Dolores ‘Dodie’ Osteen, who in 1959 co-founded Houston’s Lakewood Church with her late husband John, died July 30 of natural causes at her home, according to Joel Osteen, the megachurch’s pastor.
She was 91.
“It is with a heavy heart that Victoria and I, along with our family, announce the passing of our cherished mother and grandmother, Dolores ‘Dodie’ Osteen,” Joel wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “She was the beloved matriarch of Lakewood Church, an inspiration to millions of people around the world, and a faithful servant of God. Known as ‘Mama Dodie’ to the entire Lakewood family, together, we celebrate her amazing life and lasting legacy.”
She was previously Dodie Pilgrim, a nursing student in nearby Baytown, Texas, who had survived polio as a child. She fell in love with John Osteen, a divorced man 12 years her senior, who had a son, Justin, from his first marriage. They married in 1954, when she was 21, and she had the first of her five children a year later.
Then in 1958, their newborn daughter Lisa was diagnosed “with a crippling disease similar to cerebral palsy,” as the daughter later told it. The news, along with the expectation that baby Lisa would never walk, talk, or eat or drink on her own, drove her parents to their knees in search of supernatural healing.
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They decided to follow biblical instructions to anoint the child with oil and pray over her each day, and the baby miraculously got better. After that happened and Osteen became more associated with the nascent charismatic movement, his new beliefs split his congregation, Hibbard Memorial Baptist in Houston.
The couple, along with about 100 Hibbard members, left to found Lakewood, first landing in a high school auditorium, then a vacant feed barn. Dodie Osteen would later say the controversy cost what she considered lifelong friendships.
By the 1970s, Lakewood had become associated by critics with the controversial prosperity gospel, though this emphasis became more pronounced when Joel Osteen assumed leadership of the church in 1999. The prosperity gospel teaches that material wealth and physical health are often divine rewards for faith and financial giving to religious causes.
While consistently disclaiming the “prosperity gospel” label, Joel Osteen has emphasized a message of God’s favor for those who believe. In a 2013 “Night of Hope” appearance at Hershey, Pennsylvania, he emphasized the need for “a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” and invited the audience to attend one of the local churches whose pastors he’d invited to the platform.
The healing of baby Lisa — today, Lisa Osteen Comes, an associate pastor at Lakewood who’s healthy and married with children — was not the last encounter the family would have with miraculous healing.
In December 1981, Mrs. Osteen was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer. Physicians told her she had weeks to live and should set her affairs in order, down to planning her funeral service.
Both she and husband John rejected the doctor’s verdict. As her husband prayed for healing as they lay prostrate at the foot of their bed, they found comfort in Nahum 1:9, which says “affliction shall not rise up the second time.”
“I remember so, so well,” Mrs. Osteen told The Washington Times in October 2023, when she turned 90, recalling her husband’s prayer. “He said, ‘Father, I need her; Jesus, you need her, the children need her, and the church needs her.’”
Mrs. Osteen did not falter in her belief for healing, praying as she walked to collect the mail and around her home. She posted Bible verses about healing as well as photos of herself in good health.
Three weeks after that prayer, Dodie Osteen stood at the Lakewood Church pulpit and prayed for the sick. She continued to do so for decades, drawing visitors to the world- famous congregation.
“People come from all over the world to have my mother pray for them,” Joel Osteen told the Times. “Once a month, she has (a) prayer service. It’s a huge part of who we are. My mom loves to pray.”
Mrs. Osteen said in 2023, “I love to pray for the sick. I went through cancer and Jesus healed me in 1981, and I’m telling you, if I hadn’t prayed for the sick all these years, I don’t know what I would have done. It’s just my life. I just live to pray for people.”
Her oldest son, Paul Osteen, a surgeon and now a medical missionary for Lakewood, told this reporter in 2023 he had no doubt his mother’s condition was life-threatening.
“I was there, and I saw the results of the scans and I saw the results of the biopsy,” Dr. Osteen said. “I know it wasn’t a misdiagnosis. Mama just didn’t get over something. She had a diagnosis from a reputable institution of cancer that had metastasized to her liver.
“So I mean, people just don’t survive that. She had multiple lesions that are different. . . . It’s just a remarkable miracle. It’s one of those things you can’t explain other than just to say, ‘God healed her.’”
Just as the Osteen family grew to include daughters April and Tamara and youngest son Joel, Lakewood’s church family expanded, hitting 8,000 members by the time John Osteen died in 1999. Joel, already accomplished behind the scenes as head of television production, stepped forward to pastor the church.
For more than 20 years, Lakewood has met in the former Compaq Center arena, a venue that now seats 16,800. It’s generally packed each weekend for three services, one in Spanish and two in English. Lakewood’s media presence is nearly ubiquitous, airing services via YouTube, Facebook, Roku, Apple TV and SiriusXM satellite radio, the latter broadcasting Joel Osteen’s messages 24/7.
Along with son Joel and daughter-in-law Victoria, Mrs. Osteen is survived by Paul Osteen and wife Jennifer; Lisa Osteen Comes and husband Kevin; Tamara Graff and husband Jim; and daughter April Osteen Simons, as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The church did not immediately disclose memorial service arrangements.
Mark A. Kellner is a reporter based in Mesquite, Nevada. He most recently covered statewide elections for the New York Post and was for three years the Faith & Family Reporter for The Washington Times. Mark is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands and also attended Boston University’s College of Communication.
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31 Responses
She was an amazing woman. She remembered everyone she met, she remembered their names and prayed for each one and their families. She hand wrote letters to people, she would cry with you when you were down. She told everyone she met about Jesus. She visited people in the hospital every week as part of her healing ministry. Even in her late 80’s she would get in her car and drive around the 610 loop to pray for Houston. She rarely missed a service in 66 years. From the very beginning in 1959 in the old feedstore, when segregation was common, she and John welcomed everyone. To this day, Lakewood is the most diverse church in the country. She leaves a legacy of love. She was a great hero of faith and she will be greatly missed.
Amen. Forget the controversies about healing, charismatic gifts and prosperity gospel teaching. Dodie Osteen was well loved and will be greatly missed in Houston.
One wonders if the false teachers the apostle Paul spoke about and contended with where given character references because of their external mannerism. 🤔
Have meet real estate agents and car salesman who could remember names and socially engaged better than Dale Carnegie. 🤔
Funny how church and ministry is directly or indirectly seen another customer and consumer enterprise.
Right….because why be kind to people in the church when we can be condemning and condescending? I’m tired of watching people who are so impressed with their own ability to debate scripture, but are so judgmental and arrogant that all they do beat people up for not living up to their own personal piety. I believe in the Bible they were called Pharisees.
Written so eloquently. You know how to put two and two together.
Hear what you’re saying and the temptation to be a dogmatic Pharisee aways needs to be checked.
That said, people can and should call out overt misuse of the gospel, more so if the gospel is in one way or another utilised to abuse, exploit, insight, make profit, and give status to self & one’s personal enterprises.
Yes, even towards those people who smile and have wonderful social skills. There are some things that are above good manners. 🤔
The issue is in what spirit a truth is expressed and how it is done. After all, silence and indifference in the presence of untruth can be complicity.
Great woman of prayer who truly loved to bless others- they all prayed over the doors of the church daily even when things looked bleak (praying for people who would pass through them. )
We knew missionaries from their church before we ever heard of Lakewood beyond what our friends told us. Very devoted to prayer.
It is said that the heretic Arius was very well liked. His opponent Athanasius was not well liked. But Athanasius was right in claiming Jesus was the Eternal Son of God. He wasn’t sure what it meant that Jesus was begotten, but he did say,”begotten didn’t mean made or created”. Notice in the Nicene Creed it actually says,”begotten not made”.
AMEN Much love & prayers to the Osteen family
Condolences to Joel & his family. Joel is the 1st preacher who started bringing me back to GOD w/his kind tone in his voice & easy to comprehend sermons after John MacCarthur in late 70’s @ GCC completely started condemning me & my mom & kids thru his judgemental harsh tones& content speaking up from his pulpit.Any woman who produces a great guy like her son Joel who was a catalyst for me to come back to church & Christ is a great woman & mom in my eyes. May she be the most beautiful angel in heaven.
“…a great guy like her son Joel”????
He pushes what we fondly refer to as :Prosperity HERESY”!!!
The other mistaken theology in your statement, Laura, is this: Nowhere does the Bible say we humans will become angels in Heaven!
I would urge you to get to know the Bible more.
I was healed 3 times from.cancer without chemo. Has surgery.instead and lots of prayer. Recently I was gravely ill.bc of dr neglect. I told God if he got me walking I would not sue. I am walking and now driving. I give God the Glory.
That is called ‘Remission’. That happens to even the ‘ungodly’. AKA Non believers.
I’m pleased and touched to read a very positive article and comments about the Osteen Family. It’s a good lesson….they have been about their Father’s business.
Isn’t it interesting that the only people that benefit from the prosperity gospel are the Elmer Gantrys that do the entertaining err sorry preaching. Using their logic every body in Osteen or Copeland or et al should all be rich beyond their dreams. I guess Bezos and musk and Rockefellers and Rothschilds are all benefiting from there prosperity gospel beliefs. Yeahhh. Wow I feel so cheated all I do is give to the poor and homeless shelters. I guess I now know where to start focusing. Hey Osteen anybody figure out where 600k the plumber in the bathroom wall came from? It’s must be a miracle. I’ll stick with the humble poor guy named Jesus.
No where in the Bible does it say Jesus was poor.
Then reread it. He was a humble carpenter who rode donkeys. Meaning Toyotas vs Mercedes.
Absolutely correct. However, many take this to mean that there is something wrong or unGodly about having wealth. That teaching is just as unBiblical as saying scripture means all believers are to have wealth (e.g., a prosperity gospel).
Let’s remember some of the major prophets throughout scripture were men of wealth – Abraham, Joseph, and David come to mind. Jesus also was buried due to a wealthy man (Joseph of Arimathea) taking financial responsibility for it.
There is NOTHING wrong, evil, or unBiblical about having wealth. There is a problem with letting wealth have you.
Thank you and agree. But our alleged Christians of wealth could sell half of what they have, give to helpless moms and kids in the neighborhoods and still live comfortably. When entertainers err I mean pastors live in 10,000 plus square feet mansions and insult our sense of fairness and call these homes parsonages it makes my blood boil. My ex brother in law lived in a parsonage. Husband and wife and three kids in a home less than 2000 square feet. That’s called a parsonage. Matt 7: 21-23 to you greedy evil Elmer Gantrys
“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests , but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Doesn’t sound financially & materially prosperous. 🤔 In fact, it could be argued its somewhat extreme privation 😳 and in context, its applicable to being a true disciple of Christ.
And for those who contend with any cognitive dissonance about money and possesions and material security – which isn’t always a bad thing – Jesus did clearly reveal that the only things that transcend this short life and transition to the eternal Kingdom of God, are faith and love and what these two divine virtues entail both now and in the future. 🤔
Jesus rode a donkey in fulfillment of prophecy, not as a sign of humility.
Why can’t readers of the Roys Report simply express their condolences and move along, or better yet, keep it moving. Joel Osteen doesn’t read these comments.
“You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Although he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that you could become rich through his poverty.” 2 Cor 8:9
Nice try. Not rich financially. Do any of you actually read the Bible using someone other the scamvanglists eyes? Copeland is worth 900 million convincing the public to fill HIS coffers and bank accounts. Then abuse the law to not pay taxes. American Christianity has lost its way badly.
“Copeland at 900 million.”
Bezos and Musk are duking it out for the title of “World’s Richest Man” at around 300 BILLION each. Compared to that, Copeland is a rank amateur. Though this is typical of Christianese – Admirals in Rowboats.
2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich”
Wow. None of you get it. So have fun with your fantasy’s that God wants us living in mansions while many in our congregations go hungry. Matt 7:21-23
My mother the wife of a Baptist minister my father, was often struggling with Depression until she started watching & listening to Joel Osteen preach on TV and it would always lift her spirits and the depression off her. So thankful for this man of God who loves and obeys God.
What a wonderful, loving, caring, Godly and compassionate woman she was! She lived a life of Great trust and Faith in Jesus and his healing power! When I had an 18 hour very complex brain surgery and 6 years of intense Rehabilitation, I use to listen to Moma Dodie speak healing scriptures over and over and I’d speak life daily! She helped me get through the worst times of my life, and she never knew how much she helped me! I’ll always hear those prayers and scriptures in my ear, as long as I live! Thank you Moma Dodie for loving others and your faith that helped so many to be strong in their faith too! Love, TAMMY💕
Awwww Dodie promoted to heaven.. God bless her .. we are going to miss her.. she gave us so much hope and inspired us.. I just love her and the entire family.. Onward soliders!!
Many of these comments are coming across as attacks on Joel vs remembering Dodie for who she is, who she impacted, and completing her own walk with the Lord.
We are all responsible for our own walks with God, not for anyone else’s, not even our own children.
Same for sin – we are all responsible for our own sins, not for anyone else’s, not even our own children.
Can we please separate the two?
Did you read her book? She did not credit the growing ministry for her healing.
Mrs. Osteen gave all glory to God. She shared her experience with illness and her divine healing and she taught us all the power of Gods word and His great and precious promises.
Misleading headlines make your work less credible .