More Hillsong Pastors Step Down Following Leader’s Resignation, Doc Release
(Link): Hillsong pastors say they warned Brian Houston about Carl Lentz’s immoral behavior, were ignored
By Jeannie Ortega Law, Christian Post Reporter
Former Hillsong pastors Zhenya and Vera Kasevich allege that Hillsong founder Brian Houston was made aware of Carl Lentz’s immoral behavior, yet refused to address his actions due to the church’s culture of “secrecy.”
(Link): More Hillsong Pastors Step Down Following Leader’s Resignation, Doc Release
Excerpts:
March 28, 2022
By Hannah Frishberg
These shepherds are running to greener pastures.
Yet another set of Hillsong megachurch pastors stepped down this weekend, following the resignation of church founder and former leader Brian Houston last week, as well as the release of Discovery+’s three-part docuseries on the church, produced in association with The Post.
“After much prayer and pastoral counsel, we have decided to withdraw from Hillsong Church,” Terry, 57, and Judith Crist, 60, the now former lead pastors of Hillsong’s Phoenix, Arizona, branch wrote congregants in an internal Friday email that has been viewed by The Post.
“We are grateful for the decade we spent as a part of the Hillsong Family and as a Hillsong Church, and we pray for the global family,” the married pastors wrote.
The Crists — both fifth generation pastors — started their congregation “in our living room 22 years ago” before becoming a Hillsong Network Church and then “Hillsong Family,” more formally merging them with the Australian-born Pentecostal institution.
However, problems began for the Phoenix branch in 2017, when a “global restructuring” left the Crists with “concerns,” Terry said in an emotional sermon published to Hillsong Phoenix’s YouTube channel this Sunday.
…“Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed” examined several allegations against Houston.
Houston, 68, had already announced his decision to “step aside completely” from leadership of the multinational church he and wife Bobbie founded in 1983 this January, citing his need to focus on an ongoing court case accusing Houston of hiding his late father’s child sexual abuse. Then, this month, he once again made a show of stepping away from power following the revelation of multiple misconduct allegations.
The Crists’ decision to leave Hillsong was exclusively due to the fact that the global board refused to return their church’s “governances back [to] the local level.”
Hillsong did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Related:
(Link): Carl Lentz’s Alleged Mistress Speaks Out in Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed Trailer: ‘Toxic’
(Link): Sex Abuse Allegations by Carl Lentz’s Former Nanny Put Spotlight on Hillsong (Church) Culture
(Link): Hillsong Church Rife with ‘Inappropriate’ Sex, Members Claimed
(Link): Tithe Money Funded Hillsong Pastors’ Luxury Lifestyles: Former Members by H. Frishberg
(Link): Women in Perry Stone’s Ministry Allege Sexual Misconduct, Say FBI is Investigating Televangelist
(Link): Inside Disgraced, Disheveled Ex-Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz’s Downgraded House
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