Kanye West and Jay-Z may be over, but the friendship between Kanye and Joel Osteen is just beginning.
Osteen, the ultra-famous televangelist whose megachurch sermons are viewed by millions of people each week, has been in regular communication with West in recent months, according to TMZ: “They’ve become friends, especially since Kanye has doubled down in his devotion to God.”
The budding bromance will reportedly make its public debut during Osteen’s 11 AM service inside the Lakewood Church in Houston. West, who is currently considering changing his name to “Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West,” will sit down with Osteen for a 20- to 30-minute conversation about his journey to faith.
Also in tow will be Kanye’s traveling choir, and he’s slated to perform with them during the Sunday evening service.
Lakewood boasts a 45,000-person congregation in addition to its massive TV audience, which typically sees viewership of seven to 10 million people per week in the United States alone. Those numbers will almost certainly spike thanks to West’s appearance.
Although Osteen, a Texas native, has a very different background from Chicago-bred West, the two do have some similarities: Both men dropped out of college before pursuing the careers that would ultimately make both of them household names, albeit for pretty different reasons.
Both are also firm believers that monetary wealth is a reward from God: “It’s God’s will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty,” Osteen, whose net worth is estimated around $50 million, has said. “It’s God’s will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt.”
West has voiced similar sentiments, recently crediting his Christianity as the reason why he received a $68 million tax refund this year: “People say, ‘Oh, don’t talk about these numbers.’ No, people need to hear that someone that had been put into debt by the system talk about these kind of numbers now that they’re in service to Christ.”
It’s unclear whether West’s wife and children will join him in Texas for the sermon and performance. They are typically present for the rapper’s weekly Sunday service, which has grown exponentially in size throughout 2019 and regularly welcomes high-profile celebrity guests among its attendees.
Source: TMZ