Fall from grace. Megachurch Hillsong has confronted a collection of controversies over time and the brand new documentary collection The Secrets of Hillsong is breaking all of it down.
The four-part FX docuseries, which premieres in May 2023, follows the varied scandals which have taken place within the controversial church. Most notably, it touches on the group’s former pastor Carl Lentz’s notorious affair scandal. In the particular, each Carl and his spouse, Laura Lentz, gave their first public interviews since their exit from the church in November 2020.
“You do not want to be in this chair,” Carl mentioned within the trailer. “I cannot stress it enough.”
At the time, Carl — who wed Laura in 2003 — was fired from the group by Hillsong Church Global Senior Pastor Brian Houston for “moral failures” and “breaches of trust”’ after information broke that Carl had an affair.
“I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that. This failure is on me, and me alone and I take full responsibility for my actions,” the non secular determine mentioned in an announcement by way of Instagram on the time. “I now begin a journey of rebuilding trust with my wife, Laura and my children and taking real time to work on and heal my own life and seek out the help that I need. I am deeply sorry for breaking the trust of many people who we have loved serving and understand that this news can be very hard and confusing for people to hear and process. I would have liked to say this with my voice, to you, in person because you are owed that. But that opportunity I will not have.”
Carl was well-known for his former friendship with Justin Bieber. The Grammy winner as soon as lived with Carl and his household in New Jersey and was even baptized by the pastor. Following the scandal, Bieber revealed in January 2021 that he was now not affiliated with Hillsong and was a member of Churchome.
According to the documentary, Hillsong management had been knowledgeable that “incriminating text messages” between Carl and a girl named Ranin Karim had been discovered. Karim, for her half, revealed her identification in an interview with Vanity Fair revealed weeks after the firing. In May 2021, the Lentz’s former nanny Leona Kimes accused her employer of sexual abuse. (Kimes was additionally a member of Hillsong whereas she was employed by the household.)
After Kimes’ allegations got here to mild, Houston was accused in August 2021 of protecting up little one sexual abuse achieved by his late father — who was additionally a pastor in Australia.
The first two episodes of The Secrets of Hillsong premieres Friday, May 19, on FX and will likely be obtainable to stream on Hulu the next day. The remaining episodes will drop on May 26.
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