Thread by @MattDrapps

Okay Hulu's, Hillsong doc, let's go.

#vanityfair

It's slick, it's glamorous.

I didn't know it was as packed as a Beyonce arena tour in there. I've never been able to fully picture the church when I've heard about it. This visuals are useful.

This is wild

This doc is bonkas ahhaha so New York. And putting swag music over Carl and editing in clips from the Jesus movie 🤣😭📺

Remember when this picture came out the first time? I remember. I was also like, your in danger girl.

Oh here's those two. It's Brian* and Bobbie everyone.

*you can buy his wrinkled shirts on Instagram, see #leavinghillsong for more details

WOT IS THIS MOUSTACHE!

Oh here's Joel! Hi buddy boy.

A picture speaks a thousand words

Darling Nathan is here. ♥️

Any shots with Justin Bieber in really upset me

Tell me why Justin was baptised at 2 o'clock in the morning

Mother dove is here

"The expansion is growing faster than compassion and the ability to meet needs"

Mary Jones is awesome. "It broke my heart," on seeing people volunteering to the point they couldn't pay rent or way.

Josh, you are fabulous

Josh: "When my dad would deliver his sermon, he would say that homosexuality is equal to murder."

Queer children of pastors, my heart breaks. 💔

Oooh, it's the Brian Houston statement: "We do not affirm a gay lifestyle...we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership."

Carl really said, "Churches may be one of the biggest propegators of racist ideology in our country."

Which doesn't undo any of what follows.

Oop, immediately, it's shown his church did not represent our include black people in a real way. I also noticed right away the way they treated Mary as "mother" was a racist troupe, so this doesn't surprise me.

Not these Kansas City leaders threatening to have the police escort Crystal Rose out of the church because of RUMOURS she was criticising the leadership. Ffs.

"Violation, abuse, and coverup, it's just how the place works" - on Hillsong, but could be about MANY churches.

Brian calling Carl narcissistic?!? Look in the mirror, bro.

And here's where the doc changes tack and many of the participants were absolutely shocked, caught off guard and disturbed to find they were sharing the screen with a Carl Lentz redemption storyline 📺 😬 💔

That's part 1, I'll be back with part 2 soon.

Whys he interviewing by the pool? I'm not sure if he is, but that's the vibe. Whys he got the voice in this story now

"I failed...but Hillsong failed too." - Carl Lentz

Laura is here too.

Vanity Fair presents: The Lentz Show

Oh this is not an un-bias watch or review BTW. And I understand how documentaries and story works. I do. But I also know how CHURCH works, and how disgraced leaders work, and how they get back to the top via a repentance tour and you've gotta be a sucker to give them.

Oh I'm so humble now, oh I'm the victim of believing my own hype, I need more family, more jesus, more love.

Bullshit.

"We were reaching people who had never been to church" - that's not how I've heard it or understand it, most Hillsong folk are switching churches to hillsong and were only there for a season. Rapid church growth comes from borrowing congregations

Awww it's little Joel Houston and Carl back on the day. From what I heard Joel used to [redacted redacted redacted redacted redacted redacted redacted redacted redacted redacted redacted]

Not then going to Maccers (Mcdonalds) right away. The place where A. The payoff for the child abuse silence happened, and B. Hazel Houston choked to death one day.

Oh man. Maccers and Hillsong go way back.

*we don't know she choked, we just know she died at Maccers.

This is the Hillsong College episode

Nightmare fuel #brianhouston

Mother Dove, she's so loved

The A'Bells are here. Off of the whistle blower financial documentsI believe.

Laura's mother was the Principle of the college, and Carl would be in intense meetings with her, and later married her daughter. It's a bit, you know

Carl: "You think at 23 getting married will fix a lot of issues in your heart, like your desire to have sex" - *screaming*

It feels like he's straight up still in the headspace of "of you don't handle it correctly sex still destroy you" as if sex and desire and body choices are outside of human control.

This is toxic. Will he grow within the program, or, will be lean in and double down?

"You can choose to be miserable, you can choose to plan a pity party, but the only person who's gunna turn up is the devil"

TELL BOBBIE, not me!

I can't deal with the bedroom/prison shots

"I wasn't fully honest because I didn't know how deep it ran in me" - Carl

It, what is it? Define It.

Wait, wait, who is Leona?

Oh, it's Josh and Leona from Hillsong Boston.

"I was Leona's nanny, while she was the nanny for Carl. I wanted to be a pastor, but the closest thing I can get to it is being a pastor's nanny"

Omfg

"I shoved Carl and hit him, I jumped on top of (Leona) and I punched her" - Laura Lentz

Why did Laura have to find out on the zoom call with Hillsong leadership. How could Carl and the leadership be THAT cruel?

"I was way too vulnerable in that meeting" - Carl, placing blame outside of his body again.

Mother Dove indeed 👀😬📺

Darling, these issues go to the HEART of your Purity Culture bullshit

Brian: "We didn't just ruthlessly fire an innocent person because of their husbands sins"

Leona's husband, Josh, dropping their volunteering nanny cos she was off sick, is so cruel actually.

Carl: "I'm tired of this damage, I'm tired of putting people I love through pain" okay, what are you going to do about it? And, is your family the real victim of all this church abuse at Hillsong NY?

TW. Sexual abuse

Carl talks in this about experiencing childhood sexual abuse. This is so often the pattern in abusive church leaders, that they went through the worst things in their childhood. This does not excuse their actions later on life - building your future around

-Purity Culture after experiencing abuse, is a big pattern for certain church leaders and we need to look at ways to circumvent this pattern from continuing shock does not involve policing other people's bodies and lives later in life.

I also need to ask the directors why they have put the revelations about Carl's childhood experiences over right shots of his arms and pits as he plays basketball, because I honestly do have questions for the directors.

From Leona's perspective now: "During the years I spent serving then I was subjected to manipulation, control, bullying, abuse of power and sexual abuse"

But the directors have framed this episode so far from Carl's POV so this doesn't land in the same way it would have if

We had heard from Leona before now.

There are shades of the Nine O'clock Service here - nanny, in the pastors house all the time, she's being pastored by this couple and working for them and being (reportedly) abused by the husband, and -

It's very culty, NoC vibes here.

"There's been a very public letter of alleged sexual abuse claims" the director says

"I am responsible for allowing am inappropriate relationship to develop" That's not the same thing. "Any notion of abuse of catagorically false."

"There were mutual adult decisions made by two people who lied profusely, mainly to my wife."

So, he does know how to use the language of mutual and decision when it comes to other people.

That's a boss, and a pastor, there's power dynamics at play, this is, no. I don't like it and I don't like the choices vanity fair made here either, though they do discuss Spiritual Abuse with an expert too.

Oooh, and here's Geoff Bullock!

My wonderful friend Tanya Levin is here, at last! "I think of Carl as Lucifer...he was growing in power, he thought he could be Brian, and he had to be thrown out of heaven"

Oh Carl is planning a come back. This is his victory tour and Vanity Fair have it him on a silver platter.

More tomorrow 😉

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