Hillsong: A Megachurch EXPOSED Documentary | MY REACTION

gold girls and glory it's been said that these three things have contributed to pulling more men down than anything else if you have not heard yet brian houston who is the lead pastor and founder of hillsong church in sydney australia just yesterday march 23rd announced that he was going to be stepping down apparently there was a investigation and there was some inappropriate activity that violated the church's quote-unquote code of ethics and he is stepping down and the timing of all of this is quite interesting because his resignation actually comes one day before the highly anticipated long-awaited um uh documentary if you will called hillsong a mega church exposed and if you want to catch that you can catch it on discovery plus uh i've watched all three episodes and this video is my review of that particular documentary and uh all i can say is that i've got a million thoughts in my mind so i apologize ahead of time if this video seems all over the place but um listen this documentary really really exposed some of the things that are going on behind the scenes as it relates to hillsong church now to organize my thoughts just because this is how my brain works i've summarized what i believe is the five major themes that this documentary brings to the surface or exposes about hillsong church that i want to talk about in this video and to make it very easy for us they all start with the letter m now some of these i'm going to spend a little bit more time on than others but this is what i want to cover in this video the first one is members right so i want to talk a little bit about what was the experience of some of the individual members who were part of hillsong church and what we can learn as it relates to how churches should relate or treat members of their churches and then the second m is music right and so music played a huge part in hillsong church and we're going to talk a little bit about that and then the third one is money so we're going to look at what role money has played to the potential downfall of hillsong church and what role it can play also in the lives of individual ministers as well as churches as well and so the fourth thing we're going to look at is ministers or ministry in terms of how ministry was done how certain ministers were treated how they were elevated how they were put on celebrity status and all of this contributed to this church being exposed and then the fifth and final one you don't want to miss we're going to talk about manipulation and we're going to talk about how many churches whether big or small are guilty of manipulating their members to fulfill their vision for whatever it is they are trying to accomplish so those are the five themes that i believe that this documentary really brings to surface and i really want to talk about those in this video now before i get into these five i just want to make one major disclaimer and that is the fact that this documentary is not and should not be seen as a representation of all mega churches right there are some churches that very well may have 10 15 20 000 members and they are healthy they are strong right but this documentary exposes a specific church the hillsong church and we're going to talk about that okay now the first m we're going to look at once again is members and what i want to look at here once again my thoughts will probably be all over the place but i want to look at the experience of members and how members were treated at hillsong church now related to members the first thing that i want to say is that members of any church should not be judged based on the failed leadership of that church so if you meet somebody who maybe they used to be at hillsong church or maybe there's a song that you like to sing and it was written by somebody who was deeply involved in hillsong church or is still involved in hillsong church we ought not pass judgment on that particular person simply because their church is experiencing a failed leadership the second thing that i want to say about the role that members play in a local church is we have to be very very careful at in terms of what we allow the media to cause us to believe because you can find any set of disgruntled former members of any organization if you look hard enough and you will be able to actually form and spin the narrative to make that story say whatever it is that you want to say right so just keep that in mind as you watch this documentary there's a lot of members who maybe were hurt or disappointed or something may have happened to them and they are sharing and expressing their story another point that i'm going to make as it relates to members is that the deeper in leadership that you go oftentimes the more that you will see if you stay on the surface and you just attend and you hang out you know what you may not see a whole lot of stuff that's going to bother you but the more you rub shoulders with leadership and you get deeper into it once again not every church there are many many many very healthy churches but unfortunately in some churches you're not going to see a lot of the corruption and all the stuff because you're just attending you have to go deeper into like several levels down into leadership before some of these things are being exposed now the next thing that i want to talk about as it relates to members which very well may blur the lines a little bit with the manipulation piece that i want to talk about later and that's the fact that oftentimes in these unhealthy toxic church environments members are being exploited with expectations of extreme service right they're they're they're being you the the bible is being held over their head with this idea of you know what jesus gave everything for you and the least you can do is give everything that you have back to jesus and it's this idea that you know what you need to just serve god you need to put all of your other priorities you know uh aside because at the end of the day jesus deserves your best jesus deserves all and absolutely that's that's true but oftentimes people are put in these no-win situations where if they choose not to serve than they are uh as hillsong put it they are red-lighted in other words there's a there's a mark on them or you're blacklisted you know what hey uh you know this person is not really sold out to the mission and the vision and so therefore they're blacklisted or if you do choose to serve you almost have to choose between having any sort of life outside of church whether it's with your family or your educational pursuits or anything or you just have to sell completely out to the church and i don't think this is a healthy way for members to be treated in a local church context now while it is true that the church should be built based on the volunteer services of its members there are also some situations where what is being asked of this individual volunteer is so all-encompassing that we need to pay these people for their services especially when the church is making a hundred million dollars a year as was reported by uh hillsong church and the last thing that i'm gonna say about members and membership of a church is that i believe that many many churches need to do a much better job at how they manage and how they relate and how they treat the members of their church specifically people who served in a significant uh staff position or a significant volunteer position because here's the reason why the reason why i singled this group out is because these people are often the ones that have given the most money and the most time to the church and so if we don't treat them well particularly when they choose to leave or whether they are disgruntled or whatever it results in documentaries like this where people are basically sharing out how hurt they were because someone in the church did not care for their soul now the second m that i want to talk about in this review of this documentary and i think it's the second theme that really emerged was the role of music in hillsong church now it is no secret that hillsong basically uses its music as a gateway to kind of draw people into their church as a matter of fact i bet many of you who are watching this you might be very familiar with the music of hillsong but you may not even know who brian houston is he is the pastor and the owner and the uh founder if you will of the hillsong church of sydney australia right but their their goal is to use music to try to draw you in to their worship experience so we must be careful not to overlook an unhealthy toxic church environment simply because the worship is so good as a matter of fact one of the quotes that really stuck out to me in this documentary says it's easy to mistake emotional manipulation for a movement of god now with all of that being said about the worship music at hillsong let me just say this not every songwriter connected to hillsong church should be judged based on once again the failed leadership of that church if that song makes you feel closer to god if that song that you really available discusses and this is one we want to camp out on just a little bit is money right so as a matter of fact in the documentary they said that there's about six different income streams if you will that uh hillsong church has and they all start with the letter c uh the first is church right so just church attendance to be people coming people giving people tithing sacrificial giving and then cds they sold their music right and so uh there's another revenue stream there and then cinema different movies different productions and things like that and then conferences that they would host that would also bring people in from all over the world and then concerts that they would have right that was a huge huge way to bring people in and then colleges they have a leadership college where they bring people in and they train you how to minister in the hillsong way so one of the things that this documentary highlighted is the fact that every church and every church leader must find the healthy balance between need and greed because you know what money has a way of changing an individual you can start off with the purest intentions of wanting to do ministry but when you start to make money when you start to see that you can actually use this thing called ministry to actually make money and get rich and be famous and have power and have possessions and have all these things it has the power to change who you are at the very core and so that's why this documentary really brought the surface that the church really needs to be careful about navigating between greed and need listen every organization and every church needs money our organization which is nonprofit we need money as well to be able to purchase equipment to be able to pay staff to be able to pay the person who is leading the organization so they don't have to work a second job so they can focus exclusively on doing the work that god has called them to do nobody's talking about that we get that but when we start talking about misusing and mismanaging the funds that people are giving to the church with the expectation that these funds are being used for one thing then in reality they are being used for something totally different to fund the lavish lifestyle of its ministers and its church leaders that's a whole other thing and one of the things that the documentary mentioned is the fact that um you know many of the leaders had these debit cards that were being funded with the tithe money of uh of the members and basically a lot of the the ministers on staff had this the carte blanche where they were able to go and spend money on purses on rental cars on um shoes that were costing like five six hundred dollars and a thousand dollars and things like this also carl lentz who we're going to talk about in just a moment who is the who was the uh head pastor of hillsong new york city uh you know they talked a lot about you know the clothes that he was wearing that some of them were like ten thousand dollars for a vest and the shoes were like thousands of dollars and things like this guys if you're a minister and you're a ministry and you're mismanaging funds like this all i'm gonna say is you're gonna answer to god because this is not what a minister or ministry should be all about whenever you see people who are living these flashy lives right there they're they're uh they're flashy in terms of their dress and they're showing off to everybody you know hey look at what i have on look at how much this costs like that is the lavish lifestyle that i think turns people away from church now with that being said because i always like to be biblical and balanced let me just also say this be careful about judging a minister based on how much money you think he has the reason why i say this is because we need to not ask the question should a minister or pastor be wealthy that's the wrong question to ask right the answer is well it could possibly be but the correct questions that you should be asking is number one how is this wealth being obtained and then second of all how is this wealth being used because if this minister is extremely wealthy but the way they are obtaining their wealth is by honest means by working hard maybe by investments maybe by creating a product that people are purchasing maybe by writing a book maybe by getting something patented or whatever it is then who are you to judge that person and say that person cannot benefit financially from that just because they hold the title as of a minister right and then also how are they using that money at the end of the day if they make 60 million dollars a year but they give away 59 million dollars to everyone else then you can't judge that person because they have a lot of money because you need to look more at once again how they obtained it and second of all how are they using it and because you don't necessarily know either one of those things with absolute certainty oftentimes be careful not passing judgment on a minister who very well may on the surface seem like they're doing well but you don't know the specifics of their financial situation and so every minister and every ministry needs to guard against this insatiable desire for more for more for more right more buildings more bucks and more bodies and it is this that we must consistently wrestle against and we must consistently ask ourselves is what i am doing for the glory of god or or is it to bring myself glory now the fourth m that we're going to look at that i believe that this documentary really brings to the surface is ministers certain ministers how we select certain ministers uh how we relate to certain ministers how we view certain ministers right so the first thing i want to say about this is that charisma should never be a substitute for character oh man i cannot tell you how important this is because whenever you watch this documentary what seems to be clear is that pastor brian houston seemed to have appointed or selected pastor carl lentz for from uh for hillsong new york city more so more than likely on the idea of he is going to be a charismatic leader he is going to be able to be a great speaker he's going to relate well to the people he's good looking that's going to draw people in he has a nice figure he has a beautiful wife all of these external things right but what is the primary thing that you need to look at whenever you're appointing a minister or whether you are a minister is not your charisma it's not how flashy you are it's not how gifted you are it's your character because your character is only going to take you as far right or assuming your your charisma will only take you as far as your character will keep you you can have all the charisma in the day but if your character is not right eventually just like carl lentz just like brian houston just like the whole bunch of people that i could mention that i'm not going to mention in this video it is going to be exposed over time and when it is it's going to be a huge fallout and it's going to affect lots of people's lives the next thing i'm going to say to the ministers is that issues that are not dealt with in the past have a way of rearing their ugly head or coming to the surface later one of the things that came out is that we know about carl lentz's uh adulterous affair with uh ranine kareem i believe her name is and we know all about that and you who will be ignorant to think that that was the first time that this brother was dealing with inappropriate behavior no the reality is that this had been a consistent issue in his entire life even in his own admittance he admits to being a player he admits to struggling with lust and struggling with these different things right so if you don't get certain things in your life in check and i'm not just talking to ministers i'm talking to any christian if you don't get these things under control listen when you start to have power and fame and authority and all these different things all that does is go it's going to maximize it's going to it's going to blow up if you will uh the struggles that you have privately and it's going to become public and the last thing i'm going to say to the ministers is the fact that the bible is true pride comes before the fall and this one is really really important to me because when i look at many ministers in the church today whether they're online or in person or whatever the way they carry themselves is not in a way that that that communicates humility if i'm just being honest if i can be blunt with y'all right a lot of it is flashiness a lot of it is look at me a lot of it is when you see them on stage even the way they preach even the way they conduct themselves the way they carry themselves their whole demeanor their whole persona is communicate this idea of pride and arrogance and haughtiness and flashiness and look at me and narcissism and attention on me and all of that and i'm just gonna be honest with you like it's a turn off if you are a christian minister you should always seek to carry yourself with humility that doesn't mean weakness but it means humility right when you're on stage and you're and you're speaking you can use your god-given personality yes but make sure that it doesn't come off to everyone else as being cocky and arrogant speaking once again of carl lentz when you look at this brother i mean he is flaunting all sorts of flashy expensive clothes he's uh walking around with his shirt off and things like that taking pictures right like showing off his physique and things like that like all of these things are signs of pride and like i said earlier if these things aren't held in check it ultimately leads to the downfall of that minister and oftentimes sadly that ministry now the last m that i want to talk about today is the word manipulation and i have made some videos on this and maybe another word you can use here is abuse because oftentimes what these churches do is that they misuse their authority they misuse their power to manipulate or brainwash people who may not be strong enough to think on their own and they use them as pawns and they use them to get free labor and all these different things that this documentary really brings to the surface let's circle back now for just a moment to these unhealthy expectations that many churches put on volunteers if they can brainwash you into thinking that you know what it's a privilege that you should be able to do this you don't you don't have to do this you get to do this right matter of fact that's one of the sayings that they said that uh was prevalent around hillsong church i can't believe we get to do this right it's this idea that you know what you should be thanking god that we choose you to work uh or volunteer 20 30 hours a week and what happens is they use these fear tactics oftentimes to evoke fear in you that if you don't do as they say if you don't submit to that church's leadership then you are going to be outcast you are going to be blacklisted you're not going to get certain opportunities to use your gift you're not going to be able to speak you're not going to be able to lead worship you're not going to be able to do this you're not going to be able to serve here or there because you know what you are not submitting to the church's vision and you are somebody who is rebellious all of this stuff y'all are signs of unhealthy toxic church environment and if these things are going on in your church you need to look for a way to get out because you are being manipulated and brainwashed and ultimately being misused and abused we are conditioned to put our trust in leadership and you know what when that church is a healthy church then you know what everything is good you should submit you should fall in line but woe is you and woe is me when that church is unhealthy because if you fall in line and you submit you could be submitting to something that god is not intending for you to do this documentary highlighted the fact that this church wanted to control every single aspect of people's lives right so things like who they dated and how they dated and how long they should date before they kiss and how long they should date before they say i love you and you know what if you all kissed before this time then you guys need to be uh break up for six months and then we will reevaluate your relationship like total control like these churches oftentimes that are being that are unhealthy are trying to play the role of the holy spirit in the lives of believers once again should the church be available for accountability yes should the church be available for leadership and guidance and advice yes but when it gets to the point where that church believes that they are playing the role of the holy spirit in the lives of a believer and they are literally wanting to know every single detail of your life so they can manipulate you they can control you and things like that that is a sign of an unhealthy church so if you are part of a church that is using these unhealthy toxic manipulation tactics to try to control you my friend my advice would be for you to get serious about looking for a different church now with all of that being said i would love to hear from you i really strongly encourage you to take some time to check it out on discovery plus uh you can even get a free trial to check it out if you want to do that uh there's three episodes that you can check out uh it's called hillsong a mega church exposed uh it's a documentary and if you've had any experience at all with church good bad or ugly i think that you really enjoy uh watching this and and so just know that there's no perfect church there's no perfect church leader but there are some churches that are healthier than others and my prayer for you is that even though you may see all of the stuff that is going on in churches and people leaving and things like that that first of all your faith would not be deterred and you won't be putting these people up on these pedestals like these celebrity pastors and all this stuff that we see going on right but you'll put your faith ultimately in god because he is the only one who is perfect and you won't lose faith in the church simply because there are some churches out there that are unhealthy because for every unhealthy church i believe that there are still several healthy churches that you can be a part of so i'd love to hear from you what are your thoughts let me know in the comments below and i look forward to seeing you in the next video bye for now [Music]

Channel: THE BEAT by Allen Parr

Views: 215,569

Keywords: allen parr, hillsong church, brian houston, brian houston charged, hillsong documentary, hillsong documentary discovery plus, hillsong a megachurch exposed, hillsong pastor resigns, hillsong pastor steps down, brian houston hillsong, hillsong documentary 2022, hillsong documentary trailer

Id: 1HwmqVurqeo

Length: 25min 25sec (1525 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 25 2022