no so many times. The story is often told of how Osteen gave his first sermon on January 17, 1999, as his father, who was suffering from kidney failure, lay in a hospital bed listening to it over the telephone. John Osteen passed away less than a week later.

Joel Osteen’s ascension to the pulpit was fraught with uncertainty. He was so nervous about taking over the ministry that he canceled the time slots he had purchased for his father, assuming that no one would want to watch the telecast anymore. Victoria vetoed that. “You call them back right now,” she told him. He did and stayed on the air. At first, Osteen explains, he just wanted to maintain Lakewood’s 5,000-person congregation. It soon became clear, however, that not only was the congregation not shrinking, but the television audience was actually growing. Osteen was proving himself a natural, more personable than his father, easy on the eyes, with a kinder, softer voice.

While Osteen’s message wins over the moderate masses, he has become anathema to more-traditional Southern Baptists. His appearance on Larry King Live in 2005, during which he waffled as to whether heaven was barred to Jews, Muslims, and atheists, was posted on YouTube as proof that Osteen doesn’t embrace the Gospel. And while Osteen is steadfastly Christian, he defers to God on the more contentious issues, recusing himself from condemning gays, for instance, or women who have had abortions.

Spending time with Osteen and his team, one can sense their discomfort when issues that could anger more-­doctrinaire Christians are raised. Don Iloff, his brother-in-law and chief of communications, almost winces when I ask Osteen his views on intelligent design versus evolution. “I believe that God created it all,” Osteen says as he stakes out his usual middle ground. “I don’t know if it’s six literal days or 6 million years.”

Osteen’s message of prosperity doesn’t always go over well either. Fellow megapastor Rick Warren has called the idea that God wants everybody to be rich “baloney.” And some conservative Christian ministers have been quick to dismiss Osteen as a lightweight or, worse, a heretic. Osteen adamantly believes that “God wants to give you your own house,” explaining, “He’s not having financial difficulties. He owns it all.”

Much of the criticism of Lakewood, no doubt, stems from resentment at Osteen’s ministering to the largest and most financially successful church in America. He certainly makes an easy target, with the talk-show-host grin, the gelled hair, the bleached teeth, and the jocular manner. But there is no denying that his message, and his marketing of that message, is getting out to the world while so many other pastors are preaching to empty pews. Osteen dismisses the notion that he has watered down the Scriptures to win over worshippers. “It’s who we are,” he says. “The accessibility of my message doesn’t bother me a bit. Look, we deal with people who are fighting cancer, fighting to save their marriages, dealing with the death of loved ones. I don’t think they need to be beaten down. And I think the success of the message in the marketplace is because we are optimistic, encouraging.”

Phil Cooke, a longtime colleague and the author of Branding Faith, says, “Oprah has a brand, Nike has a brand, and Joel Osteen has a brand. Joel has made his brand the inspiration brand.”