Scripted TV Drama Inspired by The Rise and Fall of Hillsong Airs First Episode
The TV series Prosper, which is loosely based on the rise and fall of the megacorp megachurch Hillsong, has aired its first episode, which dramatizes much of the shenanigans and scandals that have taken place at Hillsong churches over the last five years, including the accused rape at Hillsong Dallas, the lavish lifestyles and celebrity converts at Hillsong New York, and the substance abuse issues in hotel rooms at Hillsong Australia. The promo material explains:
“Set in the inner sanctum of an evangelical megachurch run by the wealthy Quinn family, when their charismatic founder announces a US expansion, the collision between faith and ambition threatens to tear his family and church apart.”
A Guardian review reads:
“We don’t do things by halves,” (Pastor) Cal tells his daughter Issy. The same could be said of the show itself. The plot bolts out of the gates and serves up a sizzling array of sordid goings-on involving drugs, death, deceit, blackmail, long-kept secrets and various other jiggery-pokery…
During an early “walk and talk”, Cal tells his wife, Abi that he’s about to expand U Turn into Los Angeles. We learn the pair have issues with their son Jed who fell out with them years ago and now runs a community centre for the downtrodden, walking the walk. Their other son, Dion wants to climb the ranks of the pulpit – or perhaps “crowd surf in the holy moshpit” is a more fitting turn of phrase. Their daughter, Issy, a singer, carries with her an old family secret, though a more pressing concern for Cal is what to do with an unhinged parishioner, Rosa, with whom, on the sly of course, he parties and snorts drugs. Cal even has a right-hand man who’s the equivalent of Mike from Breaking Bad: the goonish Eli who has no problems getting his hands dirty.
Sadly, when a church crashes and burns through its own sin, hubris, and greed, the world will make it a spectacle, and the name of Christ will be mocked. This is the fruit of Hillsong’s poisonous legacy.
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