Tag: hillsong

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Brian Houston is…Right? Protestia Defends Hillsong Leader After Congregant Dies of COVID

Hillsong head honcho is being slammed from all sides after announcing that one of his congregants pass away from the novel coronavirus last week, with critics saying that the embattled leader didn’t do enough to promote the vaccine, and in fact would frequently flout the rules or speak against it.

It has been a long year for Houston, who has consistently seen himself in the secular spotlight after a string of scandals has seen him close churches and lose several American pastors- so much so that two Hollywood films have been greenlit to cover the saga.

Now, he’s back in hot water again after publicly mourning the death of Stephen Harmon, 34, a much-loved congregation member who attended Hillsong for the last decade after being given a scholarship to Hillsong College in California. Harmon very publicly boasted and insisted that he would not take the COVID vaccine- writing on Twitter “If you’re having email problems, I feel bad for you son., I got 99 problems but a vax ain’t one.” Harmon seemingly also resisted medical intervention, advice, and assistance while in the hospital.

Brian Houston made the announcement of his death on various social media sites, but then later took down most of the mentions after facing intense backlash.

Elaborating further on the event, Houston told CNN

“Any loss of life is a moment to mourn and offer support to those who are suffering and so our heartfelt prayers are with his family and those who loved him….

On any medical issue, we strongly encourage those in our church to follow the guidance of their doctors, While many of our staff, leadership and congregation have already received the COVID-19 vaccine, we recognize this is a personal decision for each individual to make with the counsel of medical professionals.”

Houston is not wrong. The fact that Harmon passed away from COVID after consistently and continuously refusing to get vaccinated is a tragedy, but it is completely to be expected that a percentage of some people who get it will pass away, particularly if they have co-morbidities. If anything, his death is a rarity in that it happened to someone so young.

The decision to get vaccinated is adiaphora and a personal choice, and not something worthy of condemnation. (unless the vaccine is using fetal cells) If someone refuses to get vaccinated from it or anything else and then passes away from it, they will bear the burden and brunt of those consequences.

Some people will not get vaccinated from COVID and will die from it. Some people will get vaccinated from COVID and will also die from it. The fact that Harmon publicly condemned the virus and then passed away from it is mildly ironic, but his death should not be laid at the doorstep of Houston.

Realistically, this shouldn’t even be a news story. There are a lot of things Brian Houston should rightly be criticized over. Like, a lot of things, but this isn’t one of them.

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Discovery+ Announces TV Series Chronicling Fall of Hillsong NY and Carl Lentz

Discovery+ has announced they have ordered a documentary series titled “Breaking Hillsong,” which will “chronicle the headline-making world of global star-studded megachurch Hillsong and the downfall of its ultra-hip, celebrity senior pastor, Carl Lentz.”

“Through a partnership with the New York Post with investigative journalist Hannah Frishberg’s in-depth coverage,” the three-episode run will feature, among other things, “exclusive, never-before-seen interviews including Ranin Karim, the New York-based fashion designer whose five-month affair with Lentz led to his downfall.” According to the release:

BREAKING HILLSONG will take viewers into the world of Hillsong, the megachurch with more than 150,000 global members that has recently come under scrutiny. The series will profile numerous current and ex-members of the church who have come forward en masse to share harrowing stories of the trauma, abuse, financial and labor exploitation, homophobia and racism that created a culture of chaos at Hillsong. Additionally, BREAKING HILLSONG will examine the greater phenomenon of corruption within megachurches.

The investigation will surely be a bitter pill to swallow for Hillsong’s head honcho Brian Houston, whose American wing has been embroiled in several high-profile scandals all year, so much so that he had to disband and shut down one of them, and who likely isn’t happy to have the dirty laundry aired in public.

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.”

Discovery+ is the streaming service of Discovery Inc., which operates several educational and lifestyle television brands, such as its’ namesake Discovery Channel, as well as DIY Network, HGTV, Animal Planet, TLC, and the Science Channel.

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Hillsong Atlanta Launches And Their New Pastor Has a Heck of a Past

Hillsong Church of Atlanta officially launched its first service this past weekend, joined by rapper Da’ T.R.U.T.H. performing a hip-hop and rap worship set while flanked by Hillsong head honchos Brian and Bobbie Houston who made the trip from Australia for the grand opening. During the service the congregants cheered for their new pastor, Sam Collier, who is being lauded for being the first African- American man to serve as lead pastor of a Hillsong church.

Who is Collier? He’s a 32-year-old author, speaker, radio show personality, and pastor. His road to the Hillsong pastorate is a wild one indeed.

Around a decade ago he spent several years as the Youth Choir Director at Ebenezer Baptist Church. This is the church that Martin Luther King Jr. co-pastored in the ’60s. During his time there, the Senior Pastor was the openly pro-choice, openly pro-LGBT, heresy-spewing, Planned-Parenthood-endorsed Democrat Senator, Dr. Raphael Warnock.

After leaving Ebenezer, he joined up with New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a 25,000 member megachurch pastored by Bishop Eddie Long. Long, you’ll recall, was a prosperity gospel heretic who preached wretched blasphemies about name-it-and-claim-it, speaking realities into existence, and little god theology. Long was a multi-millionaire who flaunted his wealth from the pulpit and was embroiled in several sex scandals with males youth in his church. Collier spent a couple of years on staff here as well.

In his autobiography, A Greater Story, Collier recounts that it was during this time in his mid 20s that he made his first white friend, an odd revelation given the overabundance of white people around. He eventually left Long’s church in 2014 and joined Andy Stanley’s NorthPoint Church, hardly a bastion of sound theological and biblical fidelity, preaching his first sermon there in 2016. He remained there for 6 years, being appointed pastor at some time (we have no record of him going to seminary or receiving formal pastoral training) until he and his wife were tapped for the lead pastors of Hillsong in 2020, until she backed out to continue her career as an author.

With such a…varied pedigree…it is unsurprising that his theological convictions are a bit of a mess. A brief perusal of his social media contains a ton of posts about supporting Black Lives Matter, social justice, and explaining what privilege is and how white people definitely have it. These sobering truths, coupled with him being a willing participant in listening to Warnock, Long, and Stanley for years, ought to throw up more than a few red flags.

During the sermon, which attracted over a thousand people across two services, Collier introduced the Houstons by noting it has been a “difficult year” for Hillsong, likely referencing the raft of major sex and financial scandals that have struck a third of their campuses – the natural consequence of appointing fiscally unaccountable hipster hype-priests.

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Head Honcho Brian Houston Addresses New Hillsong Sex Scandal- Calls Details ‘Very Disturbing’

In a soberingly familiar move, Hillsong Global Pastor Brian Houston has released a new statement on the continued flurry of scandalous revelations at his American Hillsong Ssattelite churches, commenting on the new allegations that disgraced Pastor Carl Lentz was molesting pastrix Leona Kimes when she was working as his nanny several years ago.

Calling Kimes’ experience ‘very disturbing’, the letter thanks her for coming forward in light of the investigation that was launched into Hillsong New York, explaining that they knew about her situation, but was respecting her privacy so that she could reveal it on her terms.

Dear church,

After the termination of the former Lead Pastor of Hillsong East Coast, it was clear the issues were significant and because of our concerns, we initiated an independent and lengthy investigation into the culture of all four Hillsong East Coast locations.

In the process of seeking clarity, hearing Leona Kimes’ experience was very disturbing. We have respected Leona’s privacy and her deeply personal story. She has now decided to share her experience so that she and her husband can continue moving forward as a family.

It will be a long process and they have our full concern and pastoral support.

We know that Leona may face criticism for her story and her choice to share it. In that light, we commend her for her courage and have assured her of our utmost compassion in their journey forward.

Abuse of any kind, in any circumstance, is always deplorable. As a church, we are committed to learning more about how to identify such trauma and bring meaningful support to anyone who has experienced it.

As we work to rebuild Hillsong East Coast, Leona’s experience will be central in our processes. Earlier this year, we made this commitment to update our suite of infrastructure services including increased HR training and the requirement of our policies to be standardized across our network of churches and we hope to improve accountability and communication even further.

We ask for your continued prayer as we seek to bring Godly wisdom to what has been a difficult and heartbreaking situation and season.

With love,
Brian and Bobbie

This surely won’t be the last revelation to come out.

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Hillsong’s Brian Houston Opens up About Fired Pastor Carl Lentz

In an interview with NBC’s “Today” show, Hillsong head honcho Brian Houston opened up about the termination of disgraced pastor Carl Lentz and the subsequent implosion of Hillsong churches in North America, saying that he has had concerns for years about the celebrity pastor, describing him as a “unique character” and a “narcissist.”

During the interview, Savannah Gutherie pressed him on whether or not Hillsong Global Senior Leadership was turning a blind eye to his activities, so long as he brought in people. She asked what he made of the fact that his congregants and other staff members described Lentz as “aloof” and “removed” from the actual ministry, where he would arrive at the church in a chauffeured car, wait in the green room, preach the sermon, and then leave with his entourage.

Look – Carl was Carl. He’s a unique character. There’s a lot of things I miss about Carl. But having said that, there were leadership issues that I believe included lying, included what I would call narcissistic behavior.

I’d have to admit I’ve had concerns and many conversations over the years with Carl. I think there’s a lot of things I should have known earlier, and hopefully moving forward we make sure we have far better systems in place and better accountability.

Asked when he first noticed Lentz exhibiting this behavior, Houston replied that for years he’s had “concerns” and “many conversations” with him, and yet still continued letting him lead. In retrospect, Houston is reflective:

I think there’s a lot of things I should’ve known earlier, and hopefully, moving forward, we’ll make sure we have far better systems in place and better accountability…I do think that we did allow a culture to develop where it was one rule for celebrities and a different rule for other people.

Guthrie shifted to what he made of all the scandals Hillsong has been enduring recently, of the pastor who was sexting, to senior pastors resigning in shame after their financial impropriety was unveiled, to even allegations that volunteers are being overworked and bullied:

[This season in the church] has been difficult, clearly, because of a lot of disappointment in some of the things that have emerged. Some obviously are false. Other things are real…

In my mind, if one person is treated badly, that’s one too many. If it’s true that people have been treated badly or that people have been bullied, I am 100 percent committed to moving that out of our church.

Finally, as the interview closes out, Houston is asked what he thinks Jesus would have felt like sitting in Hillsong church, with the lights and the music and the “pretty people.”

Honest answer? I think he would have liked it. Because the focus is on glorifying him.

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Pastor Resigns as Another Sex Scandal Rocks Hillsong

They are dropping like flies.

Another Hillsong pastor has resigned after finding himself embroiled in a sex scandal of his own making – the result of texting lewd photographs to a former parishioner and pretending it was one big accident.

The Creative Director of Hillsong’s New Jersey franchise, Darnell Barrett, 32, resigned Tuesday after adding a former church volunteer to his friend’s list and then sharing with her a picture of himself wearing revealing clothing that very clearly showed the contours and shape of his penis.

After sending the phot in question, he pretended that it was all an accident, writing on messenger to say, “Hey! I think I might’ve added you to my close friend’s list by accident. I’m so sorry. Trying to figure out how the hell to edit it.”

Pics from the Daily Mail UK

Rather than enticing her, she instantly saw through his ruse, telling him that she did not appreciate being lured in such a sexually aggressive and wicked way.

I’m insulted that you would think I wouldn’t understand what you’re doing. But I’m not F****** stupid. Obviously, what you wanted me to see were the shirtless photos and the outline of your d***, let’s not play and act like that wasn’t the point.

She further accuses him of trying to bait her, expressing her anger that she’s probably not the first person he’s done this to:

To be honest, this whole ‘fishing’ scheme of yours to see if I will bite isn’t what even pisses me off. What pisses me off is knowing that I’m not the only person you’ve probably done this to. I’m actually horrified by the thought of how many other innocent girls you’ve manipulated with this ploy of yours. I’m going to assume you’ve sent this to gauge girls’ reaction to see if they’d take part in this weird sexual online relationship fantasy you have.

The married father of two announced his resignation shortly thereafter, citing “infidelity” as the cause, yet maintained that their release had been a mistake. He insisted that these were the sorts of “real raw s***” he sends to his friends all the time.

When pressed for comment, Barrett revealed “This was something that was just an honest mistake and I informed my wife as soon as it happened…I was not at all trying to lure her. I get that she, within the context of what’s happening with Hillsong, that she would draw those conclusions.”


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Hillsong’s Brian Houston Outs the Sexual Assault of Former Congregant, Deletes Tweet

In an ironic turn of events, Hillsong’s Global Pastor Brian Houston has apologized for publicly outing the sexual assault of a former congregant after responding to an unfavorable article about his empire and the way they poorly handle sexual abuse victims.

Several weeks ago The Christian Post detailed student Anna Crenshaw’s experiences and aftermath of being sexually assaulted by Hillsong worship leader Jason Mays during her 4 years at Hillsong College and Hillsong Church in Australia.

Jason grabbed me, putting his hand between my legs and his head on my stomach and began kissing my stomach. I felt his arms and hands wrapped around my legs making contact with my inner thigh, butt and crotch…

Mays would later plead guilty to “assault with an act of indecency” in 2019. The sentenced carried two years of probation and mandatory counseling by the courts. Hillsong suspended Mays from ministry for one year but eventually welcomed him back, putting him in an administrative role in 2020 and having him sing on stage as a backup vocalist for church events.

His return to his old job, plus a dissatisfaction with the way Hillsong handled the abuse prompted Crenshaw to quit this past September.

I’m not interested in supporting an organization that’s willing to treat abuse the way I’ve seen them treat abuse. What happened with my relationship with Hillsong is once I did report to church, that’s when things started going downhill. That’s when I saw how they dealt with abuse, and it’s something I’m not willing to overlook in my relationship with the church.

Following the story, Brian Houston responded on Twitter, calling the story ‘factually wrong’ and publicly revealing that Crenshaw was also sexually abused as a child at her father’s congregation, explaining that this made the abuse at his church all the more “sadder.”

A number of things in the article are factually wrong, but abuse is NEVER OK. My understanding is Anna was originally abused in her father’s church in Pennsylvania. That makes it sadder. Whether abuse happens in Pennsylvania or Australia, it’s tragic.

Hearing that Houston outted her, Crenshaw told the Daily Mail, “This is an incredibly victimizing and heartbreaking response to receive from someone I held as my dear pastor for so many years…”

After widespread criticism for exposing the past sexual assault history of one of the victims who was also sexually molested at his own Church, Houston deleted the Tweet and issued an apology, explaining that “I foolishly included information that was wrong for me to share.”

Hillsong is currently experiencing a “come-to-Jesus-moment” as the stench of their rotting false theology corpse continues to catch up to them and be exposed more and more, resulting in repeated public scandals for the embattled organization.

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Disgraced Hillsong Pastor who Faked Cancer and Sang ‘Healer’ Re-emerges

(Vanity Fair) Over the past year, Hillsong Church has faced a number of major controversies that have shaken up both its ministry and celebrity parishioners. But now, a pastor involved in another of the church’s scandals from over a decade ago has announced he’s turning over a new leaf with a brand-new charity.

In 2008, former Hillsong pastor and band member Michael Guglielmucci admitted to faking a cancer diagnosis to distract from his addiction to pornography after an Adelaide newspaper revealed he’d been lying about the state of his health for years, according to the New York Post. During his tenure at the church, Guglielmucci was reportedly known for regularly performing his hit song “Healer” with an oxygen tube affixed to his nose, was reportedly believed to have received donations to help pay for his treatments.

After the newspaper’s discovery, the pastor released a brief statement claiming his illnesses were real, but tied to an unholy lifestyle rather than cancer as he previously claimed. “As a result of this secret life of sin, my body would often breakdown,” he said. “I’d report the cause of my symptoms simply as illnesses and I’ve thrown my life into a ministry for many years trying to compensate for my sin…. Two years ago, I reported that I was suffering from cancer, the truth is that although I was ill I did not have cancer but was again using the misdiagnosis to hid the lie that I was living.” 

He ultimately admitted to being addicted to pornography for over 16 years and using the cancer hoax as a distraction.

Now, 13 years on, Guglielmucci and his wife, Amanda, who together go by “Team Gug,” per the Post, have found a new calling from God, registering their…

To continue reading, click here

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Emily Kirkpatrickand published at Vanity Fair. Title changed by Protestia.

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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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Have You Seen the Insane Hillsong Church 2020 Christmas Video?! Well You Have Now!

Hillsong Church is no stranger to controversy when it comes to their Christmas productions, most of which feature lascivious displays of writhing flesh and poor choices, resulting in Hillsong frequently deleting the videos so as to avoid criticism.

In other years, we have reported on a Hillsong production depicting Jesus born in a riotous bar, (since deleted) Hillsong’s sensuality Christmas show with fleshly dancers, the Hillsong show with women writhing in nothing but towels, and their infamous ‘Silent Night Sleazy Night’ Christmas special from several years ago. (also since deleted)

This time is no exception. The video is from Hillsong UK, where Senior Pastor Gary Clarke holds sway. Clarke, who is featured in the video, was recently chosen to take over for Brian Houston as the Global Senior Pastor role, overseeing the entire Hillsong empire as Houston steps back from some of his roles and responsibilities.

Now we have this video, posted to the church’s YouTube channel.

It prominently features members of the church leadership, including the Senior Pastor, several Youth Pastors, Hillsong’s Wildlife Director (whatever the heck that is) the Kids Pastor, Senior Youth Pastor, Young Adults Pastor, Young Adults Director, the Hillsong Fuel Director, and the Schools Project Initiative Director all getting a little wild and crazy to a thumping remix of Mariah Carey’s ‘All I want for Christmas is you.’

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.


h/t to Salt and Light for the video.