![]() ![]() Hillsong is also anti-abortion, believes creationism should be taught in schools, preaches purity (or no sex before marriage), and the prosperity gospel (or if you give money to God, He’ll repay you), encouraging congregants to tithe at least 10 percent of their income. “No matter how cool and how hip you think they are, at the heart of it is: Come as you are, and then we’ll change you.” But then, as you look underneath it, at the heart of Hillsong Global are really super-conservative white men, and that’s not what they believe,” offers Canfield. ![]() “On the outside, Hillsong looks super progressive. (Houston, now 69, did not participate in the docuseries and categorically denies all allegations of impropriety.) Then, after he appeared on Survivor with his partner, Houston wrote a blog entry on behalf of the church stating, “We do not affirm a gay lifestyle and because of this we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership, either paid or unpaid,” while adding that they oppose gay marriage. Josh Canfield, a gay Hillsong choir leader who appears in the docuseries, thought the church was accepting of him, maintaining that he and his boyfriend had been members of Hillsong for eight years and their status as a couple was well-known in church circles. Then-President Donald Trump even invited Houston to the White House as a special guest in 2019, where the two prayed together. Hillsong built a young, diverse array of followers thanks to its more modern, Christian rock-driven worship music, international reach, and its façade of tolerance. In 1999, the two churches merged with Brian as their leader following a number of pedophilia allegations against Frank then, in 2001, it rebranded as Hillsong Church. Six years later, Frank’s son Brian and his wife, Bobbie, started the Hills Christian Life Centre in nearby Sydney. The story of Hillsong begins in 1977, when pastor Frank Houston founded the Sydney Christian Life Centre, a Pentecostal church affiliated with America’s Assemblies of God, in Sydney, Australia. But now the Lentzes are ready to talk, and they feel that Carl’s fall from grace is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Hillsong’s culture of abuse, discrimination, and corruption. Lentz and his family, including his wife, Laura, and their three young children, proceeded to vanish from the public eye. It all came crashing down in November 2020, when Lentz was fired from Hillsong for what the church called “leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures,” after it came to light that he’d been conducting a tequila-soaked extramarital affair with Ranin Karim, a 34-year-old Brooklyn designer of rings and kimonos. in the tub of former NBA star Tyson Chandler. At the height of his PR problems, Bieber even crashed with Lentz for several months and was baptized by him at 2 a.m. He also served as team chaplain for the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets. As the lead pastor of Hillsong NYC, a megachurch specializing in youth-courting “come as you are” sermons and “Coldplay for Christ” music, Lentz became a bona-fide celebrity, palling around with A-list congregants like Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and Kevin Durant. More later.With his short fade, skinny jeans, toned bod, and tattoos, Carl Lentz wasn’t like other men of the cloth. "With that said I just want to thank you for even taking a moment to read this. "From the lows of where I've been, to the grace and forgiveness that God has granted me, I have something to share and so does Laura and my kids," Lentz concluded. "It truly makes me wonder if this is what all of this pain was all about." Repentance and life change is proven over time with consistent choices and that's a road I look forward to," he wrote. "I can say I understand it and my relationship with Jesus in a way that I couldn't from the pulpit. Lentz continued by noting, "I'm not the first man to be in this situation and I won't be the last, but I can promise you I'll be the guy standing with his arms open wide for anyone who's been on this path of addiction and destruction." ![]() I can do that in so many different ways, inside and outside the church." "I can also say that what gives me joy and hope is knowing that what I have been through, what I have made it past can help so many others. "I'm not preaching, not overseeing people, my role is to help give perspective and insight where I can," he wrote.
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