Joel Osteen's Church Opens to Harvey Evacuees; He Says It Was Never Closed

After being shamed on social media, not-so-gay-friendly Pastor Joel Osteen has opened his Houston megachurch for storm relief, and he and his staff deny that the church was ever closed.

The 606,000-square-foot Lakewood Church began taking in evacuees from Tropical Storm Harvey Tuesday afternoon, and volunteers were distributing supplies there and to other sites where displaced residents had taken shelter, The Washington Post reports.

Osteen received much criticism Monday for not sheltering evacuees at the church. He posted on social media Monday that the building was inaccessible due to flooding, but pictures showed no flooding in the church's entrance or parking lot that day. Spokesman Don Iloff, who is also Osteen's father-in-law, told the Post the pictures were taken after water had receded. Photos provided by the church to CNN showed standing water inside.

Angry responses included this tweet from Greg Locke, pastor of the Global Vision Bible Church in Tennessee: "Joel Osteen, as a Pastor you have a huge obligation to show the love of Christ at this very moment. OPEN THE DOORS."

But Lakewood Church was never closed, Iloff told the Post. "This is crazy," he said. "People are saying we've locked the church. The church has been open from the beginning, but it's not designated as a shelter." It was designated as a shelter Tuesday, and 100 air mattresses were set up for evacuees on the second floor, the paper reports. Iloff said the first floor is prone to flooding and would be unsafe as a shelter.

During the weekend, Iloff said, maintenance workers at the church were instructed to assist people looking for shelter. Only three evacuees made it to the church before today, he said. It was designated Monday as a distribution center for emergency supplies, according to Iloff.

Osteen, who is to some degree a proponent of the "prosperity gospel" -- the concept that God will help his followers gain wealth -- has a spotty record on social issues, including LGBT issues. He is not as outspokenly anti-LGBT as, say, Franklin Graham or Pat Robertson, but he has said that homosexuality is a sin -- although he has also said that gay people can go to heaven, as no one can become totally free of sin. And John Gray, an associate pastor at Lakewood Church, is known for his social media comments disparaging LGBT people.