He’s known for his positive preaching and Colgate smile, but Joel Osteen has also taken a lot of flak.

However the pastor of America’s biggest church, Lakewood in Houston, Texas, doesn’t feel he’s reading Scripture wrong by emphasising that people can be blessed financially, in their health, in their families and in all aspects of their lives.

Instead, Osteen feels that people need to hear the positives because that message might not have gotten through in the ‘fire and brimstone’ sermons in some other churches.

The pastor has been in Hawaii in the last week for his Night of Hope events. He explained his approach to Hawaii News Now: “I think for years people have been pushed down by religion, and I don’t say that disrespectfully, but they’ve been shown a God that you can’t measure up to.

“And so, my goal is to make God good and let them know, hey, I tell them all the time, God’s smiling down on you right now. You’re his child. He’s got a great plan for your life. You can overcome mistakes, and to me, that draws people to God.”

With 40,000 people packing the former Houston Rockets arena each Sunday to hear him preach, it seems people like what he’s saying even if the critics don’t.

With his emphasis on achieving and receiving, some have rejected his theology as prosperity gospel.

Osteen defended his preaching.

“I don’t go up there and talk about money,” he told the newspaper.

“I talk about: God wants you to be blessed and have good relationships and be healthy. I think the opposite is: some people want you to think you’re supposed to be poor and broke and suffer to show that you’re a Christian, and that’s just not the way I read the Scripture.

“I think that God wants us to excel and be the best at what we can do and have happy families. You know, prosperity to me is more than money. It’s health and good relationships … peace of mind.”