Megachurch Pastor Tells His Congregation His 16,000 Square Foot $1.7 MILLION House Is "A GIFT FROM GOD"

New home: Pastor Stephen Furtick and his wife Holly are building their dream home - a 16,000-square-foot, seven-and-a-half bathroom mansion on 19 acres

The pastor of a North Carolina megachurch has built a $1.7 million mansion for himself and his family which he told his congregation at Sunday's sermon is a 'gift from God.'

Elevation Church Pastor Steven Furtick, 33, is unapologetic about his ostentatious new seven-and-a-half bathroom, 16,000-square-foot home built on 19 acres in Weddington.

He spent the first part of his sermon talking about the controversy surrounding its construction and apologizing to his parishioners for any 'uncomfortable conversations,' they may have been forced to have about it. 

Secluded: The property, set in acres of forest, sits behind an electric gate with a 'No Trespassing' sign

Construction: The huge home is being built on land surrounded by thick forest

No entry: The private drive leading to Furtick's opulent new home in North Carolina

'My wife and I made a decision, and we built a house,' he said while sitting at the edge of the stage at the church’s Blakeney location. 

'It’s a big house, and it’s a beautiful house, and we thank God for it... We understand everything we have comes from God.'

Stephen Furtick began Elevation Church in 2006 with attendance at his first service of 121 people.

Since then, the start-up has become a going concern, attracting more than 12,000 people each week.

Furtick himself is part of the new breed of celebrity preacher, with his own brand - books, television and highly paid personal appearances.

His wife Holly has a blog called 'The Preacher's Wife,' in which she writes about Elevation Church, dispenses marriage and fashion advice and gives readers insights into her husband's life.

Family compound: 'Father Steven' will live in his brand new mansion with his wife and three children

Well-traveled: Furtick and his wife Holly spend a lot of time traveling to Furtick's speaking engagements around the world

Celebrity preacher: Part of a new breed of 'prosperity preacher,' Furtick is a brand, with his own books, television appearances, highly paid guest speaking roles and a Twitter account with more than 100,000 followers

Rockstar: The shepherd of Jesus' flock is a born performer and uses his stadium shows to promote his books

Transcending the church he started, Furtick has 183,191 Twitter followers, while Elevation Church has 45,469.

Furtick and his right-hand man, Elevation CFO and 'executive pastor' James 'Chunks' Corbett will not disclose how much money Furtick is paid by the tax-exempt Elevation Church, his tax-free housing allowance, or how much he has made from books and speaking engagements.

His salary and benefits are not set by his congregation or a congregation-elected panel of elders but rather by an 'appointed' board that consists entirely of other megachurch pastors.

Warren Smith Cole, an author who has written about Elevation Church told NBC Charlotte the financial well-being of the group of pastors is 'intimately intertwined'.

'They attend each other’s conferences and are compensated for that regularly,' he said. 

The showman: Holly and Steven Furtick in London earlier this year

When Furtick held his 12-day preach-fest Code Orange Revival last year, three of the headliners, pastors Stovall Weems of Jacksonville, Florida, Perry Noble of Anderson, South Carolina, and Kevin Gerald of Seattle, were all board members at Elevation. They are three of the five board members who set Furtick's salary.

'Chunks' Corbett told NBC Charlotte that pastors get paid for appearances at Elevation Church, but said the pay is 'small in scope,' and refused to disclose the amounts.

Furtick's name does not appear on the deed to the house. Instead, it's under the name of Jumper Driver Revocable Trust 1, and the trustee is 'Chunks' Corbett.

Corbett says the reason for this is for 'the privacy and security of the family.'

Bestsellers: Furtick will not disclose how much he has made in book sales

Furtick addressed the media interest in his new home in last week's sermon, too. 

'It started to mess with me a little bit because I thought this ain't right. I didn't even build that house with money from the church. I built it with money from my books and I gave money to the church from the books and you start getting real defensive and being like this ain't right. This ain't right,' Furtick said.

The claim that the house and land were paid for with proceeds from his books may be true, but NBC North Carolina reports that Furtick's books are inextricably linked with Elevation Church, which paid for full-page ads promoting them and to air sermons featuring the books on TV. 

Furtick sold vast copious copies of the book at his author's discount to his congregation and ran a 'promotion' - for every sale of his book Greater, he gave a backpack to a poor child. 

Father Steven: Furtick is father to three children: Graham and Elijah (pictured) and Abbey

Elevation Church says that it undergoes a yearly voluntary audit by accounting firm C. Dewitt Foard and Col, PA, but the results of that audit are not released and NBC Charlotte reports that employees and volunteers at the church must sign a confidentiality agreement which threatens to sue if they disclose information about the church's finances. 

For all this though, Furtick's devoted congregation, called 'elevators,' seemed unperturbed.

When he apologized for any 'difficult conversations,' a woman close to the front said, 'No sorries needed.' And when he told the congregation he intended to continue his ministry in Charlotte for the 'next 50 years,' he was greeted by whoops and cheers. 

Church member Cora Morgan told the Charlotte Observer that she doesn’t think his congregation has any right to tell him what kind of house to build. 'It’s his money; he can do what he wants with it,' she said.

Warren Smith Cole told NBC Charlotte: 'If Steven Furtick's followers in the congregation at Elevation want to pay him these outlandish salaries and want to allow him to live in multi-million dollar homes, that's up to them.They're the ones contributing the money. But they should know that.'