(Pulpit & Pen) Following is a thread about a recent interview with Carl and Laura Lentz to promote their new book ‘Overcome Infidelity.’ When asked about his time at Hillsong NY, Carl calls that church ‘the most beautiful thing in their life’ which produced ‘a real revival’ and where God moved, and that there won’t be anything like it again.In fact, whenever he talks about it, it’s always as some glowing thing that was going great until his adultery messed it up. Yet that’s not how Hillsong head Brian Houston described it, nor how later revelations revealed it to be.
The 51-page barn-burner of a report commissioned by Hillsong titled “Internal Investigation Report Regarding Carl Lentz and Other Matters” explains that…
“It was not uncommon for volunteers and staff who had frequent interaction with Carl Lentz to report that such interaction had ‘caused’ them to suffer from mental illness.”
In fact, Brian Houston issued a public letter apologizing for what went down at Lentz’ church, saying Lentz was a “narcissist,” that there was a “culture of dysfunction” and that “the church failed in significant ways to reflect the culture they wished to impart.”
This includes widespread and pervasive sexual promiscuity and sexual contact between certain church staff members and interns and parishioners. Hillsong staffers were effectively using the church like a seedy dating service, ‘sleeping around’ with volunteers and asking them to send nude pictures.
Houston ultimately acknowledged that the allegations of rampant sexual impropriety were “mostly true” and said in a statement:
“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.”
In terms of culture, in 2020 Business Insider released a long-form article detailing accusations of racism, exploitation, and discrimination at Hillsong NYC, with a particular focus on their Green Rooms, which ensured Lentz was inaccessible to the congregations.
This didn’t happen only under Carl’s Leadership, but under ‘pastor’ Laura as well.
“The concept of ‘honoring’ was prevalent when it came to Hillsong’s top pastors. Several people told Insider that pastors, particularly Carl Lentz, were catered to like celebrities, with volunteers and staff members expected to answer to their every beck and call.
When Hillsong’s New York City branch launched, the hierarchy was promptly enforced, Janice Lagata, a former member who worked closely with Lentz, said.
‘They immediately started setting up this culture of like, particularly not wanting everybody to have access to the pastors,’ said Lagata, who was the church’s stage manager and ghostwriter for seven years.
‘Only certain people could talk to them. There was always, always that separation.’
The green room, where Lentz and his ‘entourage’ would convene before and after services, was strictly off-limits to anyone else unless he granted them permission, Lagata said.
‘Only celebrities got access, and it was sort of like a VIP situation,’ Lagata said. ‘There were maybe 10 to 15 people who had access to that room.’
During services at concert halls, insiders say Lentz only ever entered through the VIP backdoor used by his celebrity pals, including Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Sources viewed some of Lentz’s demands as excessive.
‘He had to have his coffee hot,’ Lagata said, describing Lentz as ‘spoiled, pampered, and coddled.’
‘People would be running errands all day, back and forth to Starbucks to make sure he had his fresh coffee,’ she said.
Lagata said volunteers known as ‘green-room girls’ were tasked with keeping Lentz’s demands met. Four current and former Hillsong members said that while the pastor’s green room was stocked with snacks and hot meals, there were few provisions provided for volunteers who worked all day on Sundays.”
Of course, this doesn’t even touch on all the allegations of financial impropriety, where pastors and leaders were spending money like drunken sailors (a culture we now know was endemic to many Hillsong churches)
At Hillsong NY, pastors and leaders were given PEX cards with tens of thousands of dollars on them to spend on their leisure, with no reconciliation accounting needing to be done for how the money was spent.
Purchases include $1100 per night AirBnB, renting $6000/month apartments, unlocked iPhones, ATV’s, weekly manicures, spending $600-700 on single meals, buying wine and booze that costs hundreds of dollars per bottle, and buying designer clothing and gifts for celebrities visiting the church.
This was the church at Hillsong NY, disavowed and apologized by the mothership, which Lentz paints as a picture of health and vitality under his leadership.
If he can’t be honest about the mess he made there, it doesn’t bode well for anything else he might say.
This report is published on Pulpit & Pen’s Facebook Page
CRN has compiled a list of false teachers and several other professing Christians we’ve warned you about over the years. The list also contains those we must keep an eye on plus movements, organizations and “frauds, phonies and money-grubbing religious quacks” to mark and avoid as per Romans 16:17-18 such as Cark Lentz and Brian Houston.
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