Plumber Finds Thousands of Cash Envelopes Stuffed Inside Toilet Wall at Joel Osteen’s Megachurch
The discovery came seven years after $600,000 worth of checks and cash were reported stolen from Joel Osteen’s church.

Reuters/John Gress
A plumber made a shocking discovery when fixing a toilet wall at televangelist Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Houston last month—thousands of envelopes stuffed full of cash and checks. According to KRPC Channel 2, a plumber named Justin called into a morning radio show this week to discuss the discovery he made when he was called out to the church on Nov. 1o. “There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile,” he said. “We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like ‘Oh wow!’” The plumber went on to say that around 3,000 envelopes stuffed with cash were recovered. In a statement, Lakewood Church confirmed the discovery of an “undisclosed amount of cash” during plumbing works and said the Houston Police Department had been notified. The revelation comes seven years after $600,000 worth of checks and cash were reported stolen from the church in 2014. No arrests were made at the time.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.