Posted on 12/20/2005 4:08:06 PM PST by truthandlife
A dispute that involved the wife of Houston's most famous pastor, Joel Osteen, and a Continental Airlines flight attendant ended up delaying a flight for hours Monday. And now, Victoria Osteen's actions on that flight are in the spotlight. Also on ABC13.com: Send us a news tip | RSS feeds | ABC13 E-lert | Info mentioned on air Statements from Lakewood and Continental Following the incident on Continental flight 1602 Monday, both Lakewood Church and Continental Airlines released these statements. The Osteens run the largest church in the nation, so passengers on a Continental flight were shocked Monday when Mrs. Osteen was removed from that flight after a disturbance.
Taking time off from the high profile hustle and bustle of running a mega-church, Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen and his family boarded Continental flight 1602 Monday morning at Houston's big airport. They were bound for the slopes in Colorado.
Their trip was delayed and so was the entire flight by almost two hours. Fellow passengers blame the popular Osteens, specifically Joel's wife, Victoria.
According to passenger accounts, the Osteens were sitting in first class. Soon after the plane's door was closed, the FBI says Victoria Osteen was removed following what Continental would call only a disturbance. The Osteens' spokesman confirms it involved a flight attendant, but that's all. However, one passenger tells Eyewitness News she was alerted to the front of the plane when she heard a commotion.
"She violently ran towards the cockpit, scaring everyone around her," said passenger Knicky Van Slyke. "Everyone was terrified about what was going on. And a bunch of flight attendants ran up and had to restrain her. She was banging on the door."
"Of the cockpit?" we asked.
"Yes."
Passengers say Victoria was removed first. Joel and the children followed. Meantime, everyone waited.
"They unloaded all the luggage to get their luggage and deplaned her, Joel, and the kids," said passenger Dawn Dixon.
Passenger Chad Clay said, "They kept telling us they were waiting on some passengers to find their luggage underneath in the plane, and it was going to be delayed for looking for that luggage."
According to the Transportation Security Administration, federal air marshals were never involved. Local authorities also know nothing of this event. Continental would not discuss details.
The Osteens' spokesman denies a physical altercation, denies Victoria ever banged on the cockpit door, and says she left on her own.
"The account of the event which has come to our attention is inaccurate and overblown. The misunderstanding was minor and was resolved when Victoria voluntarily removed herself from the situation," read the statement.
The FBI says it was not voluntary. Though agents are not investigating, they will review the incident as the Osteens enjoy their Colorado vacation.
The Osteens' spokesman says they took another flight to Colorado Monday.
Nobody has been charged. As for the FBI's involvement, we're told it's standard procedure for them to review all passenger removal incidents. According to Continental, this one is a closed case.
Pastor Joel Osteen preaches to an average of 40,000 people a week at Lakewood Church services. Lakewood opened in the former home of the Rockets, Compaq Center, back in July. It took $90 million and a year and a half of renovations. Osteen's ministry is taped and aired around the world.
Bloom County is less suited to Free Republic philosophically than Mallard Fillmore or even Shoe
Full Disclosure: bring back Calvin and Hobbes!
all this mislaid judgment over a spilled drink. y'ever think it might have been hot coffee and she ran to the lav at the front of the plane to try and get some cold water for it?
cuts both ways. by your fruits i now know you.
pssst! what's that plank in yer eye?
yeah, but of course the news is 100% dead-on accurate. every last syllable.
/sarc
I wonder if they first asked themselves what class Jesus would fly?
hmmmmm. y'know, maybe the fact that they DON'T have all those jets oughta tell you something about where the money's NOT going -- into the Osteen's pockets. i'm not privvy to the financials, but i'd bet real money that, despite Joels take-home pay (which darn well oughta be six figures as Sr. Pastor of a church that size), huge swaths of the money in the plate goes through the church and back out to the community in outreach programs and around the world in giving to foreign missions.
LOL! You're FUNNY!
basis that assumption i'd counsel you not to take up gambling unless the idea of dying penniless appeals to you.
thanks for the level-headed word, there, PD. 'bout time. lotsa untoward judgment goin on in here and i'm disgusted by it.
My biggest problem with this entire story is that they were flying their entire family FIRST CLASS! I've flown many times but NEVER first class -- it just seems like the height of decadence -- and not what I would expect from a preacher.
A humble one, at least.
And then of course going to Aspen -- also not cheap -- makes me uncomfortable too.
Seems like an awful lot of money for a so-called "man of God" to spend on a vacation.
well, I hope that's worth an extra pebble in your heavenly crown. that'd mean i get two or three cuz i don't fly at all.
I don't think followers of Jesus should live like royalty
G_d already gave us the most precious gift He has, why would He now begrudge anyone a few bucks? now, trading some frequent-flyer miles for a frist-class upgrade is hardly "living like royalty", but have you not read the Bible lately, or did you simply forget Who's children we are who are in Christ Jesus? HINT: heirs of the "King of Kings, and LORD of Lords's" hey, if that ain't "royalty" ain't nobody "royal".
I haven't heard of anyone being thrown off an airliner for no reason.
nor have I. Mrs. Osteen made her own decision to leave the plane; she didn't get "thrown off".
if you're gonna sling mud, at least get all the facts in line, first. you oughta know by now that only democrats are allowed to sling falsehood and half-truth as if it's gospel.
>>>The capacity for some of you to go off half-cocked is growing by the day.<<<
There is a growing contingent here that will go off 1/3 cocked, or quarter-cocked and less.
_____
"and less" and how. lotta folks goin off "no-cocked".
certainly wont serve to elevate FR's reputation any.
go back through this thread and read all the crap the Osteen's are taking over a factually incomplete, half-anecdotal news story and see whether a light comes on for ya.
Mr. Crouch is not one of my preferred evangelists, but the article you linked to seems to indicate an extortionist's scam on the part of Mr. Ford, rather than some sort of perverted act from Mr. Crouch.
I was actually thinking about the FF mile thing too.
I know at our church, on more than one occasion, our pastor and his family have been given trips, or first class airline tickets, etc. as gifts by various people in the congregation, and/or had someone who worked in the airline industry do something for them for the holidays or some sort of special occasion. Perhaps these weren't even tickets purchased by the family at all? Maybe they were given miles? Or perhaps their original tickets were upgraded by someone as a gift?
And about the luggage thing, I know in the past, airlines used to even specifically say that if you didn't get on board by a certain time (or some variation of that) that your luggage would be offloaded...this was b/c they didn't want your luggage traveling separate from you (obviously if someone was trying to do something to the plane and not be on it themselves, etc.). I don't know if that is still the case, but I know on multiple occassions, I've been on flights that were delayed b/c someone didn't show in time or b/c someone left the flight (b/c of overcrowding or whatever) and they had to delay departure until the luggage was offloaded... so it may have been due to airline policy not their insistence?
I don't know that either of these two scenarios were at all the case. I'm just speaking from my own experiences traveling, and also from what I've seen go on as far as people doing things for a pastor's family. Neither of those, obviously, account for what may or may not have been less than admirable behavior on the part of anyone involved.
Just two possibilites I was wondering after reading through all of this. Oh, and found it ironic that tonight there was a special on Heaven that showed Osteen's church, etc.
How about, "Bend over and spread 'em."?
Yeah, real scam, Paul "Blow me" Crouch gives out $425,000 for a scam?
Face it, Paul is as gay as it comes, he married a drag queen and designed that awful set.
I'll bet that the majority of TBN goes anal.
If she had been Hispanic, the airline probably would be sured for all it's worth.
sured = sued
Catholics in Harris County: 600,000
so? what's their largest congregation in that area?
Baptists in Harris County: 450,000
so? what's their largest congregation in that area?
Methodists in Harris County: 200,000
so? what's their largest congregation in that area?
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