Carl Lentz, former lead pastor of Hillsong NYC, has shared a statement addressing his family status since his 2020 extramarital affair, his family’s involvement in the upcoming FX docuseries The Secrets of Hillsong and his new position with Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He posted the message today on Instagram, after which RELEVANT spoke with a source close to the family for additional clarification.
Lentz’s post said:
“For the last 3 years, my entire focus has been fighting for my wife and my kids, my family was/is my priority number one. In order to do that, seeking sobriety and healing had to run parallel with those goals. Honestly nothing, and I do mean nothing else, mattered. None of the noise, the lies, none of the half truths that were said about me and or us, mattered. All I wanted was to prove to my wife and kids that I could show up for them like I had never done before. Although we have a long way to go, with a lot of work, a lot of honesty and a lot of prayer, we have found ourselves in a beautiful, happy and deliberately honest place. So much so that we not only celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on May 5, but we got to do that in the purest way. What a gift to be able to be a whole couple. Unfortunately that came through a lot of humiliation, embarrassment and heartache.
Part of the healing from that heartache led us to the decision to be a part of a documentary that we do not control, that we don’t have any say in and that we haven’t even seen yet. We’ll see it when the world does.We were not interested in blame shifting or responsibility deflection, we focus on my mistakes and the context or what transpired. I can honestly tell you that when you get to a place of honesty and freedom in your life, when you’ve gone through hell and you realize God is still with you… It is so freeing. It’s the freedom I wish for all of the many people that I know that are called by God and wrestle with secrets and the feeling of not being worthy. Trust me, it led me to some dark places.
And even though I’m at an amazing church with a lot of support, I’m no longer in ministry. I’m not preaching, not overseeing people, my role is to help give perspective and insight where I can. I can also say that what gives me great joy and hope is knowing that what I have been through, what I have made it past, can help so many others. I can do that in so many ways, inside and outside the church. I’m not the first man to be in this situation and I won’t be the last, but I can promise you I’ll be the guy standing with his arms open wide for anyone who’s been on this path of addiction and destruction. I can say I understand it and my relationship with Jesus in a way that I couldn’t from the pulpit. Repentance and life change is proven over time with consistent choices and that’s a road I look forward to.
It truly makes me wonder if this is what all of this pain was all about. From the lows of where I’ve been, to the Grace and forgiveness that God has granted me, I truly have something to share and so does Laura and my kids.
With that said I just want to thank you for even taking a moment to read this. More later.
With a sincere heart,
Carl”
A source close to the family told RELEVANT, based on the condition of anonymity, that since the scandal broke the Lentz’s have undergone extensive therapy and counseling together. Carl has also been part of addiction recovery programs for the last three years.
“The family has been on a constant journey of healing through deep therapy and constant counseling,” the source said. “Carl has stayed active in the addiction recovery process, through the 12-step programs and meeting with addiction specialists. They also have a group of people in and out of ministry who have helped guide them through a very hard time.”
Regarding Carl’s new role with Mike Todd’s Transformation Church, the source said, “Carl has no desire to do any preaching or public ministry at this time. His focus at Transformation has been on how to establish better addiction recovery programs in churches, including how to better surround pastors before they make the same mistakes, and how to restore and support them as people, should they fall and experience hardship.”
We’ll update this story as it progresses.
