When one of Hillsong New York City’s worship leaders announced he is a practicing, unrepentant homosexual, and that he is marrying his fellow church singer and boyfriend, Hillsong leadership says nothing.
Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly, billed as the Broadway Boyfriends, announced their engagement for a 2016 wedding. Both are Hillsong choir singers. Canfield is the choir director – which means he is serving as a ministry leader.
(UPDATE: The couple’s announcement came in January, eight months ago. Today, less than 24 hours after this story published, finally, Hillsong issues a press release.)
The musician, announced to the world that he proposed to his boyfriend and also told his church leaders about his sexual practices. This quote was first issued in October 2014 and repeated again in this December article from PlayBill:
“I need to be truthful with everyone. I became truthful with my church. I’m a part of Hillsong NYC. I’m one of their choir directors. I also sing on their Worship team. They’ve been amazing as well. Nothing has changed there now that I’m completely out and with Reed. He sings in the choir as well. I found that being an honest person has actually come with a lot of benefits. People are more sincere with you, and you find out a lot more about other people when you become honest.”
You’ll recall that senior pastor Carl Lentz told CNN this in an interview last June (requoted at HuffPo):
Jesus was in the thick of an era where homosexuality, just like it is today, was widely prevalent. [False.] And I’m still waiting for someone to show me the quote where Jesus addressed it on the record in front of people. You won’t find it because he never did. [Yes, He did. See, WOULD THE SON OF GOD CONTRADICT THE FATHER?] “…We have a lot of gay men and women in our church and I pray we always do.
Lentz’s wife, Laura, added: “It’s not our place to tell anyone how they should live. That’s their journey.”
And that his Australian counterpart Brian Houston said this (see, Hillsong’s Brian Houston Won’t Give Position on Same-Sex ‘Marriage ‘We’re on the Journey With It’):
…What Carl [Lentz] always says for us, it’s a conversation. For us, it’s easy to reduce what you think about homosexuality to just a public statement. And that would keep a lot of people happy. But we feel at this point, it is an ongoing conversation, that the real issues in people’s lives are too important for us to just reduce it down to a “yes” or “no” answer in a media outlet.
Houston is this year’s speaker at Willow Creek’s Global Leadership Summit. These reports come a month after Willow Creek’s worship leader Darren Calhoun announced that he is a gay man who lives celibately. But then why is he partnering with Matthew Vines’ Reformation Project to bring an all-inclusive homosexual diversity into churches everywhere? And why is he appearing at gay pride parades with his “I’m Sorry” banner, apologizing for The Church’s biblical stance on homosexuality?
These are questions that need to be asked and answered. But when we ask, all we get is deafening silence. Is it asking too much to ask Christian leaders to go on record on such an important issue?
Please see these important background resources:
White Paper: Homosexual Agenda
