Hillsong’s disgraced pastor Carl Lentz is just the top of the messy pile of laundry that is the church itself! It seems the church also doesn’t stand for homosexuality and that some members of the church’s preaching staff, like Josh Kimes from Hillsong Boston, are allegedly just a tiddly bit racist.
Monica Uribe, is one of the former member of the church who spoke to Business Insider for a big ol’ exposé about the inner workings of the church, and I’m sorry to say, it sounds pretty bad.
From Business Insider:
Pastors including Lentz aim to project an approachable and modern image, but insiders say the clerics and their inner circle were discriminatory, exploitative, and elitist. Sources accused some in church leadership of blacklisting LGBTQ members, making racist remarks, and tokenizing Black employees. And while top brass was treated like royalty with private chauffeurs paid for by the church and access to perks like courtside seats at Knicks games, former members say they regularly took advantage of free and underpaid labor.
Uribe came out as bisexual to her pastor at Hillsong Boston, who she said made it clear that if she started “practicing” bisexuality, there’d be trouble with the church. After a suicide attempt, Uribe eventually checked herself in for a four-day psychiatric inpatient treatment at McLean Hospital, none of the pastors from the church came to see her. Of the church, which she left after five months, she told Business Insider, “If I would’ve stayed, I would have probably attempted suicide again.”
Other stories abound. Josh Kimes, a preacher at Hillsong Boston, is also alleged to be sliiiightly racist?
In a June 23, 2018, text thread sent to 25 Hillsong Boston members, Kimes invited everyone over to his home for food and drinks and to play the game Mafia, text messages viewed by Insider show.
Members responded with their excitement, including Destiny Mitchell, who is a white worship pastor. Mitchell sent a GIF of the Black “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star NeNe Leakes with the text “YAAS.”
Kimes responded, “Destiny that’s what I thought you looked like before I met you…” including a grimacing face emoji in the text, indicating that because her name was Destiny he assumed she was Black.
Kimes’ wife chimed in by saying, “So racist babe,” while others in the thread replied with laughter.
Yikes! A real fucking mess. Good luck, Hillsong. God bless.... [Business Insider]
Real quick, two seconds, just sit down over here for one second and let me know if you know who this man is?
Yes, that is Pauly D and yes, he has dyed his hair blonde (?) and yes, he is also growing a beard (??). I support this Vegas situation for him, but I also just want to flag that Pauly D is apparently 40 years old. Having studied the 40-year-old white man of both the famous and the non-famous variety, I can say with certainty that going blonde is the first step of a midlife crisis. Good luck to you, Mr. D, and good luck to those around you. They’ll need it. [Just Jared]