We choose narrative over truth and that leads to absolute disaster, because the truth doesn’t go anywhere just because you cover it up”Įntertainment & Arts Hillsong Church’s fired pastor to the stars admits cheating on his wifeĬarl Lentz, Justin Bieber’s former pastor who was just fired, apologizes for cheating on his wife as he faces a “hard ending” to his time at Hillsong Church.ĭirected by Stacey Lee and drawn from reporting by Vanity Fair’s Alex French and Dan Adler, the series goes deep into the history of the Australian megachurch, alleging a pattern of cover-ups, inappropriate behavior and financial self-dealing by Brian Houston, who resigned from Hillsong last year and will return to court in Australia next month as his trial continues.
You just push it as far under the rug as you can. “Most of the time, it serves everybody to push everything down. was what looks best for the church,” Lentz says. “Typically, the way that Hillsong has handled scandal. Lentz is also critical of Hillsong’s leadership, particularly that of founder Brian Houston, a former friend and mentor, who is now in the midst of a trial in Australia, where he is accused of failing to report child sexual abuse by his father, Frank Houston, a preacher who died in 2004 and whose Pentecostal church there was a precursor to Hillsong. There were mutual decisions made by two people who lied profusely, mainly to my wife.” “Any notion of abuse is categorically false. “I am responsible for allowing an inappropriate relationship to develop in my house with someone that worked for us,” he says. Lentz also admits an inappropriate relationship with Kimes, who was co-pastor of Hillsong in Boston, in addition to being the family’s nanny, but insists that it was consensual. What I’ve done is my fault, but where that thing started, I have no control over. In the process, Lentz turned into a star himself, a “ hypepriest” to the rich and famous who was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and profiled in major magazines.Īs a white Evangelical who lived in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, and wasn’t afraid to say Black lives matter - even on “The 700 Club” - he seemed to represent a new, more progressive strain of Christianity, even as he skillfully dodged questions about the church’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues and did little to increase diversity in the organization’s leadership. Known for his designer skinny jeans, plunging V-neck shirts and wildly charismatic sermons, Lentz attracted numerous celebrities to his flock and in 2014, famously baptized Justin Bieber in a bathtub belonging to NBA player Tyson Chandler. Over the following decade, the church became a sensation, drawing thousands of diverse, young congregants every Sunday to services at Irving Plaza in Manhattan. The pastor had founded the New York City outpost of Hillsong, a Pentecostal megachurch with roots in Australia, in 2010. Just a few years ago, Carl Lentz was on top of the world.
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