Sam Collier Breaks Silence on Hillsong Scandal, Divorce, and the Call That Kept Him in Ministry

Hillsong's first Black lead pastor says he cried when scandal forced him to leave; declines to affirm or deny allegations of infidelity; and says an unexpected phone call kept him from quitting.

Sam Collier, once the lead pastor of Hillsong Church Atlanta, has weathered a series of public storms, from the global implosion of the Hillsong brand to a difficult and widely publicized divorce, in which he was accused of infidelity.

Now, in what he describes as a "miraculous" new chapter, Collier is back in the pulpit as the lead pastor of Christian C…