Justin Bieber's ex-pastor and mentor, Carl Lentz, has revealed that he was booted from Hillsong Church after cheating on his wife of 17 years. The mega-church announced on Wednesday that it had fired Lentz after 10 years due to "moral failures" and on Thursday the pastor took to Instagram to explain why he would no longer minister at his Hillsong Church in New York.
"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."
He explained that a pastor is required to live in a way that "honors the mandate," the church, and God, but he did not honor that code when he was unfaithful to his wife, Laura.
"When that does not happen, a change needs to be made and has been made in this case to ensure that standard is upheld," he continued. "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."
Lentz admitted he had failed as a pastor and husband and was taking responsibility for his 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," he wrote. "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."
Commenting on Lentz's firing, Hillsong Church's global senior pastor, Brian Houston, said in a statement that it was a decision "not taken lightly" and was done "in the best interests to everyone."
"This action has been taken following ongoing discussions in relation to leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures," he wrote.
"While I have no doubt that this is the right course of action, I must mention Bobbie’s and my personal sadness, as we have known Laura her entire life and Carl for well over 20 years," Houston added.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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