Tag: brian houston

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Brian Houston Shuts Down Hillsong Dallas Church Amid Controversy

Hillsong’s Global Senior Pastor Brian Houston has pulled the trigger and shut down Hillsong Dallas, scattering the congregants into the wind in the wakes of a series of scandals that have plagued the American branches.

We wrote two months ago how lead Pastors Reed and Jess Bogard gave a sudden resignation announcement back in January. It was later revealed that like Hillsong NY, they were using the church to fund their lavish lifestyles, including $1100 a night Air B&B’s and $800 meals. At the time Hoston reassured that the congregation would live on and be cared for, writing:

Reed and Jess have given their heart and soul to the pioneering of Hillsong Dallas Love the last couple of years, and we’re grateful for that, and the great work they’ve done.

Reed and I have been talking now over a period of time and we both agreed it would be a perfect time for them to come to a new season in their life, which means a new season also for Hillsong Dallas.

I do believe in the future of Hillsong Dallas. In the meantime, we will make sure week by week that the church is being cared for. We have a great team over in America and around the world. Even though we are restricted in what we can and can’t do right now in terms of travel, you are not going to be forsaken.

But forsaken they were. Rather than just having another one of the other elder/pastors take the preaching role like a normal church, Brian Houston announced they were closing the franchise.

Early in our process, the Bogards decided to resign from Hillsong Church. We accepted their resignations and acknowledged the time that the Bogards spent establishing our Dallas location…

It was very disappointing to learn that, while some of you experienced the Bogards as dedicated pastors, many others have experienced leadership that failed to meet the commitments and standards of Hillsong Church. I want to be the first to apologize to those who felt disappointed or hurt, and I pray that God does a swift work in bringing peace and healing…

As we were establishing Hillsong Church in Dallas, the pandemic swept across the globe and quickly changed the shape of our growing church in the city…

Many factors, all amplified by the pandemic, have resulted in the difficult decision to pause all operations at Hillsong Dallas for now.

Houston explains that while he understands some may choose to watch the livestream, others may want to attend other churches and he gives them his blessing to do that, while at the same time leaving the door open to the possibility of reestablishing some time in the future.

We still have a huge heart and vision for the great state of Texas. When the time is right and we have identified and trained suitable lead pastors, we will consider relaunching.

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Brian Houston Apologizes ‘Unreservedly’ For Hillsong NYC Debacle + Announces New Policies to Address Institutional Hedonism

Hillsong head honcho Brian Houston issued a letter of apology for the cornucopia of moral failings at Hillsong NYC, including not dealing with adulterating, prideful, pastor Carl Lentz sooner, various sex scandals, various money scandals, and various spiritual abuse scandals.

The letter of apology was sent to Hillsong members and comes four months after the church was shaken to the core after Lentz’s first affair went public. It said in part:

We know that Hillsong East Coast has failed to be the kind of church it should be. On behalf of the Global Board and as Global Senior Pastor, I accept responsibility for these failings and apologize unreservedly.

Hillsong HQ launched an internal investigation into the New York branch but never made the findings public. At the time, Houston said that the Church failed in “significant ways” to reflect the culture they wished to impart. Houston also said previously in a leaked phone recording that there was a “culture of dysfunction” at Hillsong and other officials confirmed that the misadventures of staffers using the church like a seedy dating service, “sleeping around” with volunteers and asking them to send nude pictures was “mostly true.”

Accompanying Houston’s email came a letter from the law firm behind the investigation- Zukerman Gore Brandeis & Crossman. They explained that while the investigation was complete, it would “not be released to the public” in order to “protect the privacy and confidentiality of those involved.”

Along with the letter came an announcement on the Church website. Not only are Hillsong Perth pastor Chrishan and Danielle Jeyaratnam replacing the Lentz family with the hopes of setting the house in order, but they they announced “significant changes” at the church in order to “address the issues and misalignment of the culture and practices at Hillsong Church East Coast.” They hope these changes will “address the lapses that have affected the culture of our East Coast campuses, and prevent the strong policies, that we do have in place globally from being ignored.”

These include:

  • Additional training for staff and volunteers intended to increase awareness of the specific types of power dynamics that often arise in a church setting 
  • Revised and reinforced Code of Conduct for all Staff
  • Uniform HR policies, procedures and training
  • A clear and consistent system for reporting grievances and issues related to inappropriate behavior.
  • A stringent sexual misconduct and harassment policy and mandatory training. (“It is clear that our existing policies and procedures, which intend to promote a healthy environment, were actively ignored, failed to be maintained, and were not enforced effectively at a local level.”)
  • Improved financial accountability policies
  • Improved supervision and accountability of all pastors and staff 
  • Increased safeguards for staff and volunteers.
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Brian Houston Stepping Down as Hillsong Head Honcho

In a stunning move, Hillsong Church Global Senior Pastor Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie announced Sunday morning that they are transitioning away from their leadership role within the organization, in order to make way for a new vision going forward.

The multinational megachurch has 150,000 members spread across 123 churches in 24 different countries.

Speaking during the church’s annual Vision Sunday service, Houston explained that with the church growing and expanding so rapidly, it was “virtually impossible” and “unsustainable” for them to manage alone and to do all that they are doing. Consequently, they want to bring in younger leaders to lead chart a new path forward.

I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching and praying and thinking about the future and the way ahead, what life looks like for a church moving forward. For Bobbie and I, moving forward and I guess globally, we’ve grown so rapidly and it’s been really a time when what has become clear is we need to put a whole lot more structure into what we’re doing globally.

It’s really at a point where it’s virtually impossible, unsustainable for us to be able to lead everything that we’re leading right now, and so I want to look at ways that we can share that load and over these next couple of years heading up to that church being 40 here. I would like to really put in place younger leaders. Younger leaders here in Australia and younger leaders around the globe.

While they insist they’re not retiring, the Houstons, who are approaching their 70s, say they will be shifting their day to day involvement for a “new season.”

As such, they’re bringing in the lead pastors of Hillsong Church London, Gary and Cathy Clarke, to take over the global management of the church over the next two years, just in time for the Church’s 40th anniversary. Houston credits the Clarkes for their role in expanding Hillsong all across Europe, where they’ve been pastors for 21 years.

Houston also touched upon how the Hillsong churches in the US have been “hit hard” by a series of scandals. As a result, they introduced the new lead pastors who would be taking over from disgraced former pastor Carl Lentz. Chrishan and Danielle Jeyaratnam, currently pastors at the Hillsong campus in Perth, Australia, were announced as the new leaders and would be moving to New York with their 4 young kids to take over the job.

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Hillsong Church Announces Investigation into Allegations of Spending Like Drunken Sailors

Hillsong Global Senior Pastor Brian Houston sent a letter to members on Monday promising to look into and investigate claims that pastors at Hillsong Churches in America were engaged in gross financial impropriety with no fiscal oversight.

We reported last week that pastors and leaders were given PEX cards with tens of thousands of dollars on them to spend on their leisure, with no reconciliation accounting needing to be done for how the money was spent.

Purchases include $1100 per night AirBnB, renting $6000/month apartments, unlocked iPhones, ATV’s, weekly manicures, spending $600-700 on single meals, buying wine and booze that costs hundreds of dollars per bottle, and buying designer clothing and gifts for celebrities visiting the church.

Houston says:

I am writing to you today because of several stories circulating online alleging a serious abuse of trust — the misuse of church funds by Hillsong Church employees…

We are particularly grieved that, in many cases, inaccurate accounts in these stories have been reported as if they are true. Hillsong Church strongly refutes that our culture casually allows for such gross misuse of church funds. In fact, these stories are especially troubling since Hillsong has a record of excellence in financial accountability globally and an unwavering commitment to financial integrity…

The church, which brought in nearly $100 million in revenue in 2019, continues the letter by claiming that staff members are paid modest salaries and that “personal expenditures are not permitted to be charged to church credit cards. If this occurs, it is addressed and the church is reimbursed for such expenditure in a timely manner.”

Of course, it wouldn’t take much to say that a $300 or $400 meal of sushi was not a personal expense, but rather a church expense made to “promote outreach” or an “evangelism expense.”

By all accounts, the Hillsong organization is not using an outside source or auditing firm but will handle the investigation in-house.

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Two More High-Profile Hillsong ‘Pastors’ Resign Amidst Scandals

As Hillsong continues their investigation into the dysfunctional culture at their New York City branch where disgraced pastor Carl Lentz once held sway, a pair of high profile pastors have resigned their post, citing concerns for the need to stay mentally healthy and remain healthy amid fluctuating public sentiment and international turmoil.

Pastor Reed Bogard, who also helped found Hillsong NYC and Hillsong LA and was up until this point the senior “pastor” at Hillsong Dallas, released a short, curt, prerecorded message during the January 3 service announcing that he and his “pastrix” wife Jess were resigning, explaining:

Hey church. Hope you’re doing well. Just wanted to take a second on behalf of Jess and I to share some news with you.

As many of you know, Jess and I have been part of our church for 15 years. We met at college, went to Hillsong college, worked on staff in different roles there, and then transitioned back to America where over the last 10 years we’ve been able to be a part of three church plants and have the opportunity specifically here to be the lead pastors. And it has been an incredible ride thus far, we’ve had some crazy days, great days, seeing God do many, many miracles, and we’re so grateful for that.

With that said, the last 10 years of being in church planting mode has really taken a bit of a toll on Jess and I and our family. We just really feel like it’s time to transition off of our staff and take some time to remain healthy, get healthy, and really see what this next season holds for us.

Bogard takes a few more seconds to heap effusive praise on Global Senior Pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston and then signs off, effectively ending his tenure at Hillsong.

Brian Houston continued with the video, explaining that though the announcement might surprise some members, they would care for the congregation and would take their time finding them a new pastor. (With their Church model, a senior pastor is “assigned” to the congregation by upper Hillsong management.)

Reed’s announcement to you right now, not sure if that comes as a shock. Reed and Jess have given their heart and soul to the pioneering of Hillsong Dallas Love the last couple of years, and we’re grateful for that, and the great work they’ve done.

Reed and I have been talking now over a period of time and we both agreed it would be a perfect time for them to come to a new season in their life, which means a new season also for Hillsong Dallas.

I do believe in the future of Hillsong Dallas. In the meantime, we will make sure week by week that the church is being cared for. We have a great team over in America and around the world. Even though we are restricted in what we can and can’t do right now in terms of travel, you are not going to be forsaken.

The video can be seen here.


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Bombshell Transcript! Brian Houston Describes ‘Culture of Dysfunction’ at Hillsong NY, With Carl Lentz at the Center

We wrote to you earlier that an audio recording between Hillsong founder Brian Houston and Church executives has leaked, revealing that disgraced Pastor Carl Lentz, who cheated on his wife with model Ranin Karim, had engaged in multiple sexual affairs and committed adultery with many women. Houston described them: “It was more than one affair, they were significant. And at least some bad moral behavior had gone back historically”. See more here.

Now that we have had the chance to transcribe the audio, what we have discovered is that if Houston and the global board is to be believed, Hillsong NY was a dysfunctional mess. Evidently Carl Lentz was an overbearing and narcissistic shepherd. Sadly, Hillsong employees felt afraid to even speak to their pastor let alone challenge him. We now know that this arrogant man ruled Hillsong NY like his own little fiefdom.

On the affair and whether or not Lentz could be restored

So not to (downplay?) the seriousness of it, but if it was just about a moral failure, perhaps it would have been possible to work with Carl and Laura and work our way through it and have a period of restoration. And that might’ve been possible, but the nature of where my relationship with Carl was already up to, and then add the significant nature and the serial nature of the moral issues, just meant that I believed, and our global board believed, that the only way to go was to terminate Carl and really start with a fresh start in New York, and so that’s where I’m at.

I’m only going to say this once, but if you want to know why we would take such radical action, and so quickly, the leadership actually has been talking about not just general narcissistic behavior, manipulating, mistreating people, I think sometimes, you know other hurtful things, the breaches of trust, the (unintelligible) lying, and constantly lying. And so basically broken trust.

Houston says that there was always a sense where Hillsong East Coast “to a degree was running their own race” and describes how many people and staff were raising issues and frustrated at not being heard and being mistreated by Lentz. They were upset that no matter how many times they brought up their concerns regarding their since-departed pastor or with a process, that nothing ever happened or changed.

Confronting Carl

Carl was an extremely and is an extremely hard man to confront, and anyone who may have tried to do that would know exactly what I’m talking about. And so it’s not as though people weren’t being heard. It’s just that it’s a situation where it’s almost impossible to get an issue raised…and so the messenger became the enemy.

Speaking of the dysfunction of the church and the uncertainty people are experiencing, particularly other staff members and high-level volunteers, the board said that they spoke to dozens of people even as Houston asks for grace for the team and from the team. He stresses that some things just need to wait- likely a month for the investigation to wrap up to talk to members and aggrieved staff before they can start implementing solutions and putting into practice the resultant recommendations.

Was there financial impropriety involved?

We have no current evidence of anything inappropriate with finances, but it is part of our investigation. So if something does come up we will address it, and if there’s anything that the investigations shows had some criminal nature, then we will report it accordingly.

There was a lot of concern about finances, and this took up a big chunk of time. They emphasize that Hillsong has robust financial safeguards in place and that the global board is audited every year. They reiterate that Lentz did not have access to Hillsong bank account: “It wasn’t like they just had free access to the offerings. We guard and protect the integrity of people’s giving.”

On Lentz treating people badly

I despise seeing people being treated badly or misused, wherever that is and however that looks, and I had a meeting with all our lead pastors probably last year, where I was speaking very strongly about the way that we deal with people, and really challenging the idea of people being mistreated in any way. Carl didn’t come to that meeting, unfortunately. Every other lead pastor in the world was there and so..yeah…It’s not Hillsong’s culture to speak roughly to people or treat them harshly…

Hillsong leader speaking about the culture of the NYC church

I can testify to, and many other people can as well, is that the heart that Brian and Bobbie have the pastoral heart [sic], for the one, and wherever they are in the world they’re always inquiring about the one. Their care for the church is always top and foremost in their thinking. And that’s the experience we’ve always had growing up in this culture. Sadly, that wasn’t replicated through what’s happened in New York. And all we can do is hope to change that going forward.

Houston’s final reflections on Lentz

Everyone knows that not everything about Carl Lentz was bad. Carl is a passionate character. He’s supremely gifted, clearly. You know I think he genuinely, genuinely cares for lost people. You know his passion there was very contagious and I’m certain there’d be people that are part of this meeting where it was Carl Lentz that led you to Jesus…so I don’t want anyone to think that we can’t see any good. There was a lot of good amongst all of that. It was just a situation that was becoming more and more untenable, and so that’s I guess the only other thing that I’d like to say.

Our thoughts:

Things never should have gotten this far. Lentz should have been disqualified YEARS ago.

We wrote back in 2016 how he appeared on the worship stage with other pastors, dancing alongside the naked cowboy. We mentioned in 2015 how they turned their Christmas productions into near-burlesque shows like their “Sleazy Silent Night.” We told you about telling Oprah in 2016 “you don’t have to be a Christian to have a relationship with God. We wrote in 2017 how Lentz and Bieber took turns taking shots in a bar and took off their clothes while doing so. And we told you in 2015 how they were having an open and unrepentant homosexual man leading worship.

We’ve been practicing discernment and polemics for years, and Lentz should have been removed on theological grounds ages ago. He should have been excommunicated and given the throat punch of disfellowship- doubled over in pain to be handed over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh and the hope of his restoration to the body.

He never should have been a pastor in the first place. And the fact that being a man-whore and cheating on his wife finally got him expelled, while he was allowed to play the theological whore and blaspheme against the Lord with impunity for half a decade, at least, says everything we need to know not only about Lentz, but about Brian Houston and the rest of the Hillsong church and organization.

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Brian Houston Announces Investigation into ‘Inner Workings’ of Hillsong NYC after Lentz Fallout

Hillsong head honcho Brian Houston has announced that the leadership of the Australian prosperity-preaching megachurch is launching an “independent investigation” into the “inner workings” of their East Coast church plant in light of revelations that fired celebrity senior pastor Carl Lentz was engaging in at least one adulterous affair.

Houston says that the church needs “a solid foundation for a fresh start and new beginning” leading many to believe that there is more than just a wayward pastor and a heap of bad theology at their New York location, but rather the whole foundation is rotten.

Following the revelation that Lentz was breaking his marriage vows and lying to everyone close to him, other rumors of shenanigans at Hillsong NYC have started to bubble to the surface. Given that they are unverified, or at least unable to be properly verified according to our standards, they are not worth repeating. Needless to say, however, when one stone comes loose, the dam frequently bursts.

There is no indication whether or not the results of the investigation will be made public, but we will cover it if it does. We’ll cover it right here.

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Breaking: Hillsong Kicks out Senior Pastor Carl Lentz for ‘Moral Failures’

Senior Pastor Carl Lentz has been terminated from his position at Hillsong Church, NY, and disqualified from the ministry, with he and his wife Laura leaving the Church.

Founding pastor Brian Houston informed staff and members in an email earlier this afternoon, announcing that Lentz was disqualified from leading the Church and let go for “leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures.”

The email reads:

To our Hillsong East Coast Family

I am very sad to inform you that Hillsong Church has terminated the employment of Pastor Carl Lentz.

I know this will come as a shock to you, but please know that this action was not taken lightly and was done in the best interests of everyone, including Pastor Carl.

This action has been taken following ongoing discussions in relation to leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures.

Please understand that it would not be appropriate for us to go into detail about the events that led to this decision. However you can be assured that this decision was made in order to honor God and pastorally care for you, our East Coast family, Pastor Carl, and his family.

While I have no doubt in my heart this is the right course of action, I must mention Bobbie’s and my personal sadness, as we have known Laura her entire life and Carl for well over 20 years.

I know that this announcement may not answer all your questions, and if you feel you need someone to talk to in our leadership team, please contact us by emailing teamrelations@hillsong.com.

But as sudden as this feels to us, we must remember that it’s not a shock to God, who birthed Hillsong NYC and already has planned for this time. He will continue to open new doors for us and do new things, as long as we continue to honour Him.

Carl and Laura have a heart for people and we are confident that after a time of rest and restoration, God will use Carl in another way outside of Hillsong Church. However, you can be assured that this decision was made in order to honour God and pastorally care for you, our East Coast family, Pastor Carl, and his family.”

Lentz is the super hip pastor who is a close friend of famous attendee Justin Bieber, and has been bringing his church to the bleeding edge of wokeness, recently telling his congregation that “churches might be one of the biggest propagators of racist ideology in our country.”

This is a developing story and we will update accordingly.

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Hillsong’s Brian Houston Leading the Charge To Allow Church Services in Australia

As many Churches across Australia remain shutdown, forced by the government under threats of harsh fines and arrest, megachurch leader Brian Houston is leading the charge to have restrictions eased.

Houston, the prosperity-peaching pastor and serial bible-twister who leads Hillsong Church has been speaking out against Australia’s harsh and draconian shutdown laws, which have been some of the strictest in the world.

According to the Daily Mail, “Houston has been inundated with support since venting his outrage over the latest changes,” saying:

I think people are listening. Maybe the change is coming. I know the Anglican Archbishop and the Catholic Archbishop has been speaking to the government. I think that changes are coming but they need to come.

Some people wouldn’t feel ready to come back yet, wouldn’t feel safe. Other people are dying to get back there…Mental health, as we all know, and health generally, well-being is a big, big thing.  Isolation doesn’t help that at all. Church, part of what we do, is community and connection.

While restrictions have had different levels of severity depending on the region, in some places they have been absolutely monstrous, particularly in Victoria, where Premier Daniel Andrews holds court.

To get an idea of how severe things have been, even as of last week in some places you cannot travel more than 3 miles away from your house except for work and shopping for essentials, the government uses drones to patrol the skies, all people must wear facemasks outside, people cannot spend more than two hours outside one’s home each day, and only a maximum of two guests are allowed to visit once a day.

It’s in this oppressive spirit that Churches are still locked down in Victoria, with Premier Daniel Andrews being taken to task by critics for saying that churches pose a special risk to COVID spread because they are dirty and people sing in them, and for this reason should remain closed. This of course despite the fact that regional pubs can host 40 people inside.

When pressed why Churches are being treated differently than drinkers, Andrews replied:

Do they sing at a Pub? Is a church cleaned to the standard that a pub may be?  I know that there are many arrangements where it will be someone from the parish who out of the goodness of their heart will clean the church. It may not even be a paid thing….a heavily regulated environment, a licensed environment is different to one that is not. That is pretty plain…

With a population of over 25 Million people, Australia has recorded 27,430 cases and 905 deaths.