Bombshell! Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz Cheated On His Wife, Breaks Silence On Firing

After Pastor Carl Lentz was fired for "moral failures" earlier this week, he broke his silence about the ordeal via Instagram on Thursday, November 5, and admitted he cheated on his wife, Laura. 

"Our time at HillsongNYC has come to an end. 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 honor 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," the 41-year captioned a photo of himself with his wife and three kids. "When you accept the calling of being a pastor, you must live in such a way that it honors the mandate. That it honors the church, and that it honors God. When that does not happen, a change needs to be made and has been made in this case to ensure that standard is upheld."

"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," he continued. "When you lead out of an empty place, you make choices that have real and painful consequences. I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that." 

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Lentz admitted he "takes full responsibility for my actions" and will now have to "rebuild trust" with his wife and children. In the meantime, Lentz is "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 shared. "I would have liked 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."

Despite making a mistake, Lentz's followers flooded him with supportive messages. One person wrote, "Love you @carllentz! Praying God's best over you and your family!!" Another echoed, "Thankful for your ministry that has impacted so many including myself. Praying for you & the fam. Love you brother." A third person added, "Love you, always will. Excited for increased health and what God has for you next."

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One day earlier, Hillsong’s founder, Brian Houston, announced that Lentz would no longer be working at the church. "Today Hillsong Church East Coast advised our congregation that we have terminated the employment of Pastor Carl Lentz," Houston wrote in a memo. "This action was not taken lightly and was done in the best interests of everyone, including Pastor Carl."

Houston did not disclose the reason as to why the father of three was let go and said it would "not be appropriate" to give any more detail about the situation. 

Sources with knowledge of the situation tell OK! that the Pastor’s increasingly erratic behavior and rumors of extramarital affairs had been a concern for some time.

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The pastor is best known for helping Justin Bieber through a difficult time in his life. In fact, Lentz took Bieber, 26, in and let him stay at his New Jersey home while he tried to overcome his addiction issues and relationship problems in 2017. The pop star and Lentz seemingly had a falling out and never made amends, TMZ reported in 2018.