Hillsong Church youth leader 'dresses up' as Naked Cowboy in women's conference

New York church Hillsong NYC recently held a women's conference at the Madison Square Garden, the online footage of which sparked criticism as it shows that the event presented what appears to be a man costumed as the "Naked Cowboy."

"I usually don't expect to see a near-naked cowboy gyrating from the stage of a Christian women's conference," Amy Spreeman of Berean Research wrote. "Nor would I see and hear thousands of Christian females applauding and squealing in delight, and spurring on the performance. Indeed if I were of the world, I'd expect these sights and sounds to come from a giant bachelorette party at a strip club."

The footage shows members of the church performing to the song "New York, New York," with people dressed in costumes like the Statue to Liberty, firemen, and Broadway dancers. One was apparently portraying New York's well-known street performer, the Naked Cowboy, as he was dressed in nothing more than a cowboy hat and underwear, and he was holding a guitar. He also had a flag flung over his shoulder.

At a point during the performance, he goes to the front of the crowd, egging them to cheer louder. Some people online identified him as Hillsong NYC youth leader and former model Diego Simila.

Part of the description of Hillsong's Colour Conference reads: "Our desire is that worship, creativity and the presentation of God's Word (the Bible) will honor the King of heaven and cause faith to rise, enabling the enormous potential within to become reality."

The Pirate Christian blog says that Hillsong continues to surprise people by their "complete and utter disregard for how scripture instructs Christians to conduct their lives in this present evil age." The article points out the previous events that the church had had, such as their "sleazy" Silent Night, then Austin Powers' appearance at a women's confence in London. They said that they fear what the church's next conference would feature.