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With fresh reporting and analysis from journalists, historians and policymakers, go beyond the sensational headlines and behind the velvet rope to examine the church's long pattern of covering up misconduct to protect itself.
In 2015, a young pastor named Carl Lentz lands in NYC to spread the Word of Hillsong, an ascendant Australian megachurch. But allegations of volunteer exploitation, racism, sexual abuse and homophobia explode. Lentz is fired and disappears until now.
Carl Lentz
Self - Former Lead Pastor
Alex French
Self - Vanity Fair
Now playing Season 1, Episode 1 — Church in the Wild
May 19, 2023
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Season 1 • 4 episodes
In 2015, a young pastor named Carl Lentz lands in NYC to spread the Word of Hillsong, an ascendant Australian megachurch. But allegations of volunteer exploitation, racism, sexual abuse and homophobia explode. Lentz is fired and disappears until now.
In their first interviews since expulsion from the church, Carl and Laura Lentz guide viewers into the inner sanctum of Hillsong, detailing the building the church’s congregation and the response from church leadership when it deemed Carl a liability.
As a group of international reporters examine Hillsong’s global network, it becomes clear that long before Carl Lentz’s transgressions, Hillsong’s founding father, Frank Houston, laid the groundwork for the church’s pattern of covering up misconduct with non-disclosure agreements and hush money. And his son, Brian Houston, has allegedly been trying to cover up his father’s predatory past for decades.
Shortly after Carl Lentz’s expulsion from Hillsong, Brian Houston is formally charged with concealing his father’s crimes and banished from Hillsong after allegations of his own misconduct are made public. Carl, Laura and a multigenerational group of former Hillsong congregants examine the rubble and collectively attempt to answer the ultimate question: What do you do when you discover the shepherd is the problem?
Scout Productions
US
Vanity Fair Studios
US
Dan Adler
Self - Vanity Fair
Brian Houston
Self - Hillsong Church Founder (archive footage)
Bobbie Houston
Self - Hillsong Church Founder (archive footage)
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