Former Hillsong Church Pastor Involved In Scandal Over Inappropriate Instagram Activity, Resigns

Former Hillsong Church Pastor Involved In Scandal Over Inappropriate Instagram Activity, Resigns

The Megachurch has found itself at the center of another controversy due to its Montclair, New Jersey church’s former pastor and creative director, Darnell Barrett.

Screenshots have come out showing Darnell Barrett–married father-of-two and now-former pastor at Hillsong Church Montclair–displaying less-than-admirable behavior on Instagram. He is accused of purposefully adding a woman formerly associated with the church to his close friends story, where he proceeded to post a seemingly motivational pic. However, Darnell Barrett also happened to be wearing only compression pants–placing the ex-pastor’s genitalia on display for the former church volunteer.

Here’s the photo that started it all:

However, the incident really took a turn when Barrett actually reached out to the woman in question, sliding into her DMs and claiming:

“I think I might’ve added you to my close friends list by accident. I’m so sorry. Trying to figure out how the hell to edit it.”

After a brief exchange, the former church volunteer ultimately called the ex-pastor out for his antics. She stated:

“Obviously, what you wanted me to see were the shirtless photos and the outline of your d**k, let’s not play and act like that wasn’t the point.”

The unnamed woman continued, later accusing Barrett of using this as a way of testing the waters with other women of Hillsong Church Montclair. She claimed:

“I’m actually horrified by the thought of how many other innocent girls you’ve manipulated with this ploy of yours. I’m going to assume you’ve sent this to gauge girls reactions to see if they’d take part in this weird-sexual-online-relationship-fantasy you have.”

In response to the accusations levied against him via DM, Barrett responded:

“I’m sorry?”

Here are the screenshots:

In the wake of the above screenshots coming out, Barrett resigned earlier this week (April 27th). Hillsong Church also released a statement on the incident, claiming:

“Hillsong accepted his resignation and agreed that he could not continue as part of our team. We were disappointed to learn about choices he made that were unacceptable for any Hillsong staff member.”

This incident in Montclair comes less than six months following a pastor at Hillsong NYC, Carl Lentz, losing his position over his own infidelity scandal.

What are your thoughts on Darnell Barrett’s antics and resignation? Comment down below to let us know!