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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

Pop culture preacher busted in sex affair, Hillsong PR disaster

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

News, True Crime

4.2 • 8.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2021

⏱️ 37 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

News of Carl Lenz's extra-marital affair has set off a public relations nightmare for megachurch Hillsong. An internal investigation of Hillsong's East Coast operations has begun, as has accusations of exploitation of the Australia-based organization's congregants and their donations. Hillsong denies these accusations. We reached out for comment and were referred to the link below. https://hillsong.com/media-releases/statement-recent-inaccurate-media-reports-finances/ "A portion of the post from Hillsong: Recently there have been several stories circulating online alleging a serious abuse of trust – the misuse of church funds by Hillsong Church employees. We are particularly grieved that, in many cases, inaccurate accounts in these stories have been reported as if they are true. "Hillsong Church strongly refutes that our culture casually allows for such gross misuse of church funds. In fact, these stories are especially troubling since Hillsong has a record of excellence in financial accountability globally and an unwavering commitment to financial integrity. Global leadership has always taken the stewardship of the tithes and offerings entrusted to us seriously and we have numerous structures in place to ensure financial accountability and integrity. Please find some of our policies below. Even though we know many of the stories circulating are not true, we are still obligating ourselves to closely examine the claims in line with our ongoing commitment to financial integrity. We have always placed a high value on good governance and stewardship, and if we discover a breach related to this we will take strong and swift action. We have a biblical responsibility to be excellent stewards of the ministry funds that have been committed to our care at each of our church locations." Joining Nancy Grace Today: Troy Slaten - Criminal Defense Attorney, Los Angeles California, www.floydskerenlaw.comDr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst www.drbethanymarshall.comSteven Lampley - Author, Speaker, Retired Police Officer and Undercover SVU Detective, Author, "12 and Murdered," www.stevendavidlampley.com, Facebook.com/StevenDavidLampleyPageArt Harris - Emmy Award-winning National Investigative CorrespondentHannah Frishberg - New York Post Features Reporter, Twitter & Instagram: @hanfrish Tanya Levin - Hillsong Critic & Author, “People in Glass Houses: An Insider’s Story of a Life In and Out of Hillsong", www.tanyalevin.com

Transcript

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0:00.0

Just in Bieber, Selena Gomez, Scads of Stars rushed to Hill song church, the new age

0:16.4

Christian version of church.

0:20.1

But now in the wake of the discovery of affairs, a sex scandal, claims of misappropriation

0:27.7

of funds.

0:30.0

What's next?

0:31.0

Is there an investigation ongoing?

0:39.8

In a swift fall from grace, Lens fired earlier this month, the church citing several reasons,

0:45.8

including quote moral failures, launching a quote independent investigation into the

0:50.4

culture of the church.

0:52.3

And admitting he was unfaithful to his wife of 17 years, writing on Instagram, I take

0:57.9

full responsibility for my actions.

1:00.4

I now begin a journey of rebuilding trust with my wife, Laura and my children and taking

1:05.5

real time to work on and heal my own life and seek out the help that I need.

1:10.6

You were just hearing our friends, Zareen Shaw at ABC News.

1:14.0

Well, you know what, God bless him, but I'm still concerned about allegations of misappropriations

1:19.0

of funds.

1:20.0

And when I say funds, I'm talking about the money that we all put in the offering plate.

1:27.5

Those funds, is it true with me and all star panel to make sense of it all with me

1:33.7

Troy Slayton, high profile criminal defense attorney, joining me out of LA.

1:37.7

You can find them at FloydSkeerinLaw.com.

1:41.7

Dr. Bethany Marshall, psycho analyst to the stars, joining me from LA at Dr. BethanyMarshall.com.

1:48.3

She's the star of a brand new Netflix series, Bling Empire, Steven Lamplay, author of

...

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