Lentz, who relocated with his family to Sarasota, Florida, after a stint in rehab, says he was sexually abused by a family friend as a child, an experience that led to intense shame and secrecy around his private life. "The Secrets of Hillsong" features the first interviews with the Lentzes, who were both ousted from the church, and includes new revelations about the personal demons that contributed to Carl Lentz's behavior. "The Secrets of Hillsong," a four-part docuseries premiering Friday on FX, makes the case that Lentz, although flawed, was a convenient, high-profile scapegoat for an institution that went much deeper than a single wayward pastor. To many, it seemed like a predictable twist in an all-too-familiar tale: Lentz, despite his hipster trappings, was just another hypocritical religious leader caught up in a sex scandal and ultimately undone by his own hubris. "I was subjected to manipulation, control, bullying, abuse of power and sexual abuse," she wrote in a 2021 blog post. Then, he disappeared from public view, even as Ranin Karim talked about her affair with Lentz on "Good Morning America," and the family's former nanny, Leona Kimes, publicly accused Carl Lentz of misdeeds. Then, in late 2020, he was fired from Hillsong for "moral failures." On Instagram, Lentz apologized for cheating on his wife, Laura, disappointing the thousands of congregants who looked to him for spiritual guidance. In the process, Lentz turned into a star himself, a "hypepriest" to the rich and famous who was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and profiled in major magazines.Īs a white Evangelical who lived in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, and wasn't afraid to say Black lives matter - even on "The 700 Club" - he seemed to represent a new, more progressive strain of Christianity, even as he skillfully dodged questions about the church's stance on LGBTQ+ issues and did little to increase diversity in the organization's leadership. Known for his designer skinny jeans, plunging V-neck shirts and wildly charismatic sermons, Lentz attracted numerous celebrities to his flock and in 2014, famously baptized Justin Bieber in a bathtub belonging to NBA player Tyson Chandler. Over the following decade, the church became a sensation, drawing thousands of diverse, young congregants every Sunday to services at Irving Plaza in Manhattan. The pastor had founded the New York City outpost of Hillsong, a Pentecostal megachurch with roots in Australia, in 2010. They married in 2003 and have three children.īrian Houston, a global senior pastor and founder of Hillsong, said in a message to the church’s East Coast congregants Wednesday that Lentz was fired “following ongoing discussions in relationship to leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures.Just a few years ago, Carl Lentz was on top of the world. The couple lives in Montclair, New Jersey. The church is popular among millennials and others. Lentz and wife, Laura, who met as students at Hillsong’s training college in Sydney, arrived in New York in 2010 to spread the church’s style of mass gatherings, a slick online reach and Grammy-winning Christian rock music throughout the U.S. I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that.” The leader of HillsongNYC, who once ministered to Justin Bieber and a bevy of other celebrities and sports stars, wrote: “When you lead out of an empty place, you make choices that have real consequences. NEW YORK (AP) - Carl Lentz, the celebrity magnet of a pastor who brought the global megachurch Hillsong from Australia to the United States, has been fired, acknowledging on Instagram that he cheated on his wife.
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