It was officially launched on October 17, 2010. It started meeting at
Irving Plaza near
Union Square.
Joel Houston, the eldest son of Global Senior Pastors
Brian Houston and
Bobbie Houston, was involved in the development of the church location. The church was thrown into the spotlight with the November 2020 firing of former pastor
Carl Lentz relating to infidelity and other areas of misconduct. The annual
Hillsong Conference was held for the first time in New York in 2013, and annually since, using
Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with a seating capacity of 17,000. In February 2021, pastors Chrishan Jeyaratnam and Danielle Jeyaratnam were announced as the incoming new lead pastors, moving from their previous role as Western Australian state oversight, based in Perth. ==References==