Carl Lentz is speaking out following his termination as lead pastor of Hillsong Church.
In a lengthy statement shared to Instagram, the 41-year-old confessed to cheating on his wife, Laura, as he reflected on his former position within the star-studded congregation — beloved by Justin and Hailey Bieber, Kourtney Kardashian and more celebrities.
“Our time at HillsongNYC has come to an end,” Lentz wrote. “This is a hard ending to what has been the most amazing, impacting and special chapter of our lives. Leading this church has been an honor in every sense of the word and it is impossible to articulate how much we have loved and will always love the amazing people in this church.”
He continued, “I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that. This failure is on me, and me alone and I take full responsibility for my actions. I now begin a journey of rebuilding trust with my wife, Laura, and my children and taking real time to work on and heal my own life and seek out the help that I need. I am deeply sorry for breaking the trust of many people who we have loved serving and understand that this news can be very hard and confusing for people to hear and process.”
Earlier in the day, Hillsong Church Global Senior Pastor Brian Houston announced the news of Lentz’s firing on the organization’s website. The statement explained, “This action has been taken following ongoing discussions in relation to leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures. It would not be appropriate for us to go into detail about the events that led to this decision.”
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