(Protestia) We wrote to you earlier that an audio recording between Hillsong founder Brian Houston and Church executives has leaked, revealing that disgraced Pastor Carl Lentz, who cheated on his wife with model Ranin Karim, had engaged in multiple sexual affairs and committed adultery with many women. According to Houston “It was more than one affair, they were significant. And at least some bad moral behavior had gone back historically.” See more here.
Now that we have had the chance to transcribe the audio, what we have discovered is that if Houston and the global board is to be believed, Hillsong NY was a dysfunctional mess. Evidently Carl Lentz was an overbearing and narcissistic shepherd. Sadly, Hillsong employees felt afraid to even speak to their pastor let alone challenge him. We now know that this arrogant man ruled Hillsong NY like his own little fiefdom.
Here are a few things we learned from the transcript, which has been lightly edited for clarity.
On the affair and whether or not Lentz could be restored
So not to (downplay?) the seriousness of it, but if it was just about a moral failure, perhaps it would have been possible to work with Carl and Laura and work our way through it and have a period of restoration. And that might’ve been possible, but the nature of where my relationship with Carl was already up to, and then add the significant nature and the serial nature of the moral issues, just meant that I believed and our global board believed that the only way to go was to terminate Carl and really start with a fresh start in New York, and so that’s where I’m at.
Research
CRN has a list of professing Christians to mark and avoid (Rom 16:17-18). Scroll down to WARNING
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