Carl Lentz is the Senior Pastor of Hillsong NY. Recently, Hillsong dressed up their Hillsong NY Youth Pastor Diego Simila to play the Naked Cowboy at their Hillsong America’s ‘Color’ women conference.
Family friendly Hillsong Includes the Dancing Naked Cowboy?
If You’re Sexy and a Pastor, play the Cowboy?
Now it appears that the Naked Cowboy was not impressed with Hillsong’s stunt. And it seems that Brian Houston is not happy when people question how his church does things.
We’ve got a new Pope everyone!
Todd Rubenstein recently posted on our site,
“I represent Naked Cowboy and own Naked cowboy Enterprises, LLC. I am the sole administrator of the Naked Cowboy® registered trademarks. I am the only person who can provide license of use of anything associated with Naked Cowboy and Hillsong has never requested any right to use our registered trademarks or Naked Cowboy’s likeness.
In addition to it being a clear violation of Mr. Burck’s (AKA Naked Cowboy) right of publicity, it is a direct infringement upon Mr Burck’s registered trademarks.
Mr. Burck is an Ordained Minister & would NEVER attend church in the house of the Lord in his Trade Dress and is EXTREMELY offended by this activity due to his deep Christian beliefs and respect for the process of gathering in the name of Jesus Christ and in the presence of God to worship and praise the Holy Father.
Mr. Burck owns registered trademarks protecting his property rights in both the name “Naked Cowboy” as well as the character’s visual image. Mr. Burck strongly objects to any unauthorized use of his trade name and/or image without proper license and authorization—particularly those instances where, as here, such use is for a plainly commercial purpose and not for the purpose of spreading the Gospel. We are certain that Hillsong and its affiliates are aware of federal trademark law, but they must also be advised that New York’s statutory right of publicity affords Mr. Burck with additional legal protections against unauthorized use of his name and image. In view of these legal restrictions, and in an effort to avoid any further dilution of the value of Mr. Burck’s marks, we will be making a demand to Hillsong—together with any of its affiliates, representatives, agents, employees, and principals— to immediately cease and desist all such unauthorized uses of the Naked Cowboy’s trademarks in addition to taking Federal action in the State of New York to have these violations prosecuted.”
Source: Todd Rubenstein, https://churchwatchcentral.com/2016/05/25/family-friendly-hillsong-includes-the-dancing-naked-cowboy/comment-page-1/#comment-6242, Published 29/05/2016. (Accessed 30/05/2016.)
Todd Rubenstein – FB Profile (edited)
Categories: Hillsong
Mr. Burck has taken two companies to court already for trademark infringements. Mars Incorporated and CBS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Cowboy#Infringement_lawsuits_filed
Hillsong takes its own copyright issues very seriously. See https://distribution.hillsong.com/publishing/faq
Do you know if the naked cowboy performance was only done on one occasion (i.e. done on spur of moment) or if it was repeat performances?
Whats strange hillsong defenders always coming on these sites claiming trademark violation using Hillsong logo, then hillsong usese Naked Cowboy image in even bigger way. I dont notice any hillsong defenders having a problem with hillsong trademark violations. Weird.
Well, it’s clear that Mr. Naked Cowboy isn’t into winning the lost at any cost. If he were he’d be ok with someone flitting around a church in their skivvies in the name of the lord. You, Mr. Naked Cowboy Man need to go read the Purpose Driven Life again and go find your unique purpose and destiny. (Major satire)
I looked at the video of the real character and cannot understand why the real Naked Cowboy is an ordained minister. This seems to be a contradiction between his persona and ministerial credentials. Hillsong is just as wrong for putting the character on stage at their women’s conference. In reading the posts on the issue, Hillsong has no standards in how they do creative expression. There are no constraints on these “performances” and the ones who will suffer ultimately are the dancers and other actors involved in these productions. I do not judge the real-life character, but I do wish he would think before claiming to be a minister of the gospel. I pray both parties would find true salvation in Christ.
The real Naked Cowboy does weddings in Times Square:
“Naked Cowboy is an Ordained Minister
and a licensed New York City Officiant.
Call 866-99-NAKED to schedule
Your Times Square Wedding!
Some folks elope and go to Las Vegas to tie the knot.
There is nothing more beautiful and exciting than having
Naked Cowboy Perform your ceremony in NYC’s Times Square!
The cost for a Naked Cowboy Marriage Ceremony in Times Square is $499.00
plus the costs of NYC marriage certificate which is $35.
Naked Cowboy Enterprises, LLC will complete a booking agreement
which must be dually executed and send you a paypal payment link
to secure the booking with a $250.00 deposit.”
http://www.nakedcowboy.com/#!weddings/cnnz
Cheers, Team Churchwatch.
I have read several blog posts about their women’s conference and I was not pleased with what was described. I watched the clip and thought why would they do this? Then I read the real character is an ordained minister. Why would any denomination ordain an individual known for performing around NYC in their underwear and who approved his credentials? The real Naked Cowboy has the legal right to defend his brand, but why do what you do kowing God is watching what you do. I am for creative expression, but this is going TOO far. Hillsong needs staff members in their creative arts department that can say no to stuff displayed at their women’s conference.
The fact that “the Naked Cowboy” possesses some sort of ordination and performs weddings in one of the most secular locations on the face of the earth doesn’t in any way qualify him as a true minister of the gospel. Cheap imitation “ordination certificates” can be acquired online for about ten bucks – without any involvement whatsoever of a true church – simply for the purpose of claiming to be ordained and using that claim to make additional income by performing wedding and funeral services.
Of course, that’s a far cry from doing as legitimate pastors (like myself) have done, investing many years of our lives in studying God’s Word, being mentored by Godly men, and inviting such men to test and evaluate our knowledge of biblical truth and to recognize the genuine call of God on our lives. With such acknowledgement, however (when it’s given), also comes the solemn responsibility of living out the life which God has called ordained men to do (as clearly outlined for us in 1 Peter 5:1-2; 1 Timothy 3:2, 4:13; 2 Timothy 3:13-17; etc.).
Obviously, prancing around in skivvies on Time Square certainly does not reflect this calling, since it blatantly contradicts God’s call (to all Christians – not just ministers) to demonstrate modesty in both their dress and behavior. Performing weddings (which are sure to be far from sacred, Christ-exalting ceremonies) in the middle of Time Square for exorbitant sums of money hardly reveals him as being any more authentic of a “minister”.
I have no idea what’s in Mr. Burck’s heart. I hope that he truly IS a follower of Christ, even though his famous character does little to demonstrate that. If he is a genuine Christian as he claims, though, then he really IS a minister of the gospel, regardless of what sort of certifying papers or training he may or may not have. The Bible says that every person who belongs to Christ is therefore commissioned to live out their faith and share the Good News of the biblical gospel with others – and to do so with increasing urgency as the promised return of Christ draws nearer (Matthew 28:19-29; Hebrews 10:24-25. etc.). So, if he IS a Christian (which perhaps only he and God know for sure), the question isn’t “Is he really a minister?”, but rather, “Is he a good one?”.
Thanks for commenting Josh.
Brian Houston has finally made a statement about the Naked Cowboy impersonator on his blog, stating their leadership was unaware this particular “character” was going to make an appearance. The YouTube clip we provide, seems to indicate an orchestrated appearance along with other characters, e.g. Statue of Liberty, Spider-Man, SpongeBob, radio City dancers etc etc.
At their just previous London Color Conference event, the lead pastor of Hillong London, Gary Clarke, appeared dressed as Austin Powers (yet another entirely inappropriate character). See a pattern here? We will leave that for you to decide. As we see it, Houston’s “Clininesque” denial doesn’t hold much weight in light of what was also going on in London.
Cheers, Team ChurchWatch.
While in NYC, the first person I met was The Naked Cowboy….he was very upbeat….very nice….very funny….and a good representation of the city. As for his ‘nakedness’ ????? he was so padded up you couldn’t see or distinguish anything, I’ve seen much more nudity on any beach or local swimming pool you want to mention. While not knowing any of this was going on, his demeanor stayed in my heart and mind for days and days….for some reason, I needed to pray for him, his safety and good health daily. What is in your heart is what makes you a good and Godly person it isn’t what you have in your head. I think Mr. Burck is all of that and more. When I told him he was a good ambassador for the city, he kissed my forehead….no wonder.
How Dare All of you! This Man is The One and the Only “Naked Cowboy” Robert Burke… he is and has been a perfect Gentleman…going back a few years…I had a picture taken with him a few years ago … I am from NJ..had a Dr. Appt in NYC . Lost my Husband in 2013…Lost this original pic!! it was a dreary week but after my Dr’s appt the Sun came out!! Decided to stay for awile!! Got 1/2 price at TKTS for Phantom. In Memory of my husband (who hated cities and hated shows..he went for me …that one time..enjoyed the show (1988) but said that was it!! You made my Day RB