Hillsong USA continues to hemorrhage pastors and churches, with Josh and Leona Kimes, co-pastors of Hillsong Boston, announcing on social media that they were resigning from their roles and would be moving on.
Leona Kimes previously served as disgraced Pastor Carl Lentz’s personal nanny for 7 years before moving to Boston and becoming a ‘pastor’ there. While she was in his employment, they had an inappropriate and sinful sexual relationship between 2015-2017, where she alleged in a Medium Post that she was “subjected to manipulation, control, bullying, abuse of power, and sexual abuse“ by him, and an independent report commissioned by Hillsong notied that Lentz admitted to “ subliminally encouraging a relationship with the married Kimes with whom he engaged in at least 20 but less than 100 sex acts which he described as “manipulated intimacy.”
The couple did not give a reason for leaving, but did write on Facebook that God was “directing” their steps to “walk confidentially & humbly into the unknown and trust him to open the right doors & plant us somewhere new,” while also apologizing for “perpetuating a culture that at times valued the building of the church at the expense of those building it,” during their time at the church.
It seems like every time Hillsong senior pastors resign suddenly, it’s on account of a brewing scandal, such as with Jess and Reed Bogard of Hillsong Dallas- a church that was shuttered by HillsongCorp after widespread corruption and accusations of sexual sin came to light. While neither of the Kimeses are qualified to be pastors, we hope that they have not continued the sad tradition and are leaving for honest reasons.
