Hillsong Exposed

In 2020, Pastor Carl Lentz of the international mega church Hillsong, New York was fired when reports broke out of an extramarital affair. Lentz had long been in the media spotlight as a pastor to the stars like Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and, most famously, Hailey and Justin Bieber. Now, 3 years after his very public fall from grace, there are now not one but two high profile documentary series have been released, revealing in his own words what led Lentz to fall into his moral failures and digging deeper into greater levels of scandal and cover-up in Hillsong’s history. As tragic as all of this is, Lentz is only one of countless stories we’ve heard in recent years of large platform, spiritual leaders in the Christian faith who have fallen in some major ways. Are these failures evidence of the failure of the Gospel, itself? If not, what is the root, what do we do when our leaders fail and how could all of this be prevented from happening again?

Moral failure within the church is a big deal. Not only does it harm the victims, the families, and the people involved, but it tarnishes the reputation of the Church and stains our witness to the world. It’s a valid criticism for the world to ask us how we should have any right to speak against what the Bible deems sin out there when we can’t even keep our own houses in order. The common Christian responses usually come down to, “no one is perfect,” or “it’s not fair to say the sinful actions of one man speak for the whole Church,” but, honestly, those types of responses fall flat. Even scripture tells us that pastors and those in spiritual authority should be above reproach, in the eyes of the church and the world.

“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. - 1 Tim 3: 1-7

That's not even the only place where spiritual leaders are called to be set apart in this way.

“if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. - Titus 1: 6-9

Yes, no one is perfect, but there is a big difference between being perfect and being generally known for self-control, biblical wisdom, being humble and disciplined. These are not unattainable traits and they should be all the more so for someone claiming to have the Holy Spirit living and active inside of them. And it is completely fair to judge the veracity of someone's claims based off of how they are able to live them out. As Christians, we say that we are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to God. We say that we believe the Holy Spirit empowers us to walk in the paths of the righteous. We position these celebrity pastors as the ones who go out into the world and show them that you can be cool, popular, attractive and even sexy and still be a sold-out follower of Christ. If we are not willing to be tied to their downfall, we shouldn’t be so quick to elevate them to the platform in the first place.

This is all just a byproduct of our fallen and sinful nature. We, the Church, have started building up leaders whom we think the world would follow and then we are shocked when those leaders who are attractive to the world start acting just like the world. A similar thing happened in the Old Testament when the nation of Israel looked around at all of the nations around them and decided that they wanted to have a king like everyone else. They don’t want to follow the word of the prophets and priests and judges anymore; they ask God to give them a king. The first king they get is everything they’re looking for; tall, strong, handsome. This dude looks like a king. But, as time goes by, King Saul proves to be a cowardly, hot-tempered, impatient, and ultimately God-forsaking king. When God tells Samuel the prophet to go to the house of Jesse and anoint a new king to replace Saul, even Samuels first instinct is towards the oldest son, the tall, strong, handsome man named Eliab he sees when he first is introduced. But, God tells Samuel something very important, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” - 1 Samuel 16:7. If you look back at the qualifications of leaders listed in Titus and 1 Timothy, do you notice that they are all about Godly character and not physical ability or natural leadership skills? Are those the qualifications most churches in America are using when appointing Pastors, elders and deacons? The root problem is that our eyes are far too often fixed on the wrong things and our leaders are really just reflections of those of us willing to follow them.

So, what do you do if your spiritual leader fails? First, you need to self reflect. Is your faith shaken when a pastor or leader is caught in sexual sin or embezzling church funds? This could be a wake-up call about who you have been putting your faith in. The only anchor for our faith and the one that will never be shaken, moved or fail is Jesus. As the old hymn says, all other ground is sinking sand. Next, evaluate what warning signs were missed, what red flags were ignored which allowed this behavior to go on unseen or undisciplined, and trust me, there are ALWAYS red flags. Was the pastor known to have a temper? Were they overly concerned with appearance or did they have frequent comments or behaviors which left others feeling uncomfortable? Here’s a big one, how do they respond to criticism? Are they unwilling to be held accountable in smaller areas by other leaders or church members? If you are able to recognize the points of failure in the past, you will be better equipped to prevent them from happening in the future. Pastors should never be elevated beyond accountability. They’re human, just like us. They will fail and they will sin. If they are qualified men of Godly character like those described in Titus and 1 Timothy, and they are humble enough to be open to biblically appropriate accountability and correction from those they are shepherding, sin will be able to be spotted and corrected before it is allowed to grow into something anyone will be making a documentary about one day.