![]() ![]() The FX documentary also includes allegations of racial discrimination within the church from several Black women, as well as reporting about allegedly exploitative treatment of volunteers. He joins a list of Hillsong pastors that have resigned or been fired following accusations of sexually abusing young boys, concealing said abuse, breaching the church’s moral code, engaging in extramarital affairs, sexually abusing or raping women, bullying, evading taxes, and using church donations to fund lavish personal lifestyles. In November 2020, Lentz was fired for “leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures.” Lentz, who was arguably Hillsong’s most famous American pastor, has confessed that he had cheated on his wife, Laura, with their family’s former nanny, Leona Kimes (though he has denied her allegations of sexual abuse and since claimed that he was sexually abused as a child). It’s possible that the figure has dropped, given that many locations have since closed - while the church once had 16 locations in the U.S., its site currently only lists six. However, the Hillsong press office clarified to the Times that the number is a pre-pandemic estimate. Celebrities deserve a place to pray.” The church’s site states that globally, an average of 150,000 people attend every week. Celebrities deserve a relationship with God. “People say we cater to celebrities,” Lentz told GQ in 2015. Famous attendees could reportedly reserve their spots in a special section. The New York Times once described Hillsong as the “leading edge of cool Christianity.” Services are known for feeling like a mix of a sermon and a pop concert - you may be familiar with their hit worship songs like “Shout to the Lord,” “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail),” and the Grammy-winning “What a Beautiful Name.” Lentz, former pastor for Hillsong NYC, wore brands like Gucci and Supreme while speaking to packed congregations. And I’m still worthy of helping.’” And on top of that, he’s found his “calling”: “just to get married and have babies and do that whole thing.Founded in 1983 in Australia, Hillsong grew to become a megachurch with locations in 30 countries. But I’m just like: ‘I did a bunch of stupid shit. “I don’t want to let my shame of my past dictate what I’m able to do now for people,” he said, citing the Bible verse “the comforted become the comforted.” “A lot of people let their past weigh them down, and they never do what they want to do because they think that they’re not good enough. The reality is, every human being has the same access to God.”Īt the end of the day, though, Bieber has moved on. “And it’s basically, church can be surrounded around the man, the pastor, the guy, and it’s like, ‘ This guy has this ultimate relationship with god that we all want but we can’t get because we’re not this guy.’ That’s not the reality, though. “I think so many pastors put themselves on this pedestal,” Bieber said. And while Bieber didn’t name Lentz explicitly, he did seem to make an overall critique of the so-called “ hipster pastors” who used to surround him. That’s become a bit more complicated since Hillsong Church fired his “second father,” Carl Lentz, for “ moral failures” last year. If Bieber has been remotely on your radar in the past few years, you’ll know his other savior: god. You don’t want to scare them off by saying, ‘I’m scared.’” Now, the Biebers are “just creating these moments for us as a couple.” It’s “beautiful,” and a first for him. “There was all these things that you don’t want to admit to the person that you’re with, because it’s scary. ![]() “There was a lot, going back to the trauma stuff,” Bieber said. It took a year of celibacy, and another as a husband, to get to that place. ![]() And according to him, she’s the reason he’s moved on from misdeeds like traumatizing monkeys and getting DUIs. These days, Bieber is surrounded by one person: his wife, Hailey. I think we just weren’t living in reality.” Up until around 2017, when he abruptly canceled the last of his world tour, “the drugs were a numbing agent to just continue to get through.” “I was surrounded by a lot of people, and we were all kind of just escaping our real life. “I think it would have probably resulted in just a lot of doing drugs and being posted up, to be honest,” the 27-year-old said in GQ’s May cover story. That would not have been the case just five years ago. Justin Bieber rode out the first few months of the pandemic at home in Canada, marking the longest the singer has stayed in one place since he was a kid.
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