In March 2014, as reported by the Houston Chronicle, Lakewood Church leaders sent an email to more than 40,000 church members announcing that over $600,000 dollars had been stolen from the megachurch, including $200,000 in cash, $400,000 in checks, and envelopes containing members’ credit card information. The money and information was taken from a safe and the church noted that everything stolen had been donated to Lakewood during church services that took place on March 8 and March 9. A church employee noticed and reported the missing funds on the morning of Monday, March 10. There was no online data breach, and as Lakewood explained in a statement, “The funds were fully insured, and we are working with our insurance company to restore the stolen funds to the church.” The Houston Police Department declined to comment further.
Over seven-and-a-half years later, the Houston Chronicle again reported on the case, which had gone cold in the preceding years. On the morning of Thursday, December 2, 2021, a plumber only identified as “Justin” called in to a talk show on Houston country radio station 100.3 The Bull and discussed on-air the recent discovery he’d made while doing some work in Lakewood Church: around 500 envelopes hidden in a bathroom behind tiles and insulation. “I think it was about four weeks ago I was doing some plumbing work at the Lakewood Church and I discovered money in the wall that was stolen back in 2014,” claimed the caller.
