Concerns and questions have been raised by the Churchome scandal over the rehiring of a pastor who was accused of r*pe.
In 2019, Braylon Oliver’s ex-girlfriend accused him of inappropriate behaviour. At the time, he was the pastor of the Downtown campus of Churchome, a well-known megachurch with locations in Los Angeles and Seattle.
An independent investigation found that the claim had some truth to it, so Oliver quit his job.
But in 2022, Churchome hired him back, saying that he had grown spiritually and personally and that the church believed he could be restored and reconciled.
But The Roys Report (TRR) got a written summary of the investigation that said Oliver was accused of making a woman have s*x against her will.
Jane, the person who was hurt, said that Oliver never admitted what he did or tried to make up with her.
Jane talked to Churchome Co-Lead Pastor Chelsea Smith. She said Oliver’s alleged r*pe was a “mistake” many times and asked Jane to forgive him.
Even though Jane didn’t want Churchome to hire Oliver again, they did so anyway without telling her. When asked about the supposed event, Oliver said he did not remember it.
Lana Del Rey, whose real name is Elizabeth Grant, is a talented singer-songwriter who rose to fame after the release of her 2011 single “Video Games.”
In 2012, her second studio album, “Born to Die,” debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, and in 2013, her single “Young and Beautiful” was included on the soundtrack of the movie “The Great Gatsby.”
Since then, Del Rey has put out six more studio albums, with “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd.” being her most recent.
The album has a lot of the themes that Lana Del Rey is known for, like melancholy glamour, California, loving the wrong men, Americana, and even violence, which are all things that come up in her songs again and again. One of the songs, “A&W,” talks about how Del Rey was raped but didn’t want to talk about it.
In “Judah Smith Interlude,” another song, the singer includes a recording of Churchome pastor Judah Smith preaching, along with her reactions and sad piano music.
It’s not clear where Del Rey got the recording, but it sounds like it was made while she was at a service at Churchome, a church where celebrities like Justin and Hailey Bieber often go.
In a letter she sent to Judah and Chelsea Smith in December 2022 to announce her new album, Del Rey thanked them for their help, even when they didn’t know it, and for letting her record part of Judah’s sermon for the album.
Some people don’t like Judah Smith, though, because of his views on things like masturbation and the fact that he spoke incoherently during a recent speech.
The audio of Smith on Del Rey’s album indirectly talks about s*x. The pastor urges people who are unhappy in their marriages and families and whose lives are “dominated by lust” to ask the Holy Spirit for help.
Throughout the track, Del Rey can be heard laughing and responding to Smith’s jokes. She also adds her own commentary.
Some of Del Rey’s fans are disappointed and confused by the interlude, but it remains to be seen what effect it will have on how the album is received as a whole.
Lana Del Rey’s new album is called “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd.” It has an unexpected interlude with Churchome pastor Judah Smith.
The song is four minutes and fifty seconds long, and Smith preaches while Del Rey reacts and sad piano music plays in the background.
At the end of the song, Smith thinks back and says, “I used to think my preaching was mostly about you,” but now he knows it’s mostly about himself.
Smith and his wife Chelsea run Churchome in Kirkland, Washington. Smith and other artists like Father John Misty, Bleachers, and Jon Batiste are listed as collaborators on the album cover.