A Megachurch for the Glamorous

Blessed with celebrity congregants, the evangelical Hillsong Church was poised to take America by storm before it fell prey to sex scandals. Now megachurch America is following its blue-state blueprint.

Illustration by Thomas Hedger

In the mid-2010s, reporters began to cover a new celebrity haunt where New York and LA’s rich and famous gathered every week. But this was no 1 OAK — this was a church service run by Hillsong, an Australian neo-Pentecostal megachurch. From a massive stage, “hypepriests” clad in Jordans and Off-White preached about loving yourself over Chainsmokers-esque […]

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