Yesterday it was revealed that Carl Lentz, the pastor who baptised Hailey and Justin Bieber and then officiated their wedding, had been sacked by Hillsong due to his “moral failures.”
Hillsong’s founder Brian Houston confirmed the former NYC Hillsong pastor had been terminated from his role as the East Coast pastor in an email to members and staff.
Carl Lentz has been fired by Hillsong for “a recent revelation of moral failures” writes Brian Houston in an email to church members. pic.twitter.com/Q653Qd4YvB
— Andrew Beck (@AndrewBeckUSA) November 4, 2020
Bieber stans (such as myself) will have instantly recognised the ousted pastor from the singer’s social media as they’re always pictured together. But the big question on everyone’s minds is: what are these “moral failures” that got him sacked?
Well, wonder no more, ‘cos Carl Lentz has just taken to Instagram to reveal the reason why he got the sack and, yep, it’s because he cheated on his Australian-born wife Laura, who was also a pastor with Hillsong.
“Our time at Hillsong NYC has come to an end,” he began. “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 honour 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. When you accept the calling of being a pastor, you must live in such a way that it honours the mandate. That it honours the church, and that it honours God.”
He added, “When that does not happen, a change needs to be made and has been made in this case to ensure that standard is upheld.”
Carl Lentz went on to discuss his family, writing: “Laura and I and our amazing children have given all that we have to serve and build this church and over the years I did not do an adequate job of protecting my own spirit, refilling my own soul and reaching out for the readily available help that is available. When you lead out of an empty place, you make choices that have real and painful consequences.”
At that point, he revealed the reason why all this is happening: “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.”
He says that he’s now beginning his “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.”
He expressed that he wishes he had been given the chance to “say this with my voice, to you, in person because you are owed that. But that opportunity I will not have. So to those people, I pray you can forgive me and that over time I can live a life where trust is earned again.”
Catch the rest of it below:
