I froze. Whistleblower documents show Hillsong paid Gray $18,000 in 2014 and $38,649 in 2015. His world came crashing down after an affair he had with New York actress Ranin Karim surfaced. As they were leaving, the man who tried to intervene asked her not to tell anyone what had happened. Hillsong is an Australia-based megachurch that averages more than 150,000 weekly congregants at satellites in 30 countries. Now, I love Hillsong music it's anointed, it's powerful. They hung out at neighborhood bars, getting drunk and once starting a fight. A Lentz family insider provided People.com with updates: family nights on the beach and Thanksgiving plans. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Another Hillsong pastor named Leona Kimes ran Lauras life while enlisting a former Hillsong College student to look after her own daughter for $150 a week. This church will fail you, he remembers the pastor promising. in February that Kane Keatinge, an Australian pastor under Lentz who allegedly bullied volunteers, had been suspended pending an investigation, but didnt answer a recent inquiry about his current status. Ad Choices. (He later deleted the tweet and apologized for it. The Secret to Owen Wilsons Infinite Chill? The effects of the split between the churchs founder and his most famous acolyte went far beyond the two mens relationship. The ex-president is expected to enter a plea of not guilty later today, after having his fingerprints and possibly his mug shot taken. You have to choose where your loyalty lies, she recalls him telling her. In 2015, she said, he began making unwanted sexual advances on her. I personally thought it was what I was called by Jesus to do. Jones says she watched the group serve as an outlet for cronyism. Watching from her seat, Jones filled with anticipation. corroborate her account. When Jesus went up the mountain, he only brought two disciples, she said. Lance Vivar, a pediatric ICU nurse in New Jersey, says that the church is just too important for him. He kept a low profile for a while and was allegedly working on his mental health. According to a 2011 interview with Lentz in The Christian Post, as early 20-something students, Lentz and the younger Houston fantasized about someday teaming up to establish a Hillsong church in New York. From Spot/Vasquez-Max Lopes/Maciel/Backgrid. He encourages the youth to always work for the benefit of the economy. Jasons actions have resulted in pain not only for Anna but also his wife Ashley not to mention other family members., Around the same time Crenshaws report was playing out in Australia, several whistleblowers brought complaints to church leadership about the culture at Hillsong NYC. When God blesses a business person its for Gods own purposes. (A Hillsong spokesperson said financial integrity is a value of the church, that it regularly audits its financial records and expenses, and that no staff member has unrestricted access to church funds.). He returned wearing the loudest shirts we had ever seen, Bullock, who left Hillsong in 1995, has said. In 2019 it opened new outposts in Indonesia, Brussels, Edinburgh, Milan, Dallas, Kansas City, and Monterrey, Mexico, as well as a college campus in Phoenix. Every time, I froze. A legal representative for the Lentzes told RNS that the two vehemently deny the allegations and, in addition to that, have irrefutable proof the events did not happen as they are being described.. V.F. I will fail you. Carl Lentz has not publicly addressed his firing yet. Thats essentially a pyramid scheme. Although, she adds, with pyramid schemes at least you get employment out of it. More recently, Houston has rejected the prosperity-gospel label. Ashleys mother, Mary Jones, grew up in segregation-era Baltimore and lived an entire lifetime before arriving at Hillsong in 2010, several years after her daughter moved to New York. When she once faced eviction, Lentz and Hillsong helped with the rent. In 2019, Hillsong paid Gray $14,178 (AUD). Of all the ARC pastors invited to Hillsong, Gray seems to have commanded the largest honorarium. My counselor encouraged me to report the assault instead of letting Jason just ignore it, she says. The name of Carl's wife is Laura Lentz and she has stayed by his side after his infidelity and immediate termination from Hillsong. When Lentz returned Stateside in 2005, he brought his wife with him. Inside Wealth-Conference Con Man Anthony Ritossas Wild Web of Lies, Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Part 2. Sometimes, exhausted from her weekend volunteer work, Austen had to move her day off at her paying job. A former volunteer in New York wrote to church leadership in 2017 about allegations of sexual harassment within Hillsong, including Lentzs own alleged inappropriate sexual behavior. Vanity Fair reported in February that the volunteer said he was told by Termini that he needed to defend the church the way that Termini would defend his wife. One Hillsong NYC congregant, Ashley Jones (right), stuck with the church for years despite misgivings. William thought it would be a one-on-one, but other church leaders showed. Sofia Richie Reveals She Converted to Judaism Ahead of Wedding to Elliot Grainge. Before Termini became Lentzs interim replacement at Hillsong, he held jobs as the churchs head of global real estate and director of business development. She noticed a staff administrator and volunteer singer named Jason Mays, son of the Australian churchs human resources head, John Mays, drinking heavily. Brian and his wife, Bobbie, worked at SCLC until 1983, when they founded Hills Christian Life Centre in the suburbs of Sydney. I was completely overwhelmed the first time I went, says one longtime worshipper. After joining Hillsong as head pastor of the New York outpost in 2010, Lentz quickly became the churchs most recognizable face. Sunday call time for volunteers is 5 a.m. Kane Keatinge responded to Williams report promptly, setting up a meeting. Last month, Houston announced that the investigation was complete, and that while the church wouldnt release the results, its board of directors had learned that it needed to make changes at the branches Lentz had led (and, the announcement seemed to imply, only at those branches). But after the other witnesses corroborated Crenshaws account, Hillsong placed Mays on paid leave. Zoe Church / Chad and Julia Veach. I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that. He phrased it carefully. Exiting Irving Plaza following one Sunday service, Lentz and Mary struck up a conversation. At the school, Lentz made fast friends with Brian Houstons son Joel. Joe is an artist who frequently paints the phrase Cash Only in his work, and in 2018, Biebers seafoam blue Lamborghini was tagged with the slogan. It was first launched in India on March 23, 2020. (Emails provided to V.F. Lentz implored her to stay. Carl and Laura took jobs at Wave, the site of his earlier epiphany, where he now assisted the youth minister with a Wednesday-night service for college-age kids. Ex-Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz Says His Family Is 'Together' After Facing a 'Challenging Road' The former pastor posted on Instagram for the first time since 2020, when he was fired from his . A version of this story appears in the 2021 Hollywood issue. According to sources, the church sent a staffer to surveil the Joneses connect meetings. Lentz's wife Laura speaks out about his affair for the first time in Vanity Fair and FX's . Bri Austen, a single mother in Los Angeles, attended services with her three kids. In November, celebrity preacher at the church's New York church Carl Lentz had a spectacular fall from grace, fired for "moral failings" after his infidelities were publicly revealed. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. 2023 Cond Nast. Carl Lentz pastors Hillsong Church NYC, a thriving Christian congregation with locations in Manhattan and New Jersey. ), Keatinge, they wrote, was bullying and yelling at a wide breadth of volunteers and leaders. Team operations manager Mike Fabian, the letter said, regularly accused team leaders of being nonsubmissive. The letter said that one church leader and Keatinge friend had engaged in bullying behavior, and that in at least two instances this leader didnt respect physical and sexual boundaries within dating relationships with female church volunteers, including having sex with a 19-20 year old female team leader. (A Hillsong spokesperson said the leader no longer worked for the church. Im in the beginning stages of planning to start a church in Hawaii where my brother, his wife and baby live, Termini said, adding that Pastor Brian and I have a close relationship and he has given me his blessing. (Hillsong didnt return a request for comment, but following the publication of this story, Houston and Termini both announced Terminis departure from the church on Instagram. When he couldnt convince Jones to stay, Lentz wept. That came to a. Before they left Hillsong for good, Abreu decided to work one last conference at Barclays Center to confirm something theyd been curious about. Kimes wrote that she felt guilty about her discomfort and ashamed, and that she questioned whether anyone would believe her. I would ask that you simply add, even in your own processing right now, phrases like from what I know and in my opinion rather than this is the state of our church., In a meeting to address the contents of the letter, Lentz said, Youve got some guts bccing the Houstons.. Wed, 05 May 2021. In mid-November 2020, a crisis manager from the public relations firm Sunshine Sachs took on a new client: Carl Lentz, former head of Hillsong Churchs four locations in the American Northeast. The first two rows at church were reserved every week for VIPs and close friends. Termini and his family shared in some of these relationships. (Keatinges email was obtained by V.F.) It looks sleazy as he avoided the question on sin and . A rumor spread that Lentz had sex with Williams sister. By Andrew White/The New York Times/Redux. The crew team unloads trucks. Met Gala 2023 Red Carpet: See All the Fashion, Outfits & Looks, Get Him Out of Here: Donald Trump Tossed NBC Reporters Phones During Tirade Aboard Campaign Plane, How to Watch the 2023 Met Gala Live Stream. The pastor is preparing to move to Hawaii, a source familiar with his plans said, where hell start a separate church following the series of scandals at his old place of employment. An Intimate View of a Young Queen Elizabeth II The Sacklers Launched OxyContin. Then the physical encounters escalated, she wrote, and Lentz allegedly began sexually touching her. The Grammy-winning group Hillsong Worship, one of the churchs three musical acts, recently broke the record for a Hillsong streaming debut in the U.S. Hillsong founder Brian Houston fired Lentz over what he said were moral failuresincluding, most explosively, Lentzs cheatingand has claimed in public statements and a recent interview on the Today show that Lentzs behavior was an aberration for the church. Leadership met her protests with a favorite church aphorism: We dont call the qualified; we qualify the called. Eventually, Hillsong NYC scrapped the plan to have the white woman sing. In the months after Lentzs ouster, former congregants and volunteers spoke out about scores of experiences of exploitation at the church. Its all about God, its not about whos up here, she recalls him saying. While there, Keatinge told the student that he had seen her Instagram photos from Williams prayer meeting. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. November 10, 2014: Hailey attends . Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston said former pastor Carl Lentz had leadership issues that included lying and narcissistic behavior in an exclusive interview with "Today." Houston sat . The tech team sets up the sound and projector. The church has 131 locations across the world, mostly in large cities. When reached for comment, the woman responded that she had stated/agreed that I wouldnt speak about my time there., In February 2018 a group of volunteers sent a letter with a list of concerns to church leadership, including the Lentzes and Joel Houston. (The email was provided to V.F. One pastor routinely asked Jones to replace singers, who had rehearsed, with celebrities (including, once, Vanessa Hudgens) and potential paramours. Tens of thousands of urban evangelical professionals followed Lentz for his soaring sermons at weekly services that resembled rock concerts. We will have to reevaluate if youre fit for leadership positions, she recalled Keatinge replying. Tweet. Lines snaked around the block. The choir revealed other fault lines too. A new TLC documentary about the church and the minister, which debuted on Wednesday, featured the claims. The Sydney Morning Herald reported in a 2015 investigation of the churchs finances that that figure was likely incomplete, and Houston hasnt disclosed his salary since. (A Hillsong spokesperson said Keatinge has been suspended pending an investigation and would not answer Vanity Fairs questions on his behalf. We commend her for her courage and have assured her of our utmost compassion in their journey forward, they wrote, adding, 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.. Kimes later confirmed that her statement was about Lentz. Logging onto Grindr backstage, Abreu saw a screen dotted with fellow volunteers. Joness supervisor was pastor Kane Keatinge, a longtime friend of Lentz and Joel Houstons from Australia who had moved to New York. But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. When she reported that a volunteer in the vocal group sent her a sexually threatening text message late one night, the man was simply moved to a different volunteer team. Crenshaw left Hillsong College and the church, enrolling at a different Australian Bible college. The celebrity-beloved religious couple's new $700,00. During a visit home before his sophomore year, his parents brought him to a service at the newly established Wave Church. Music has proven to be a large part of the churchs draw throughout its history, and the growing congregation eventually renamed itself after one of the more popular musical acts it had produced. Pastor Carl Lentz and his wife, Laura, seen with their three children, Ava, Charlie and Roman on March 22,. All rights reserved. This broker sells houses and God, too. I prayed about it and I was heartbroken, she says. Following months of scandal surrounding Hillsong, a pastor at the megachurch alleged on Monday that Carl Lentz repeatedly sexually abused her and threatened her during conversations about his conduct. In January, Reed and Jess Bogard, who helped found Hillsong NYC, announced their departure. (A church spokesperson said its global leadership was previously unaware of this incident but learned that Amazing Grace may have been a special request of Lentz for a sermon unrelated to Black History Month.). In class, Lentz established himself as a brash and discursive presence. In November, Houston announced an investigation of the Hillsong East Coast locations that Lentz led, and in February, he said the investigation was complete, though the results were not publicly disclosed. Our pastoral team will continue to care for Anna as they have been, but we also have an obligation to care for Jason, his wife and family as a church, he wrote in part. During a New Years Eve 2009 hangout, Joel Houston pitched Lentz the idea of standing up their dream church. As a child she was abused by a youth leader, and after the assault in Sydney, she went to a counselor to work through it all. Posted to carl lentz, Justin Bieber Met Gala 2023 Red Carpet: See All the Fashion, Outfits & Looks, Get Him Out of Here: Donald Trump Tossed NBC Reporters Phones During Tirade Aboard Campaign Plane, How to Watch the 2023 Met Gala Live Stream. Hillsong congregants had a habit of undergoing more than one baptism, and Jones proposed addressing the issue with a six-stage course for new congregants that could morph into a connect group at the end. Ex-Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz's Wife Laura Breaks Silence on Sex Scandal on Wedding Anniversary Carl Lentz was fired from Hillsong in November, and later admitted to cheating on his wife,. In September 2022, Laura shared a relationship update. They changed their cell phone numbers, updating only a select few friends, according to one.

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