Recently, it was discovered that Hillsong NYC Youth Pastor Diego Simila played the Hillsong’s Naked Cowboy (NC) at Hillsong’s US Color Conference. While this information was circulating, Brian Houston released a blog post on this controversy. What followed after that was the sudden removal of Diego Simila’s sermons online. We wrote an article in response to this phenomena here:
Prankster or pastor? Where the world is Hillsong’s man Diego?
Carl Lentz of Hillsong Church NYC responded to this article. You can read his response below. If anyone wants to understand our previous conversations with Carl, read here.
We’ve spaced his comment so it is easier to read.
Carl Lentz writes,
Hey guys! Diego is 100 percent our youth pastor at Hillsong Church New York City… I’ve seen quite a few silly things on this topic, this blog is right up there w/ the most silly. I have no idea why anybody, is trying to say we are “cyber scrubbing” anything to do with Diego.
There may not be many sermons online of Diego preaching, because he doesn’t travel and preach often! He is typically busy building our local youth ministry…if he has preached at another church and they put it online and now have taken it off, that’s THIER call not ours. Has zero to do with Hillsong Church.
This is now the second time I have had to clarify bad facts and address you on the very same issue you continually attempt to throw at my church.(you stated as fact one time, I had my own YouTube channel, which in fact I do not and cannot control fake accounts posing as me. I think you issued some sort of apology but mostly re-directed…sound familiar? If I had more time, I would read more of your stuff and im sure there would be profound inaccuracy throughout..)
So again, in your rush to write blogs about us, please do your best to at least get facts right. I realize you hate our church and you get excited to get new material up as fast as you can, that’s your obvious right. But your credibility suffers when you have to retract things, and I want you to be the best church watcher site you can be.
Diego is our youth pastor, I think he’s one of the best I have ever known when it comes to serving and helping young people and if he preaches on a Sunday and we put it online, keep your eye out for it! I love his preaching too..nobody has ever tried to scrub this man, from anything, so your entire blog here? Lacks truth. That has to be disappointing when that’s supposed to be what you hold dear.
Do better and have a great day!
Sincerely: Carl Lentz..
Guy who hired Diego as youth pastor and is confirming his existence.
Source: Carl Lentz, Prankster or pastor? Where the world is Hillsong’s man Diego?, ChurchWatchCentral, http://churchwatchcentral.com/2016/06/03/prankster-or-pastor-where-the-world-is-hillsongs-man-diego/, Published 04/06/2016. (Accessed 05/06/2016.)
Do you agree with Carl Lentz’s challenge to us? Do you think he gave us enough information so we could correct our article? What are your thoughts on this?
Hillsong Church Watch 
I can’t get past ” but your credibility suffers..” What the…..?!”
Do you agree with Carl Lentz’s challenge to us? Do you think he gave us enough information so we could correct our article? What are your thoughts on this?
Clearly you have jumped the gun again…Carl has told the truth and clarified Hillsong’s position in regard to Diego.
Now it’s up to credible churchwatch to retract your story, offer an apology to Hillsong and Diego and promise not to jump to conclusions and spread false stories and lie’s without having all the information.
That would be the honorable thing to do.
David, do you have “all the information” to make such a demand on us. 🙂
I’m sure Carl Lentz will realize his need to apologise to Hillsong women, and to us, given the information coming forward.
Cheers, Team ChurchWatch.
David, can you dismiss this comment too? https://churchwatchcentral.com/2016/06/04/carl-lentz-responds-to-naked-cowboys-disappearing-act/#comment-6389
Lentz knew who Diego was, Houston claimed he didn’t know who the NYC youth pastor was. If Lentz is correct, Houston is incorrect. Can’t have it both ways.
Logically only two options:
1. Houston did not know and made no attempt to know the facts about Diego before making his standard dismissive reply -showing incredible stupidity (is using Google just too hard for the self-proclaimed Hillsong leader of leaders?) or extreme laziness (why didn’t he contact staff to make enquiries for him if he didn’t have time) OR
2. Houston is lying – he did already know that Diego was pastor but is denying he knew who the pastor was – also showing incredible stupidity, assuming that no-one will check his/ other leaders’ past history (to get the WHOLE truth), therefore repeating history.
e.g. Houston invited (in)famous, abusive ex-pastor Mark Driscoll to 2015 Hillsong Conference, sparking international outrage, then pretended Driscoll wouldn’t appear at Conference…. a Houston-Driscoll interview didn’t occur live, however a recorded one was played instead. LIE VIA OMISSION.
Oh no……. Now it’s Comedy Club David back for another failed go at it.
“Carl has told the truth and clarified Hillsong’s position in regard to Diego.”
Debra & Benjamin are right. Carl & now you David have tried to divert attention away from what Diego was doing up there in the first place, and attempted to place blame for this moral fiasco on Hillsong Church Watch, making this debacle look like a HCW problem, instead of a Hillsong problem.
Tsk tsk, have you now deluded yourselves into believing it was HCW standing behind the magic Hillsong curtain that shoved Diego out on stage?
HCW’s reporting is far better than everyone else’s bad acting.
How ironic that at one time Brian Houston referred to himself an actor. That’s as ridiculous as Phil Pringle referring to himself as a painter. Isn’t it bad acting for Brian to take a week to ‘sort this out’ when he’s the head honcho? Head honchos usually take a few phone calls and less than an hour to ‘sort out’ who is responsible for something like this within their own organization.
Hillsong & its cheerleading section seems full of bad actors.
Carl Lentz
Thank you for reading this site and —now that we have your attention : please explain?!
How did someone (you say Diego?) come on a supposedly Christian stage imitating the Times square Naked Cowboy? ( during a fun time involving lots of other people) at the Colour Conference at NYC. Brian says its a good question and one that Brian has been trying to work out. I’ve been trying to work it out too. Maybe the whole of Christendom has been trying to work it out.
Brian writes that you don’t know anything about it? Bobby didn’t know anything about it. Maybe none of the leadership knew anything about it – is that true? We don’t want your or Brian’s credibility to suffer – so before we gloss over this very important and spiritually grave issue … Whose idea was it? Can you even appreciate why it was so wrong? Could you please explain?
As Christians who love our Lord we deserve an explanation and, depending on the outcome, an apology.
It seems ironic that Carl jumps in to defend this single point while ignoring the mountain of problems with their church in general. The issue is not whether they have or have not pulled sermons, but in why their pastor is acting in a lewd way in a church to begin with. Carl says nothing about the obvious, but tries to shame churchwatch about a very minor point. If he is such a great pastor, why was he doing what he was doing? To coin a phrase, “I think they protest too much”. So Carl, while you are reading and looking for errors, why no have a closer look at the mountain of problems with Hillsong? And given the history of Hillsong with pulling sermons, distorting issues, putting the blame on others, I am hardly surprised. They just do not get it at all, despite warning after warning. They defend the indefensible. Is churchwatch perfect? Oh my, perhaps not, but please Mr. Hillsong, when you spot a gnat, don’t assume this gives you license to think you are excused, you are not!
At best this was very very poor judgement. For a man let alone a youth pastor to get on a stage in a church virtually naked as a joke is unbelievable. To do this at a womans conference is so bad.
Why has this Youth pastor not said. I messed up so badly I need forgiveness or offered his resignation.
I wonder what he does with his Youth !!!
When we mess up we have to be accountable. We do not know if he has been given any form of church discipline for this. However, reading articles here and from Hillsong it appears not.
Someone needs to grow some balls and stop protecting this situation and fess up. That’s what leadership requires.
Hillsong church watch,I fully agree with you lot,always.Why,because I and my family members and also friends have had much experience with this Hillpong disgrace.From being on the leadership to the congregation,etc.This church is a 501c3 money making “business driven” cesspool going straight to hell.I’m also talking from first hand experience.Thankyou Hillsong church watch,for this and your other websites,brilliant.Also to Carl Lentz,crawl back under your rock mate.Go back to sleep.
Thinker
“David, can you dismiss this comment too?”
The reason Brian did not mention his name is because he was using some discretion.. A good leader does not throw their employee under the bus over a tiny mistake. And it was a tiny mistake that Brian has said won’t happen again.
David, a truly tiny “mistake” would not have created the need for a response from Brian Houston.
*IF* discretion was the only motive Brian Houston could have said something like
“I do not approve of what just happened and I am not happy with the excuses made to justify that (naked cowboy appearance). Even if the decision was made on the spur-of-the-moment, it was inappropriate behaviour for anyone involved in any way with our ministry. Hillsong church should be a beacon to the world for all the RIGHT reasons.
However I have decided to let the NYC church leaders deal with this matter themselves so they can ensure it never happens again. Since it happened on their own turf, not mine (i.e. Sydney Hillsong) I will not say anything further in public.”
It is possible to simultaneously express disapproval and not name names, pretend you don’t know “the rank” of the somebody who was the [deleted] cowboy etc. etc.
“And it was a tiny mistake that Brian has said won’t happen again.”
you call it tiny because brian is your false god who you worship.
youd do what he said if he told you to jump off a bridge.
your putrid adoration for him spills overflows in all your sickening posts
“was a tiny mistake”
In whose estimation, mate? Maybe in yourse but not in God’s. This was very sick. A representative of a ‘naked’ cowboy mand at a Christian women’s conference? That is tiny? You are spiritually sick as well, “partner”.
Besides over a dozen websites reported on it. So tiny to you, a big deal to anyone who believes that verses like “Be ye holy, for I am holy” aren’t just there for paper decoration. Hillsong Business Ventures Incorporated has no more of an idea what that verse means than you.
That wasn’t a mistake David. That was a Hillsong cover-up. Listen to Bobbie in the video.