The indictment and resignation of Brian Houston is far from the only struggle the world’s largest megachurch franchise has seen in the last few months. The turmoil has been mounting in the United States as well. Carl Lentz’s sexual infidelity was the first major chink in the Hillsong USA armor. However, there have been massive amounts of financial infidelity to go along with the sexual infidelity. It has now reached the point of embarrassment that multiple Hillsong teachers have had enough. In the United States, Reed Bogard is the current source of embarrassment. The senior pastor of Hillsong Dallas announced his resignation last year, only for it to be revealed last week that Bogard was cheating on his wife with another staffer. That staffer would dubiously claim she was raped the first time they had intercourse because feminism.
With the implosion of Hilsong Dallas, two more strategic locations are on the chopping block. Hillsong Atlanta’s senior pastor, Sam Collier, announced he was leaving to start his own church, Story Church, which he intends to be a very woke church, devoted more to “racial reconciliation.”
Additionally, Hillsong Pheonix is now is now facing a leadership crisis, as lead pastor, Terry Crist, wants out. According to the Christian Post:
“This had played out in recent weeks. It came down in recent weeks to the demand that we sign non-disclosure agreements and non-competes, meaning that if we were removed from our positions, we could not plant churches again within our community for at least one year,” the Phoenix pastor continued.
After failing to come to terms with Hillsong Church to reseat their local board, Crist said they formally asked that their church be released “back to us” last Saturday.
“Specifically, that simply meant the release of our church to be governed by a local board and also to include a couple of non-Hillsong pastors who are wise and credible and have proven ministries to also be seated on our local board for the sake of accountability by non-vested pastors who have nothing to lose by speaking truth to power,” he said.
“I was told this week, it is ‘all or nothing.’ We either had to allow the global church to govern our church and to own our properties, or we had to leave. And so with great sadness, I chose to leave,” Crist added. “I am heartbroken.”
Analysis
Evangelical Dark Web speculated the end of Hillsong being nigh because a leadership transition would struggle to handle the mountain of scandals writing, “one wonders whether the roster underneath Hillsong’s Moses has the capability of sustaining the large enterprise Hillsong has become.” So far the answer has been a resounding no.
