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'Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed': All the celebs associated with Carl Lentz's scandal-hit organization

The church’s former pastor Carl Lentz was reportedly the factor that attracted young stars towards it
UPDATED MAR 24, 2022
Justin Bieber, Hailey Bieber and Nick Jonas are all reportedly connected with scandal-hit Hillsong megachurch (Getty Images/ Dimitrios Kambouris, Frazer Harrison, Mike Coppola)
Justin Bieber, Hailey Bieber and Nick Jonas are all reportedly connected with scandal-hit Hillsong megachurch (Getty Images/ Dimitrios Kambouris, Frazer Harrison, Mike Coppola)

International megachurch Hillsong has been in the news for a few years for all the wrong reasons and now a docuseries – ‘Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed’ – is releasing on Discovery+ on March 24 to expose some of the unearthed details of it. The three-part series will show the history of the religious institution and its founder Brian Houston, who has been accused of numerous things, like robbing church funds and covering up child sex abuse. The series will also talk about the church’s former pastor Carl Lentz and the big Hollywood names who are associated with it.

Speaking about the church’s culture, Elle Hardy, author of ‘Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity Is Taking Over the World,’ has reportedly said in the documentary: “It is a culture of ‘protect the brand at all costs’. And whatever it takes to achieve that.”

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Celebs associated with scandal-hit Hillsong megachurch

Other than their star power, there is one more thing common between Chris Pratt, Kendall Jenner, Nick Jonas, Justin Bieber, Hailey Baldwin, Hailee Steinfeld, and Vanessa Hudgens – they all like to spend their Sundays at Hillsong Church — a contemporary Christian church founded in Australia in the early 1980s and now has its branches across the world. It has been said that Lentz was the main factor that attracted these young personalities to the California church.

Pastor Carl Lentz attends the "Elvis Duran Z100 Morning Show" at Z100 Studio on February 12, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

Besides, a 2018 report by Seventeen magazine noted that the services at the church “feel like a rock concert, sometimes with lines around the block outside the Manhattan nightclub, Irving Plaza, where some of their Sunday services take place. Those who attend are young and hip, wearing skinny jeans and leather jackets. And the pastors resemble rockstars more than men of the cloth, wearing ripped jeans and flannels as they preach.”

Reportedly, Bieber first met Lentz as a 14-year-old and he was worried and struggling to deal with fame at the time. Also, when the Canadian singer canceled the 14 final shows of his Purpose tour in 2017, Hillsong gave the reason behind it, saying he “rededicated his life to Christ.”

Singer Justin Bieber attends Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium on February 13, 2022 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Post Malone had also once said that Bieber has become “super-religious recently. Real culty”. Referring to Hillsong, he added: “He’s already given them, like, $10 million. Those are the worst kinds of people. I used to be super-religious. I believed in God. But now I see through it. It’s nice to support something you believe in, I guess, but people are spending so much money, and God doesn’t care that your church has a f*cking gold roof.”

Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber attend The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue )

Just like Bieber, his wife is also reportedly associated with Hillsong. Though it's not known how Baldwin got in contact with the church and Lentz, it has been said she has created her own bond with them. Once she had told The Cut, “I know the people that run it really well, they’ve become like my family, so that’s what I’ve chosen to go to Hillsong.”

Jonas brothers are known religious and it has been said that Nick is also associated with Hillsong megachurch. He was reportedly seen attending a service in 2012.

(L-R) Nick Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Kevin Jonas of Jonas Brothers perform onstage during iHeartRadio Hot 99.5's Jingle Ball 2021 Presented by Capital One at Capital One Arena on December 14, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)

In addition to this, in 2020, a dog walker had claimed Lentz – who used to preach never have sex before marriage – had sex with a young celebrity in 2014. Lee Martin did not name the celebrity but she was many years young to the ex-pastor.

Martin had explained, “[The Lentz family] lived in a building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where I had the majority of my dog walking business. I walked into the house one day to walk their dog and I didn't see or hear any people in the apartment at first. So I took it that no one was there and went in and got their dog on a leash. And as I went to exit the apartment, I walked past the bedroom and I heard sex noises - it definitely sounded like two people were having sex.”

He added: “I knew that I wasn't supposed to be there because nobody would be making those kinds of noises if they knew someone was around. When I walked out of the door, I accidentally let the door close behind me too loud. And so by the time I made it to the elevator, Carl and the star were right behind me. He didn't look me in the eye, and didn't talk to me or acknowledge me, which was very unlike him. They both seemed kind of flushed - like they had been having sex. I didn't see into the bedroom but I know what I heard and I believe what I heard was Carl and the celebrity having sex with each other.”

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