{"id":179295,"date":"2021-02-15T22:08:16","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T19:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/hillsong-founder-brian-houston-phasing-out-amid-scandal\/"},"modified":"2021-02-15T22:08:16","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T19:08:16","slug":"hillsong-founder-brian-houston-phasing-out-amid-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hillsong-founder-brian-houston-phasing-out-amid-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"#Hillsong founder Brian Houston phasing out amid scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Hillsong founder Brian Houston phasing out amid scandal<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

Brian Houston, the founder of scandal-plagued megachurch Hillsong, has revealed he\u2019s transitioning away from his current role as global senior pastor. The announcement comes amid the church\u2019s barrage of multi-million dollar international lawsuits, his wife\u2019s apology for body-shaming slurs and a hard-partying<\/a> top staffer flaunting wild extramarital sex romps.<\/p>\n

The 66-year-old told congregants the news<\/a> at the Australia-based church\u2019s annual Vision Sunday event this weekend. While Houston and his controversial sex-book-author wife Bobbie will continue to be involved in Hillsong, he will be shifting responsibility for what is the crux of the empire to Gary Clarke, who is currently the lead pastor of Hillsong\u2019s UK branch, he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you know, this year is our 38th year since Bobbie and I started out here in the Hills,\u201d said Houston during the second Vision Sunday service of the weekend. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing a lot of soul-searching and praying about the future and the way ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due to the speed of Hillsong\u2019s global growth, he explained, it\u2019s become \u201cunsustainable for us to be able to lead everything that we\u2019re leading right now. I want to be looking at ways we can share that load.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then emphatically and repeatedly stated that \u201cBobbie and I aren\u2019t going anywhere. We\u2019ll still be around, still be preaching as long as they want us to,\u201d and are \u201cdefinitely not retiring. We\u2019re not retiring. We\u2019ll be around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, he admitted, the pair are \u201cheading towards our 70s\u201d and he does think \u201cit\u2019s the right season for us to look at a whole new season for us personally and for our church as well,\u201d using the same language the former lead pastor of Hillsong\u2019s Dallas branch used in his resignation announcement.<\/p>\n

As a result of growth, Houston continued, Gary Clarke and his wife will begin helping with \u201cthe global side\u201d and \u201cinvest[ing] into the pastors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clarke has been with Hillsong for over two decades and claims to have healed lepers, the deaf and people with polio through prayer alone, the Daily Mail<\/a> reported in 2019. At the time, Clarke lived in a three-bedroom south London luxury flat bought by the church for $2.2 million (\u00a31.6 million) in 2008, according to the publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Brian
Brian and Bobbie Houston, the co-founders of Hillsong Church. <\/figcaption>
Hillsong Church<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Hillsong insider, who chose to remain anonymous, told The Post they believe Houston kept the announcement \u201cintentionally vague.\u201d Global development, which Clarke app<\/a>ears to be taking over, is \u201cthe core of the Hillsong empire,\u201d the insider claimed, and a lot for Houston \u201cto surrender. He seems like he wants to wind his role down a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s announcement was not the focus of the service and was only briefly noted by Brian, who made no comment regarding why his three children \u2014 all of whom are Hillsong staff \u2014 will apparently not be succeeding him in the global development role, at this time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHillsong is a family-run business and most people expected the kids to step up,\u201d the insider claimed. \u201cThat\u2019s the problem when your product is based on a rave experience. Hillsong is starting to look more like an episode of HBO\u2019s \u2018Succession\u2019 series<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The official replacement for adulterous pastor Carl Lentz, who was canned last year amid a headline-grabbing cheating scandal, was also announced at the Vision Sunday service. While former real-estate broker John Termini has been serving as the interim lead pastor of Hillsong NYC, taking over many of Lentz\u2019s former responsibilities, Chrishan and Danielle Jeyaratnam<\/a> \u2014 currently the pastors of Hillsong\u2019s Perth and Bali campuses \u2014 will formally begin leading the church\u2019s NYC branch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Chrishan-and-Danielle-Jeyaratnam\"
Chrishan and Danielle Jeyaratnam, pictured here with their children, have been announced as the official new Hillsong NYC lead pastors, a role previously held by Carl and Laura Lentz,<\/figcaption>
Hillsong Church<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat man lacks the Lentz cach\u00e9,\u201d a Hillsong insider claimed to The Post about Jeyaratnam. \u201cHe\u2019s simply not cool enough. Hillsong will have to essentially rebrand themselves to sell it in NYC.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A replacement for Clarke\u2019s former role was also announced.<\/p>\n

Hillsong, Lentz, Jeyaratnam, Houston and Clarke could not be reached by The Post for comment regarding the new positions or previous claims against Hillsong.<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s surprise announcement comes after months of turmoil for the religious franchise following the firing of star pastor \u2014 and former high-profile pal of Justin Bieber \u2014\u00a0Carl Lentz in November. In the wake of Lentz\u2019s termination, former members have been claiming Hillsong is like a \u201ccult\u201d and alleged experiences of homophobia, \u201cslave labor\u201d and gross misuse of tithe money during their time at the church\u2019s various locations and at its eponymous college. Hillsong reps have denied many of these allegations and have repeatedly not responded to The Post\u2019s requests for comment. As well, there has recently been a mass exodus of once high-profile pastors, and the church is involved in at least two lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Before the latest turmoil, Brian and wife Bobbie Houston did not appear to have considered transitioning away from their current roles at the megachurch, which they began together in 1983. \u201c[Maybe] a year or so ago. I said, \u2018Honey, when do you think I should retire?\u2019 and [Brian] just laughed at me! He laughed \u2014 in a nice way \u2014 and was like \u2018That\u2019s hilarious!\u201d Bobbie told Eternity News<\/a> in a 2019 interview. \u201cI mean, why? I\u2019m not gonna retire from loving God and wanting to serve him as best I can.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While she admitted to being \u201cmindful of age\u201d and \u201csuccession,\u201d she told the publication \u201cthere\u2019s nothing within Brian and I at the moment that wants to retire.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The announcements come on the heels of Hillsong closing the internal investigation it launched into its East Coast locations after the Lentz scandal broke. In an email to Hillsong East Coast members on Friday, Feb. 12, Houston announced the investigation was complete and had unearthed \u201csignificant ways\u201d its NYC operations had \u201cfailed to reflect Hillsong global culture,\u201d but did not release its findings to the public, Religion News Service<\/a> reported.\n <\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Hillsong founder Brian Houston phasing out amid scandal” Brian Houston, the founder of scandal-plagued megachurch Hillsong, has revealed he\u2019s transitioning away from his current role as global senior pastor. The announcement comes amid the church\u2019s barrage of multi-million dollar international lawsuits, his wife\u2019s apology for body-shaming slurs and a hard-partying top staffer flaunting wild extramarital…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":179296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/hillsong-riches-01.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[93375,78763,5562,78764],"class_list":["post-179295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2-15-21","tag-carl-lentz","tag-churches","tag-hillsong-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}